Children of the Light

SCRIPTURES

“Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests ….
At that time I [the Lord] will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do harm.’” —Zephaniah 1:7,12, New Revised Standard Version

“But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of the light and of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness …. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.” —1 Thessalonians 5:4–5, 9–10, NRSV

MEDITATION

With each passing week, we draw closer to the end of the church year and to the beginning of Advent, the time of anticipating the coming of our Lord in his birth, in the life of the Church, and in judgment at the end. The readings for this Sunday, November 13, speak to us of the end of this world in ways that may give us discomfort.

As we overhear Zephaniah’s prophecy, we easily can find ourselves among those who—in the secret places of their hearts—don’t really trust that God is at work in their daily lives. We say to ourselves that we are on our own to make our own fortunes, to fix our own problems, to plan our own futures. “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.”

This saying captures the sometimes-subtle shape that our disbelief assumes. Think back over our conversations in the meetings of our task force. How often do we focus on the mundane: the tallies of our demographics; the patterns of our culture; the influences of our marketing; and the predictions flowing from our habits? We leave God out of our reflection. He is there, somewhere, but what matters most is our effort and insight. “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.”

We tend to believe, or at least to act upon our convictions, as if God cannot and will not take that surprising, day-of-the-Lord action to upend our congregation’s life and to do something new and wonderful, something that purifies with judgment and rejuvenates with grace. When we trust in this conviction, we cling to an illusion.

Zephaniah calls us to “be silent before the Lord God!” He reminds us that “the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.” As Christians, we cannot help but be reminded by these words that the Father prepared Jesus Christ to offer himself for all of humanity—including you and me—as a sacrifice for our sins. Then, by virtue of our baptism into his sacrificial death, we arise from the waters as his consecrated guests, both at his Eucharistic Table and at the gates of his heavenly city.

This is why St. Paul reminds us that we are “children of the light and of the day.” He proclaims that we have been adopted into the family of the God and Father who “destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” His reminder helps dispel the notions we might want to hold, that we are on our own, that God has withdrawn his guiding hand from our lives, and that we must trust only in our own efforts and plans.

In these dark days, conflict and confusion threaten to rend our world, our lives, and our congregation. We find ourselves succumbing to the temptation to travel only along the paths that we have picked out for ourselves. But by faith, we hold in a creative and uncomfortable tension these two truths of God’s work in our lives: he punishes us in our complacency and he destines us for salvation.

REFLECTION

When will you “be silent before the Lord God?”
Where in your life do you find yourself trying to make your way on your own? How have you pushed God to the margins of your life?
What can we do as a congregation to turn us from relying on our own powers and solutions to trusting the work of God to help us to live as children of the light and the day? What can you do in your own life to make a similar change?
What prayers will tell God of your desire to live as a child of the light and of the day?

PRAYER

Gracious Father, bless us with the silence we need to hear your voice. Help us to abandon both our complacency and our trust in ourselves so we may rely upon your promise to work your will in our lives. Inspire us, by your Holy Spirit, to trust in your Son’s sacrifice to consecrate us to live as children of the light and of the day; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

AUTHOR

David Frye is a member of the Spirit-Driven Task Force and its Steering Committee.

NOTES

The people of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Hickman, Neb., have organized a Spirit-Driven Task Force, bringing together almost forty members who have committed to a year of study, prayer, reflection, and deliberation to discern how God is calling the congregation to renewal for the sake of his mission.

This is the twenty-sixth of a series of weekly meditations with the aim to inspire reflection and encourage conversation among the members of the task force as we journey together in obedience to our Lord’s calling to serve him.