"The Wintertime of God: Shadows"
Mark Scannell
Sunday, December 10th 2006

Our theme at St Joan of Arc for this Advent season is the WinterTime of God. Fr Jim Debruycker kicked off our Advent journey last Sunday by speaking about this WinterTime of God. He spoke about Advent being both the beginning of the story and of the journey all over again. Once again, we are wondering: Who is God? and Where is God? We begin in a time of darkness.

The theme for this 2nd Sunday is THE SHADOWS. I would invite you to look at the Shadows from what might be a slightly different perspective. First of all, I would invite you to look around our worship space – this gym turned workshop space is filled with shadows – the walls and the ceiling as well as each one of us creates a shadow where we are sitting. Look down and see the shadow you project. Shadows are an interplay of darkness and light – all light, no shadows; all darkness, no shadows. Shadows are a dance between darkness and light, light and darkness.

One other fact about shadows – take a look at the screen and see the shadows that are cast by the winter sun. This is a slide taken by Anna & Fred Vagle at the end of November. In the northern atmosphere, in this time of greatest darkness, this is the time of the longest shadows. So, when there is the least amount of light or the time of most darkness, this is the time of the longest shadows.

I would invite you to continue to look at the shadows in our worship space and the slide as I turn your attention to the Gospel for today, which again is from the Gospel of Luke. Today we meet again the figure of John the Baptizer and we hear that he is in the desert, the wilderness, maybe even the darkness. We hear that the Word of the Lord comes to John there. The light finds John in the wilderness, in the darkness. John then leaves the desert and begins to preach & teach. He quotes the Prophet Isaiah: mountains will be brought lower, valleys will be built up, the crooked will become straight and the straight, crooked and the jagged edges will become smooth and the smooth will become jagged. When the Word of God finds and discovers us, there is a shift, there is a change – life changes. Things are not the way they were before. The Word of the Lord can find us in different ways and I think the way that the Word most often finds us is as an embodied Word – human beings speaking the Word to us. We are preparing for Christmas – a celebration that reminds us that God came embodied in Jesus. The light of the Word finds us in the darkness, creating a shadow.

I was thinking of different times when the Word of the Lord found me in darkness, creating a shadow, an interplay of light & darkness. I share a few of these to hopefully trigger your memories of when this happened for you.

The first memory goes back a few years to a time when I was 10 years old. I was trying out for a place on a Little League team. I tried out as an infielder, and as a 10-year-old, I had this propensity of waving at ground balls – not a good quality to have as an infielder! Well, I didn’t make the team. As I was leaving the park, I was crying, feeling like a failure. My father was there along side of me and he placed his arm on my shoulder. We were never that close. At this moment, however, he was there and he said that things would be OK. When we arrived home, he disappeared. He returned a few minutes later with a catcher’s glove, which he gave to me. He told me to try out again next year as a catcher and I would probably make the team. He was right. I didn’t know he had the glove – it was glove that he had received from a major league pitcher whom he came to know while he was in the Service. It was the right gift at the right time. I felt that shift in me.

The second example took place about eleven years ago at a time when I felt much confusion and questions about my future. It was a time of much darkness. I had made major mistakes in my professional life, and I had to leave the work I had been doing. I didn’t know what I would do next. I was telling this to someone I knew. He empathized with me. We continued to talk about other things and he asked me whether I knew of anyone who might be interested in helping him manage his company. I knew I needed a job and I said yes, it was like a light went on – he said whom? I said ME! Light found my darkness and I am still working in that job today. When he spoke, I felt that shift in me.

The third example is around here, especially on Sunday mornings. It is in greeting each other, recognizing and acknowledging each other. We don’t know who is in the darkness and who is in the light. Some of us are in the dark and on the edge because of struggles at home or at work or because we are sick or members of our family who are sick. Greeting each other and being greeted are ways of creating shadows – of bringing the light into the darkness. We are in the shadows - we live in the shadows, in that interplay of light and darkness.

There is one other aspect of the shadows that I would like to suggest and that relates to the lengthening shadows that are part of this time of the year where there is the greatest amount of darkness. I think many of us see this time as a time of great spiritual darkness in the world, darkness that comes from situations like the war in Iraq with the increasing violence and hopelessness for peace; situations like the increased violence in our cities; the more recent statements from the leadership of the Church in regard to gays & lesbians and other issues. It does seem to be a very dark time in the world, in our Church, in our cities.

I remember a saying of a teacher of mine that a drop of water left alone evaporates; put together with other drops of water in an ocean lives forever. I think the same is true with shadows. A shadow left alone remains a shadow; put together with other shadows casts an ever-lengthening shadow. In my time as a member of this community, I believe we have cast ever-lengthening shadows – lengthening shadows of compassion - into our community, into the larger Church and into the world. Our stance as a peace Church in the face of increasing war in the world; the out-reach to those struggling with mental health issues; involvement in building affordable housing; involvement in the projects like Hands Across the North Side. We also cast ever-lengthening shadows in the places where we live and work.

This past June I found myself on the north side of Minneapolis umpiring softball game between a group of Afro-American girls and Native American girls. Before the game, I was talking with the coach of the Afro-American team and I asked her if this was their first game. She said no. This was their fourth. Last week was cancelled because of rain and the week before was a cancellation because of a drive-by shooting. I began to wonder what I was doing there as there were not many other white males around. I realized I was there for a reason and I also knew that the things that we talk about here were reason to be there and umpire the game. I was alone and yet I wasn’t alone. I connected with different folks who were grateful that I was there.

We live in the shadows, dancing between darkness and light, and we can cast our shadows onto others beyond our community.

I would hope that in the future when you enter this place of worship and see the many shadows, you will be reminded that all of us are continually living in the shadows. This is where we all live. A reminder, also, of the shadows that we cast as a community into the larger communities of which we are members. I believe also that not only do we live in the shadows. God also lives here with us and we live with God. So, on this Sunday of Advent, we have the beginning of an answer to the question that Jim raised last week – where is God? God is here in the shadows!