But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NRSV)
One of the first things you learn in journalism are the basic questions: who, what, when, where, and why? This verse answers those questions with respect to faith.
Who?
God and us. The subject of every salvation verb is God: God creates, God searches, God loves, God gives. Salvation is the story of God’s mighty acts.
Who for? Everybody on the planet.
To us it feels as though we’re the subject. We’re seeking God, we long for God, we love God.
But a real turning point comes in our spiritual life, when we realize the reverse is true. It’s we who have fled from God’s presence in the cool of the evening. It’s God who calls, “Where are you?”
What?
Now that we have become God’s people, God calls us to proclaim the mighty acts of God. Creation. Redemption. Sustaining creation. All these massive words identify something incredible God has done for love—not because we’re special, but because it is God’s nature to love.
This is our theme. This the world needs to hear, especially now. The global economy is in travail. Nobody knows exactly what’s happening. People are afraid.
Followers of God have a message. You can build your house on a rock. When the winds howl and the floods roar, they won’t budge a house so founded.
Proclaiming isn’t just preaching from pulpits or saying the creed. It’s reaching out to give a hand, and sometimes it’s taking hold of the hand offered us. Practical helping ministries are needed now, such as support groups for the struggling, feeding ministries, tutoring programs, and the rest.
Along with them people need to hear the good news: God is searching for them. Christ died for them.
The people of God don’t need to choose either evangelism or social ministries. We need both.
When?
Now. The Eternal Now. As the storm rages, we’re tempted to believe this time is unique. But it isn’t. Each generation has had its market crashes, Nazis, and Tet offensives.
Darkness is protean in form, but one in substance and constant in its push against the light.
Where?
Great dramas take place in the rocky valleys of Afghanistan where small bands of soldiers patrol the lethal emptiness of Taliban country, or in the urban canyons of Manhattan, or in the marble corridors of D.C.
The greatest drama, however, takes place within the human spirit, the confrontation between the Son of Man and Pilate, who tosses off the essential question like childish gibberish: “what is truth?”
There, within, Pilate—each one of us—stands before the One who says: “I AM truth.”
There, within, each of us some time or other chooses for the last time the darkness or the light.
Why?
1 Peter was written to people who were suffering, experiencing a “fiery ordeal.” The apostle reached for a proverb “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” that spoke to his theme. When Isaiah used the proverb, the northern kingdom had fallen and the southern kingdom basked in its false sense of security. The prophet pointed to God, our true security.
1 Peter reminded his readers God called them out of darkness.
Today “out” has a beautiful new significance. When a gay or lesbian person comes out, they emerge from the secrecy and shame of a hidden life into the integrity of openness. Always, coming out is costly. But staying in the closet is more costly. It’s agreeing with the darkness of prejudice, hate and ignorance that have shrouded lesbian and gay people for centuries.
In Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” Quasimodo longs for one day in the sunlight. One day will be enough.
God calls us out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, not for one day, but forever.
Photo by Mary Fran
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