Darkness to Light 1

Hello Everyone,

        Super storm Sandy hit the Eastern U.S. on October 29, 2012.

New York City took a massive hit from the storm.

So did New Jersey, and other coastal areas to the north and south—and even cities far west, such as Cleveland, Ohio.

The storm plunged huge parts of major American cities into darkness…darkness that lasted, in some cases, for weeks.

Darkness that claimed lives darkness that may well scar some individuals, families, and communities for many years to come.

Some of us know what that’s like.

You may have escaped Sandy.

Your electricity may be reliable.

But you have experienced darkness nonetheless.

Deep darkness. Crippling darkness. Lasting darkness.

But that can all change today, if it hasn’t already.

For the past four weekends, we have been walking through a series of stories from the Scriptures, with the television miniseries called, The Bible.

We have done this as a means of allowing God to show us how those stories are also our stories.

In our worship experiences these past four weeks, we have seen how the redemption God offers to all of us can lead us from death to life, from slavery to freedom, from victim to victor, and from religion to relationship.

And today, we conclude this journey with the peak, the summit, the climax, toward which all those stories ultimately point.

It begins with Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion, a series of incidents that took his friends and followers by surprise.

They had seen him heal people, walk on water, even raise the dead.

Yet just days after he had entered the holy city, and cleansed the temple as a prophet, he was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed as a criminal.

When that happened, in Matthew’s words, “darkness came over all the land” (Matthew 27:45b, NIV). And it came over them––over their hearts, minds, and spirits.

Maybe you know what that feels like.

You might even feel that way today.

Or you might know someone who does.

If that is the case, I want you to know: there is HOPE.

In the Gospel of John we’re going to look at three aspects of this “great salvation” we’ve been exploring in this series, in the light of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!