Children of Light. 01/28/2024

Children of Light

Ephesians 5:8-14 & 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11

Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins

January 28, 2024

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, for

the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is

pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose

them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, but everything exposed

by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

______

For you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of

darkness. So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober, for

those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we

belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet

the hope of salvation. 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. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you

are doing.

______

Once upon a time, there was a wise farmer. Every day, the farmer used his horse to help him

work the fields and keep his farm healthy. One day, the horse ran away. All the villagers came

by and said, “We’re so sorry to hear this. This is such bad luck.”

The wise farmer responded, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?”

The villagers were confused but decided to ignore him. A few weeks went by and then one

afternoon, while the wise farmer was working outside, he looked up and saw his horse

running toward him. But the horse was not alone. The horse was returning to him with a

whole herd of horses. So now the farmer had ten horses to help him work his fields. All the

villagers came by to congratulate the farmer and said, “Wow! This is such good luck!”

The wise farmer responded, “Good luck. Bad luck. Who knows?”

A few weeks later, the farmer’s son came over to visit and help his father work on the farm.

While trying to tame one of the horses, the farmer’s son fell and broke his leg. The villagers

came by to commiserate and said, “How awful. This is such bad luck.”

Just as he did the first time, the wise farmer responded, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?”

A couple of weeks later, the farmer’s son was still recovering. He couldn’t walk or do any

manual labor to help his father around the farm. A regiment of the army came marching

through town conscripting every able-bodied young man to join them. When the regiment

came to the farmer’s house and saw the young man’s broken leg, they marched past and left

him where he lay. Of course, all the villagers came by and said, “Amazing! This is such good

luck. You’re so fortunate.” And you know the farmer’s response by now:

1 Ephesians 5:8-14

2 1 Thessalonians 5:5-11

“Good luck. Bad luck. Who knows?”

Wouldn’t it be nice to be like this wise farmer . . . unflappable, calm, even tempered . . . even

in the most difficult of circumstances?

For most of us, when things go our way—according to our plans and aligned with our

preferences, we’re happy! Then when things don’t go our way and our preferences don’t

win the day, we’re the opposite of happy. What’s the word for opposite of happy? Sad,

unhappy, depressed.

Speaking of opposites . . . we’re people wired for dualism, for either/or thinking. Several

years ago my husband and I went to dinner at the home of some friends of ours. They had a

son who was about four years old at that time—we watched them play a little “opposites”

game with him. They would say a word, and he would excitedly exclaim the opposite of that

word. Shall we try it?

Up (down)!

Night (day)!

Hot (cold)!

Fast (slow)!

Right (wrong or left)!

Oh my! Who said “wrong?” Who said “left?”

It seems there’s more than one “right” answer to the opposite of “right”!

Back to the lesson of the parable of the wise farmer. In our dualistic, either/or thinking

(which we humans are so good at!), we imagine there’s only one “right” answer—and the

one “right” answer is always aligned with our preference. The other answer is wrong or

bad, the way we see it. When we label things as right or wrong, good or bad, then we get

caught up in trying to control situations. We grasp at life’s moments to coerce them into

what we think they should be according to our perception of what’s right or wrong, good or

bad. This is the source of so much of our suffering.

I’m not suggesting that we rationalize or accept the truly awful, evil things—the great

injustices of this world. But there’s so much we get worked up about—so much suffering

we bring upon ourselves—when we could take the open and accepting stance of the wise

farmer: “Good luck. Bad luck. Who knows?”

This is a life pursuit, and not easily attained. Believe me, I know!

One reason I know this is because I’m married. In marriage, as in all relationships that

matter to us, there is often a push and pull—a dance of compromise—one moment you’re

going forward, in another moment backward. In my relationship with my husband, I’m

always right, it’s just that he doesn’t always see it that way! Recently we’ve been talking

about painting the outside of our house. “What color do you want to paint the house?” he

asked me. Because he asked me, I assumed that I would get to choose the paint color

without having to deal with his “misguided” opinions about such matters. I replied, “I don’t

know, let me think about it.” So I did. I thought about it, and I decided a nice greige with

white accents. Over the course of a couple of days envisioning my beautiful greige house, I

grew pretty attached to it. And then my husband had the audacity to say, “Rhys (our 10-

year-old) and I have decided: we’re painting the house yellow.” How do you think this

went? “Yellow?!?” I exclaimed. That was absolutely NOT the color I had in mind! Feeling the

fury rise in me and about to release the hounds of hell, I caught myself in the act. I took a

deep breath. “Show me some examples of what kind of yellow you’re talking about, dear.” I

told him I was thinking greige, making the case that greige would be better for resale. He

showed me some examples of yellow houses I could live with. As it stands right now, we’re

kind of sitting in a greige/yellow tension. You know what might help? You! So let me take a

poll: who’s with Terry and thinks we should paint our house yellow? Who’s with me and

thinks we should paint our house greige? Yeah, that’s not helpful at all. Now I’ve just

brought more people into our disfunction. Yay.

