The Light’s Coming On

Acts 19:1-7  Mark 1:4-11 Gen 1:1-5

There are a number of strange tasks I have assigned to myself in the family home.

Amongst these is the chief turner off of lights.

For I live with a family of light blazers

Lights get switched on but very rarely switched off again – unless by me or through the intervention of power cut.

Especially when the family was young, I would come home on a winter’s evening to find   lights on upstairs and downstairs even though everyone in the house is actually huddled in one room.

My life’s work, or so it seems, is to plunge rooms into darkness wherever possible and think of the pennies I’m saving and my part in the crusade against global warming.

The first words of God is a cry that the light be turned on.

 “Let there be light” he cries on the first day of creation.

“Let there be light” that all may see the beauty of the world he is about to create and rejoice in the glory of it.

“Let there be light” that was the cry of God at your baptism when you think about it.

For it was at that moment that the light of creation was set ablaze specifically in you.

And if you are to be true to your baptism promises you will find your life’s work not so much about switching lights off, but putting them on.

Not plunging situations into darkness through our tendency to be judging, negatively minded people, but switching on the light so that new life, new possibilities and fresh love might always be what we offer.

To be true to our baptism – we are light bringers at all costs.

For that was the model we see in Christ.

The ministry of John The Baptist was to prepare people for this responsibility.

Before you can be a true disciple and bring light into other people’s lives – you need to separate the light and the darkness within yourself.

Recognise the battle that’s going on and trust in the grace of God to win it for you.

Recognise the god given goodness that is already shining in you – but offer up to him the black places for his forgiveness and his transformation

The baptism of Jesus, which we’re thinking about today has an added dimension.

At his baptism, the veil of mystery is drawn back and in that moment by the river Jordan, people can see Jesus for who he is as the spirit of God descends upon him with the Father’s acclamation “This is my Son – my beloved”

Who knows but that this may have been the moment when Jesus’ own self understanding became complete.

 That here is where he understood just what the relationship with His father added up to and just what might lie ahead in the years of his ministry.

“Let there be light” in the miracle of the incarnation unfolding in the life of the young man from Nazareth.

“Let there be light” in your life and mine as we consider our calling in the light of his life.

“Let there be light” in the many situations in the world which we bring so heavily here in our prayers. The people and the countries and the situations which seem to have been plunged ruthlessly into darkness by those intent upon tyrannical regimes.

“Let there be light. Let there be light”

Have you ever thought of yourself as God’s prayer.

Since the day you were born really, He’s been praying over you, filling you with his spirit to be about the task he began on the first day of creation and gave such a wondrous spark to on the day of the baptism of His Son.

RH 11.1.09