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March 17, 2002
"After The Rain"
Ephesians 5:8-14
Reverend Larry Gerber

Paul calls us to look beyond the righting of retailer wrongs -- real or imagined -- and to focus on being children of light in a world of darkness.

Many days on the farm in upstate New York, we would wake up to a dark, gloomy, overcast day. We might have been planning on a full day in the sun, either tilling the soil, or perhaps harvesting the grain. We could tell that we were in fuor a full day, perhaps even two or three days of rain. It would be dark and damp. The darkness of the day would put a damper on our spirits, because my brother and I loved nothing more than getting on the tractor early in the morning, and staying till late at night. Also, the rainy days meant doing jobs that we did not look forward to, such as fixing the crates used for harvesting, or perhaps sweeping cobwebs from the walls ans ceiling of the barns, or even taking time to clean our bedrooms. Oh, how we looked forward to the sunshine after the rain!!

Paul reminds that there is life after the rain, but we must go through the rain in order to appreciate the fullness of the light. When the storm clouds clear and the sun dries up the face of the earth, and the ground is moist, and the crops are refreshed, it is indeed an exciting time on the farm. We know that we need the rain, and we know that on those rainy days, we can take a much needed break from the field. And we know that the menial jobs around the farm must be done too. After the rain, we are refreshed and ready to go.

We are called to be children of the light. we experience dark parts of life at every level. Let's look at Wal-mart for a moment. There is much reason for Wal-Mart to have "rainy days" as well, days when they wish the sun was shining, but the gloomy days are a reality. Prices are lowered in order to attract customerss, but prices are not the only things falling at Wal-Mart.

Could be a toaster or a Veg-a-matic.
Take Phil Scharrel, for example. An ice auger fell 19 feet before hitting him on the head, leaving him with brain damage. He and his wife sued and were awarded $2.8 million.

Then there's Barbara Trujillo, whose back was injured when boxes from a push cart toppled on her. She sued and won $435,000.

Kathleen Mills, fired after her own father was "attacked" by a wayward box while shopping at Wal-Mart, insists that signs should be posted at all entries declaring that "shopping in this store may be hazardous to your health."

According to Wal-Mart's very own Claims Management Department, tumbling merchandise fell on top of more than 25,000 human beings over a recent four-year period. In another legal case, experts testified that an average of 150 shoppers a day, nationwide, are injured due to falling merchandise or merchandise dropped by employees onto unsuspecting shoppers pushing carts down the aisles.

This is not to knock Wal-Mart. The nationwide chain has developed enormous good will with its smiley face commercials and friendly and helpful clerks. It's just that Wal-Mart is apparently such an easy target. Victims' rights group abound. Check out walmartsurvivor.com in the event that you ventured innocently into a Wal-Mart hoping to land a good deal on a box of Tide and found yourself beaned by a wayward can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup.

So many individuals file suit against the discount giant that there are law firms that specialize only in suing Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart Litigation Project, an organization that exists to assist these lawyers, has identified more than 100 different types of lawsuits against the company. It's been estimated that Wal-Mart is hit with more than 50 lawsuits every day. Talk about a rainy day experience, and overcast skies!!

Danger is pervasive. We can't be too careful. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" Or at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, the back-yard or the schoolyard, the playground or the work place?

It is against this background of fear and darkness that the apostle Paul steps in to offer light and hope as a remedy for those in danger of becoming Chicken Little Christians.

He describes our condition without Christ as one of darkness. But when the light of Christ shines on us, we are able to live without fear, and to walk in the light (v. 14). It's a psychological thing: We feel safer in light as opposed to darkness. After a week of rain, we're delighted when the sun is shining again. That's why Paul says that the secret to living without fear is to step out of the darkness.

Here's what it means to live as children of light:
* Pursue what is good and right and true, v. 9.
* Try to find out what pleases God, v. 10.
* Don't waste your time on worthless pursuits. In fact, expose them for what they are, v. 11.
* Wake up, become aware, v.12

When we find ourselves implementing this 4-step program for fearless living, we'll feel like we've finally seen the light.

Paul would say that the world needs more cheery faces. He urges us not only to make our own world a cheerful place, but to widen the circle of light to include others: "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."

In his novel, The Street Lawyer, author John Grisham describes the reaction of someone helping the helpless:

I was in no hurry to leave the [legal clinic for the homeless] at the end of my first day. Home was an empty attic, not much larger than any three of the cubbyholes at the Samaritan House. Home was a bedroom with no bed, a living room with cableless TV, a kitchen with a card table and no fridge... .

"So what do you think?" [a fellow lawyer] asked, pausing by the door on the way out.

"I think it's fascinating work. The human contact is inspiring."

"It'll break your heart at times."

"It already has."

"That's good. If you reach the point where it doesn't hurt, then it's time to quit."

Einstein was not all that complicated. He answered the centuries-old question of whether light existed as particles or as a wave by saying, "Yes!" He said that light consisted of bundles of energy called photons, which, when they are all zipping along together, behave as a wave. Simple!

