Better to light a candle than curse the darkness

The title of this post is a quotation that could be from William L. Watkinson* and regardless of who it came from, the sentiment is a useful one.

This week, instead of just talking about anyone becoming a “fisher of people” whatever that might mean, I felt led to talk about light. The word “light” appears in a couple of our readings this week** and as a metaphor, it is very powerful.

I didn’t get into this in either sermon but we are often told the world fits into a binary of light and darkness, that is, everything is either light/good/moving toward the light or dark/bad/moving toward the dark. I don’t like this for a lot of reasons, not least of which is I am deeply suspicious of binaries as a class. The main reason I don’t like it is they are in no way equivalent. If you are in the dark and you strike a match, the darkness is gone. Darkness never overwhelms the light in the physical world and I put it to you that it doesn’t in the spiritual world either.

Regardless of what you think about my pronouncement on light and dark, I hope you will find value in one or both of the sermons below. As always, if you are able and inclined, I would love to hear what you think.

“Light” Knox Presbyterian (to download, right-click and select “Save Link As . . .”)