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Dr. Jo Anne Lyon



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Advent - Looking for Light in the Darkness

I watched with horror as the stories in Mumbai, India unfolded over Thanksgiving weekend. Twelve years ago, I well remember having tea in the elegant Taj Mahal Hotel. I also recalled that, 70 years ago, my Aunt Esther sailed from New York City to the Port of Bombay (the point of entry of the terrorists that is across the street from the hotels) with $13 in her pocket to begin a 30-year ministry in India. In addition, I reflected on a powerful church down the street from the hotel—a church where Missionary Statesman E. Stanley Jones had preached many sermons and lived the Jesus life among the poor, rich, and powerful. As I reflected, I thought much about the people in that area and prayed for their safety. A few days later, I heard about the bombings in Northeast India. This is a very poor area, and primarily Christian. The Wesleyan Church has some 8000 members in this region. My prayers increased. Then I remembered this was the first Sunday of Advent 2008. Jesus is the Light in the darkness.

Traveling to Michigan, I searched for the Light in the darkness.

As the congregation, primarily twenty-to-thirty-somethings, of Engedi Church, Holland, sang with great urgency: "You're the God of the City. . .God of Justice"— the Light began to dawn. Worshipping with them, as well as listening to their visions, dreams, and actions they are already taking around the world and in their community, I knew this was what the first Sunday of Advent was about. Our hearts blended together as we tried to rediscover what Jesus meant in "our doing greater things than He because of the Holy Spirit." This church was one of the first to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Zambia, and their partner church and community in Zambia is flourishing. Their several trips to Zambia have developed a strong relationship with the people. In their own community of Holland, they are working with many families in crisis, through a variety of programs. People are regularly coming to Jesus. Yes, the Light is being seen.

Hearing about a recent service at Frontline Wesleyan Church in Grand Rapids, my heart leaped for joy. At the completion of the baptismal service, the pastor felt compelled to ask if there were any more people who wanted the forgiveness only Jesus could give. If so, he invited them to come to the baptismal waters. Twenty some people spontaneously moved out, and the Spirit is still moving these past few weeks. They have had over 800 in attendance the past few Sundays. . .people finding the Light.

West Berlin, Michigan, is a community—not a town or city. Yet, the congregation of West Berlin Wesleyan Church had a dream 12 years ago. They began to talk the dream and created a community vision for a gymnasium/community center near the church. Someone donated the land. And, with volunteer labor from various groups and the church people, they built as they had the money. Thanksgiving weekend the dream was realized. Privileged to attend the service and beautiful dinner, collectively our hearts were full of gratitude to God and His people. I could not help but be moved by two things: their perseverance and their vision for the next generation to find the Light.

The stories abound regarding the "bail-out" deals for the auto industry. Yet there are many people that we never hear of that are working to alleviate another kind of suffering. Daybreak Community Church in Hudsonville, Michigan, has had significant influence on one of the executive directors of GM. He is a great man of faith who recently began to look at the suffering world and wanted to create something that would bring lasting relief to the suffering. He first sponsored a child in Malawi but then began to wonder how he could do more. Hearing of what the church was doing in Zambia regarding HIV/AIDS, he inquired as to sustainable food issues. He learned of the long lines of people waiting to have their corn ground. Many times they have to return home without the grinding due to the lack of fuel to sustain the hammer mill. As a result, he challenged the students of Michigan Tech University with the project of inventing a non-fuel-using hammer mill. The students and faculty have risen to the challenge and hope to soon have a model for implementation. Truly, Light in the darkness!

Many years ago I remembered taking a children's choir to a Wesleyan Church in Lowell, Michigan for a performance of Jonah and the Whale. The same church building is there, but that building is now the children's ministry for the church which has been renamed Impact: A Wesleyan Church. Talk about spreading the Light! Impact has planted a church 20 miles down the road in Belding, one in Portland, and they are getting ready to plant another church. When I stepped into the Lowell church foyer on a Saturday afternoon, the enthusiasm of the people working there to prepare for an evening service and the Sunday opportunities was contagious. Now I know why the Light is spreading.

Carlo Carretto, in his book The God Who Comes, says: "The best metaphor for our world of today is astronauts speeding through the cosmos, but with their life-supporting capsule pierced by a meteorite fragment. But the Church resembles Mary and Joseph traveling from Egypt to Nazareth on a donkey, holding in their arms the weakness and poverty of the Child Jesus, God incarnate."

Reflections