The Bible was way ahead of Einstein. The Bible refers to Christians as "children of light" (Ephesians. 5:8). We are individuals, but the Bible never refers to a "child of light." We are all members of one body. As we "zip" along together as little Christian "photons," we are a wave of light, children of light, who can make a real difference in this dark world.
--James I. Lamb, "Children of light,"
The Lutheran Witness, January 1999.

Children of light don't quit. Jesus himself modeled what it means to walk in the light. He had a heart for "the least of these." He took up a cross. He resisted the powers of oppression and evil. His plan included working with a "Helper" who would partner with us forever. His goals involved nothing short of establishing the kingdom of the highest heaven on earth.

Take Bea Gaddy. She was called the Mother Teresa of Baltimore because she fed the hungry and housed the homeless. Former president George Bush anointed her America's 695th "point of light." Family Circle magazine named her woman of the year.

She survived poverty, hunger and homelessness -- "I know what it's like to hunt for food in a garbage can and eat out of a dumpster," she wrote -- to become, in her later years, the premier advocate for the down and out.

Bea Gaddy was a tiny, white-haired woman who was also larger than life.

When word came that the 68-year-old had succumbed to breast cancer, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley ordered that flags be flown at half-staff. Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening lauded Gaddy as "the beacon of hope for those who felt hopeless."

Gaddy's annual Thanksgiving dinner fed the city. It required 80 tons of food, 30,000 paper plates, 50 cases of aluminum foil, 2,000 pumpkin pies and 100 cases of sweet potatoes. More than 3,500 volunteers fed 20,000 people.

She converted her East Baltimore house into the headquarters of her Patterson Park Emergency Food Center, and she lived in the basement. She founded the Bea Gaddy Family Center for women and children, and no matter who called, or when, she had a bed or a cot, made up and ready.

"'Just send 'em over,'" social services worker Sarah Matthews remembers Gaddy telling her, again and again. "'Just send 'em on over.' She never told me no."

What are the chances that Bea Gaddy lived in fear, worrying about the dangers in Aisle 7. Slim to none. She pursued what is "good, right and true." She had learned what is "pleasing to the Lord." She didn't waste her time on worthless pursuits. She was "awake," she had "risen" to cast her light on the plight -- of others.

When we partner-up with Jesus, we can stop worrying about falling toaster ovens, or the dangers that lurk in Aisle 7 or anywhere else. We can get on with the business of transforming a world of darkness into a world of light.

And when that is our business, "Christ will shine on [us]!" (v. 14.)

The Seven Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis have, in their short life, become a classic on library and literature shelves for both young and old alike. The first of the seven books was made into a popular TV movie entitled, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The last of the seven books is appropriately entitled, The Last Battle (Revelation?). In this chronicle, the evil characters are Narnian dwarfs. They are dark and gloomy folk, with sneering grins, who distrust the whole world. The basic issue is that they have chosen to live in darkness, refusing to see the good around them, refusing to believe that Aslan can bring God's light into their lives and world. So, they live in misery, squalor and self-imposed darkness... .

All of us walk close to the darkness in our journey through life. Indeed, life is a struggle to push back those dark times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, times of grief or depression, fear or guilt, pain or illness. The good news is that we have a light to show the way, a friend to walk with us, a helping hand to lighten our burdens. As the children of Narnia discovered, Aslan was always there when they needed him most.
--G. Bradford Hall, "Children of the light," Into the Wardrobe, February 4, 1996.

The sun shines its brightest after the rain. Rain almost always comes during the darkest hours. It is overcast and gloomy. the clouds are thick and heavy, and many times the thunder clouds role, but as the rain subsides, and the clouds clear, the sun shines on the newly watered earth, the leaves of the trees and plants glisten with the refreshing moister clinging to them, and the air is clean and refreshing. After the rain, the sun shines its brightes. As with our lives, after the gloom and despair, after the bloody cross, the lilies open up, the clouds disappear, and warmth and security enfold us. May we rise above the clouds of our lives and feel the Son of God warming our hearts and clearing all doubt away.
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Sources:
Grisham, John. The Street Lawyer.
New York: Random House, 1998, 217.
Johnson, Darragh. "Baltimore loses a
Beacon of Hope.'" The Washington Post,
October 4, 2001, B1.
Olgeirson, Ian. "Wal-Mart's headaches make
law firm's fortune." The Denver Business
Journal, November 21, 1997.

Prayer:

Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and heal my wounds.
Come, Flame of divine love, and burn up the thorns of my sins, kindling my heart with the flame of thy love.
Come, my King, sit upon the throne of my heart and reign there.
For thou alone art my King and my Lord.
~~~~
ÑSt. Dimitrii of Rostov, 17th century,
The Oxford Book of Prayer, ed.
George Appleton
(Oxford University Press, 1985), 4.

Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766