To celebrate our new year, the Youth Group had a Lock-In on January 3rd. One of the traditional highlights of the event was a rousing game of Sardines – but with the added fun of playing the game in the dark. For those of you not conversant in the ways of Sardines, Sardines is much like “hide-and-seek,” except that when a person finds the “hider,” he or she hides WITH the hider, until the last “finder” joins the group, and becomes the “hider” for the next round. As you may well imagine, the hardest part is not finding the hidden person, but staying silent while waiting to be found. While it is not difficult for one person to be silent, it is a challenge for a group – especially if that is a group of 10 teenagers. And, of course, doing all this in a darkened church only heightens the potential for laughter.
I have to admit that I am not a good Sardines player. The dark is not my favorite place to be, and so I cheated. Of course, I cheated under the auspices of the “Youth Director” needing to record the event for posterity. So, it seemed perfectly logical for me to be snapping pictures during the whole thing. In doing so, my camera’s flash allowed me to avoid the pitfalls of pews, electrical cords, chairs, and teenagers’ feet.
Of course, it also allowed the kids to see. And that leads me to a thought. Sometimes, when we are in the dark, we are given light that allows us to see. And because that light will spill into the very farthest corner, all who are present will see as well. Isaiah tells us about God’s covenant with us of a “light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42.6-7).
Here we are, on the first Sunday after Epiphany, having just celebrated the coming of the brightest light to the world, Jesus Christ. If any of us are able to find the light of Jesus in our hearts and then walk in this world reflecting that light, then Jesus’ light will shine all over this world, no matter how dark things may seem.
And so, may you all be flickering lights, reflecting the love that opens blind eyes and imprisoned hearts.