SPIRITUAL POSTING, Winter 2019, from Rev. Bill Charles

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” So said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we transition into “Black History Month,” Dr. King’s words of wisdom echo in our minds. The relationships of darkness and light, of love and hate, are themes explored repeatedly on the pages of scripture in both Testaments. “Let there be light!” says God in the first chapter of Genesis. The Apostle Paul concludes I Corinthians 13 with “Three things abide: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.”

I’ve heard it said more than once that the only Bible some people will ever read is the life of the individual Christian. It is a burdensome reality. Burdensome or not, though, we need to keep in mind the fact that reality cannot be ignored for long; and we are seen as “walking Bibles by any number of persons. Dr. King’s affirming words of the power of light and love remind us that many people do not share his opinion—not really. We like to think that he is right; but all too often, our behavior shows otherwise. Too often, we act as if more darkness is the solution to the darkness problem. Too often, we act as if more hate is the solution to the hate problem. And those neighbors of ours! If only they would get their lives together! What’s wrong with them? (Sigh.)

Jesus lived a life of sacrificial love for others to include those who treated him as an enemy. We are called to follow Jesus and emulate him in the practice of love and the bringing of light. Those are no easy tasks. Therefore, we come together in the fellowship of the Church for mutual strength and support in the hope that God’s Holy Spirit will add divine strength when ours falls short. Let us—earthen vessels though we be—live as those bearing light in faith, hope, and love.

THE PICTURE: Two young women (sisters? twins?) share Martin Luther King Day messages in advance the annual Abingdon Main Street parade.

A PRAYER: Loving God, draw us, we pray, to the light of Christ. Dispel from us our propensity to darkness; and cleanse us from whatever brand of hate is currently in vogue, be it virulent and blunt or indifferent and dismissive. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.