PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 29, 2023

LIGHT SHINING IN THE DARKNESS

Bishop Woodie White, the resident bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist church, was the primary tour host for one of my trips to Israel.  The trip included a visit to a Palestine refugee camp in Bethlehem, a settlement in the West Bank, and the Bethlehem Bible College.  We also had several lectures to help us understand the history and current conditions in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

I found the refugee camp troubling.  Many of the residents were third generation.  Unfortunately, this was not the only Palestine refugee camp.  They can also be found in several Arab nations.  I could see how the conditions might well, over time, produce radical leadership that would turn to violence.   There was one bright spot to the visit.  We visited with a Jewish lady who had been working with children of the camp for years.  She was committed to doing all she could to make their lives a little better.

Last week in my article, “Colleges and Universities,” I talked about institutions of higher education being lights shining into the darkness of ignorance.  One of the texts I used was from John 1:3-5: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not over come it.”  Through her volunteer work, the Jewish lady was light shining into the darkness of a Palestine refugee camp.

Since 1967 the Texas Baptist Men have been training and sending disaster relief groups.  They have provided help, hope, and healing to missions of hurting people in all 50 states and around the world.  Presently they are providing thousands of meals to rocket-ravaged communities in Southern Israel.  Additionally, they have helped 50 doctors, nurses, and medical professionals travel to Israel to treat those who have been impacted by the fighting.  Their radical acts of service and compassion are a light shining in the darkness of destruction.

The relief efforts of the Texas Baptist Men are not the only example of light shining in the darkness of Gaza and Israel.  There are a number of relief organizations providing a variety of services.  The news has stories of individual efforts to bring help, hope, and healing.  On Good Friday evil tried to destroy of the Light which had come into the world.  Easter was testimony that the light still shone in the darkness. In spite of the horrors of evil in Israel and Gaza, the light still shines.

One does not have to travel to Israel and Gaza to find examples of the light shinning in the darkness.  For more than fifty years The Texas Baptist Men have been there when natural disasters have occurred in the United States.  Every week the local news is filled with examples of light shinning in the darkness.  For those who have ears to hear and the eyes to see the light of Christ still continues to shine.

This week where will you find examples of the light continuing to shine in darkness?  May they nourish your soul and give you hope for the future!

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)