My hostess led me down the steep flight of stairs and all the way across the 2,000-square-foot basement room to the full size bed made up in the farthest corner. It was years ago, and I was staying with a friend’s sister in order to attend an out-of-state wedding the next day. As grateful as I was for the hospitality, I did have several moments of hesitation when my friend’s sister crossed back to the other side of the room and flicked the light switch off before shutting the door and ascending back up the stairs to the main floor of the house. When the lights went out and the door shut, the entire space became as black as a cave at midnight. For someone with an overactive imagination, this was not conducive to settling down to sleep. This was before cell phones, and I literally had no way to allow in even a sliver of light. It was a long and anxious night before faint morning light began to finally penetrate the black through the basement window wells. 

Have you ever been in complete and utter darkness? Are you comfortable with the absolute absence of light? Sometimes, the darkness may be metaphorical, representing fear, sadness, or sin. If being in darkness scares or discomforts you, there is good news! 

John 1:5 tells us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (NIV). This verse came to mind recently while watching a televised version of Anthony Doerr’s book, All the Light We Cannot See. The story is set in France during World War II, a time of great darkness. One of the main characters is a blind girl who is broadcasting over a radio frequency that is being listened to by a German soldier. In one scene, the audience is transported back in time to when both characters tuned in to this same frequency years earlier to hear a professor who transmitted a radio program for children. In one episode, this thought was shared: “Darkness lasts not even for one second when you turn on the light.” My awareness of that first shaft of light in the absolute darkness of that basement bedroom confirmed this for me. 

A little over a year ago, I sat in a newcomers class at a congregation and heard individuals and families share story after story of the reasons they had been introduced to the church, the interactions that kept them coming, and ultimately why they had decided to stay and place membership. What I heard that morning were examples of a church that is living out the challenge originally written to the Philippian Christians: to “carry the light-giving Message into the night” (Phil. 2:15, MSG). Other translations say to “appear as lights in the world” (NASB) or “shine among them like stars in the sky” (NIV). Whatever the description, the command is to live in this dark world in such a way that the darkness will diminish and disappear. Our very lives are meant to pierce the darkness.

Because Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), we become a beacon when we live according to his statutes and commands and act as his hands and feet. When this happens, congregations that shine brightly in this world will not necessarily need to invest in signage in the community to declare who they are. Their actions will be all the advertisement needed. The challenge is not to invest in lighted signs, flashlights, lamps, lighthouses, etc. Instead, we are to be a living light, illuminating things around us by our actions and words. May we fan the embers into flames in our daily lives, puncturing the pitch black. Shine bright!