We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:4-7, NRSV)
Several years ago, I read a book entitled “From Basement to Sanctuary.” It’s the story of Holly Hayes’ recovery from addiction. She found help in an Alcoholics Anonymous group that met in the basement of a church.
Holly’s search for a Higher Power led her to a worship service at the church where her AA group met. She wasn’t raised in the faith, so she wasn’t sure what to expect. It was one of her observations about that worship experience that has haunted me ever since.
Holly pointed out that in the AA group that met in the church basement, people were completely transparent and vulnerable because they knew that they’d die if they weren’t. But in that same church, upstairs in the sanctuary, people seemed hesitant to be transparent and vulnerable, for fear that they would die if there were!
The Church needs to be a place where people feel safe enough to be completely transparent and vulnerable about the things over which they are powerless. If not, the writer of John says, we’re walking in darkness. And whatever is not brought into the light has the potential to destroy us.
Is there an area of your life that you’ve kept shut off from the cleansing, healing light of Christ?
May God grant us the grace to walk in the light as Christ is in the light.