Shade Tree Wisdom 10/31/09

“From goulies and ghostiest
And things that go bump
In the night:. . .

So the day began at the grocery, shopping for some food. When I get to the checkout another was also aiming for that line. A lady with a black dot on the nose, several whiskers painted on, carrying a banana and a power bar. I told her to go first and she gave me a Cheshire grin and a purred thanks. The Cat Woman, this early?

It reminded me of nights when the moon shone brightly and threw shadows from the tree outside on our bedroom wall, and my older brother delighted in imagining shadows turned into monsters, and it scared me, and I fussed enough to make father come and ask what the matter was. He told my brother to go to sleep and stop ‘this foolishness’. Next morning I complained to Mother, she consoled me and said, “Let me give you a secret. Next time he does that turn on the light and the monsters will go away”.

Amazing, isn’t it, what Light will do?

That’s what the REFORMATION we observe October 31 is about, Luther turning on the light of the Gospel again. He was not trying to start a new church, he was in all earnestness and seriousness trying to return the Church to the truth of the Gospel.

The Light does that, it helps straighten things out, gives light and so direction because we can see clearly what was amiss. An illustration is the young man who planned to treat his girl friend’s sister, mother and her to a steak dinner, cooked on their grill. The directions weren’t there, and he did not know how to start that fancy grill. So, she called her father, deployed to Afghanistan, and got the directions. Simple, when he knew how to do it. Light, you see, was helpful. (The steaks turned out well. As did the baked potatoes.)

When the child Jesus was brought to the temple, Simeon in prophecy called him “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel”. Luke 2,32. And in his first letter the apostle John writes, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1,5. Just as Isaiah had predicted long before, “I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles.” Is. 49,6.

Because we do believe He is the Light of the world, we are also called to be a light of the world, to”shine before men”. Matt. 5,14.

That is what The REFORMATION is and means. Light came back, threw its beams into the world, and brought men who “loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (John 3,17), into the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, finally, Jesus teaches , “I Am the light of the world, He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8,12.

And that is what Light is for, to lead us to salvation.

GPD 10/31/09