Greige house. Yellow house. “Who knows?”

I am clearly not at “wise farmer” level, but I’m trying!

Today we read two scripture texts, the first from Ephesians and the second from 1

Thessalonians. Ephesians was written to those in the church at Ephesus; 1 Thessalonians

was written to the church at Thessalonica. Both epistles were traditionally believed to be

written by the Apostle Paul, and in both texts, we see a common phrase to describe those

who follow Christ: “children of light.”

Let’s look at the 1 Thessalonians 5:5 first:

For you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

Paul loved these folks at Thessalonica, and they enjoyed great unity. However, the church

in Thessalonica was facing severe persecution from the Roman Empire, so Paul had to flee.

After his departure, he writes this first epistle back to his friends in Thessalonica with two

main purposes: 1) he wants to celebrate their faithfulness, and 2) he wants to challenge

them to grow in Christ. Paul names the darkness that surrounds them and sets these Christ

followers in contrast to that darkness: “You are all children of light and children of the day,”

he reminds them.

Now for Ephesians 5:8-9:

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, for

the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

The church at Ephesus faced a different challenge. While the church at Thessalonica faced

persecution—a threat from the outside—the church at Ephesus faced a threat from within.

The threat from within? Disunity. You see, Ephesus was a major metropolitan city at the

time, so the church was quite diverse with both Jews and Gentile converts to the faith. And,

as is sometimes the case with diverse people, there appears to be disharmony. Listen to

Paul’s words to them in Ephesians 4:1-6:

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to

which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one

another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of

peace: there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your

calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and

through all and in all.

Then in the next chapter, Paul reminds them how they are to conduct themselves as they

seek to build a new humanity in Christ: “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord

you are light. Walk as children of light.”

So Paul uses this beautiful phrase, “children of light” in two ways:

1. To the church at Thessalonica, he spoke into their identity: “You are all children of

light.”

2. To the church at Ephesus, he spoke into their behavior: “Walk as children of light.”

Extrapolating these verses and this imagery sent to the church at Thessalonica and the

church at Ephesus now to the church at Clearwater Beach, I think it’s safe to say that we are

to both be children of light and to walk as children of light.

Light. It’s beautiful imagery that two sets of people in the last few months have articulated.

It started with the committee planning our 75th Anniversary Celebrations. They came up

with a slogan for our 75th Anniversary:

“A Beacon of Faith Shining Into the Future.” These folks get it! What

is a beacon? It’s source of light. They get that we are called to be

children of light! We are called to walk as children of light!

Let’s dive just a little deeper into what this language might mean,

thinking theologically about this “beacon” imagery we’re starting to

use and this “children of light” imagery from Paul’s writings. How is

it, that we are children of light? Let’s listen deeply to these words

written by Thomas Merton in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a

point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our

disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own

mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty

is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak [God’s] name written in us, as our poverty, as our

indigence, as our dependence, as our [birthright]. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the

invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of

points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the

darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely.

That’s what it means to be a child of the light!

And as children of this amazing light:

•  It does not matter if our horse runs away, or if our horse comes back with ten others,

•  It does not matter if our kid breaks his leg, or if he is spared from the violence of war.

•  And it really does not matter if a house is yellow or greige.

No matter whether we walk in goodness or in evil, sunshine or in rain . . . we bring the light

with us wherever we go. We can’t help it!

Do you remember the old Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie? Rudolph was born with a

glowing red nose, which his father tried to conceal with a mask. When Rudolph became old

enough to participate in reindeer games, his mask fell off. He couldn’t hide his innate light!

Despite the fact that the other reindeer mocked him, eventually Santa recognized that the

only way to save his Christmas Eve delivery in the middle of a blizzard, was to put Rudolph

out in front of his sleigh. “Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh

tonight!”

As children of light, we can’t help but shine! As children of light, we can’t help but walk in

the light, because we bring the light with us wherever we go.

So children of light, remember this: whatever challenge you may face, whatever tomorrow

brings: Darkness. Light. Who knows? And who cares? You’re children of light! What hold

can darkness ever have over you? AbsoLIGHTly none.

So my dear friends: go and see yourself as the radiant being that you are, and then go and

walk in that light! This little light of mine (say the next part with me), I’m going to let it shine!