Gordon E. Ellis
September 16, 2007
THE SHADOWS WE CAST
The FUNNIEST thing happened in my LAST church. We wanted NEW pictorial directories because the congregation was GROWING so rapidly. And as some of you know, pictorial directories are WONDERFUL things, but they are VERY difficult to put together. It’s a HUGE job! Well FINALLY, it was all SET to go to print. In fact, the salesman from the directory company had come to pick UP the final DRAFT. And literally, AS I was handing it to him, I noticed that the picture of the CHURCH on the front COVER had ALL these WIRES running across the front of the church. And I said: WAIT a minute! LOOK at that COVER! WE can’t put THAT picture on the COVER! LOOK at all those WIRES!
He said: Oh, don’t worry! There WON’T be any WIRES when you get it BACK. Our COMPUTERS can take the WIRES out. YOU won’t even know they were there. And sure enough, when the directories came BACK, the wires were GONE! BUT, the cover STILL looked STRANGE to me! And about 6 months later, I finally figured out what was BOTHERING me. They had gotten RID of the WIRES alright, but the SHADOWS from the wires REMAINED, running right across the BOTTOM of the church. They’d FORGOTTEN to get rid of the SHADOWS. So, we had to LIVE with those SHADOWS for YEARS, until we FINALLY published a new DIRECTORY.
Well, our Scripture Lesson TODAY is ALSO about casting SHADOWS. HERE, people are LINING up SICK folks in the street, SO that the Apostle Peter’s SHADOW will FALL on them AS he walks BY, because THEY believe that even Peter’s SHADOW has the power to HEAL the sick. IMAGINE having SO much RESPECT and AUTHORITY -- IMAGINE being perceived as being SO close to GOD -- that EVEN your SHADOW has the power to HEAL people. WOW!
Well friends, what a BEAUTIFUL metaphor this is! THINK about it! We ALL cast SHADOWS, don’t we? SOME of our shadows are HEALING and LIFE-GIVING. And OTHERS are HURTING and DESTRUCTIVE. But, we ALL cast SHADOWS!
SOME people, of course, cast more FAR-REACHING shadows than OTHERS. When Bill Clinton was President, for example, his AFFAIR with Monica Lewinsky cast a dark SHADOW over this nation and its MORAL fiber. But even MORE far-reaching have been the shadows that President Bush has cast, with the DESTRUCTION that he’s created in Iraq, his EMBARRASSING environmental policies and SO much MORE. And shadows like THESE just DON’T go away that quickly, especially SHADOWS that are CAST by people in whom we place great TRUST and AUTHORITY.
But AS I said, we ALL cast SHADOWS. Think back over your OWN life. Undoubtedly there are many ORDINARY people whose SHADOWS helped to SHAPE you, and may even STILL affect you. WHEN I was a SENIOR in prep school, my best friend for 4 YEARS was EXPELLED in the spring of our senior year. And the FACT that he was expelled DIDN’T bother me, because he DID break the rules. However, the WAY he was expelled was absolutely INEXCUSABLE! You see: he confided in a COUNSELOR that he had smoked MARIJUANA in his DORM room. And the counselor went straight to the Dean of the Students and TOLD the Dean what my friend had SAID. And immediately, the Dean EXPELLED my friend. And a number of us were OUTRAGED -- NOT by the EXPULSION, but BY the fact that this counselor had broken CONFIDENCE and TOLD the Dean something that was meant for a COUNSELOR’S ears! I’ll tell you, we must have marched into EVERY office on campus, and NO one would give us a HEARING -- UNTIL we FINALLY got to the CHAPLAIN’S office. And FINALLY, someone LISTENED. And even though he could NOT affect the OUTCOME of the case, HIS listening and caring, his AUTHENTICITY as a CHRISTIAN who was willing to LIVE his beliefs, AND his deep compassion and LOVE, DID help to HEAL us. And you know, AS I look back on that incident NOW, I realize that, at THAT moment for the FIRST time in my life, I began to take SERIOUSLY the Christian faith. That wonderful Chaplain, Glyn Jones, cast such a powerful SHADOW upon my life that it STILL affects me TODAY, nearly 40 years LATER. And it STILL helps to SHAPE my OWN ministry.
On the other hand, I had a GRANDFATHER who was an ABUSIVE parent. The man has been DEAD now for 46 YEARS, but the DARK shadows that he CAST with his ABUSE still linger. And again and again, those shadows STILL hurt the lives of his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. We just KEEP on feeling the effects of grandpa’s SHADOW. And you know: I DOUBT that Grandpa ever gave a THOUGHT to the long-term EFFECTS of the SHADOWS he was casting, because IF he HAD, MAYBE , just MAYBE, he would have worked harder to CHANGE his ways, and CAST a DIFFERENT shadow. I don’t KNOW that for SURE, but MAYBE, just MAYBE….SO, the question that we need to continually ask OURSELVES is this: what SHADOWS are WE casting? And that’s an IMPORTANT question, because SHADOWS cannot be ERASED once they are CAST. They CANNOT be altered or changed. Now, we can GROW and LEARN from them. And GOD can REDEEM them -- and FROM them, bring forth some sort of RESURRECTION in our lives. We can FORGIVE those who have cast DESTRUCTIVE shadows over our lives. And we can THANK those who have cast LIFE-GIVING shadows. But LIKE the shadows of the WIRES on the cover of this old DIRECTORY, the SHADOWS remain! And we HAVE to LIVE with them. SO, the question is: WHAT shadows are WE casting that will continue to AFFECT the lives of those we KNOW and LOVE? Friends, we ALL need to THINK about this question BEFORE we act, and BEFORE we speak: WHAT kind of SHADOWS will OUR words and deeds CAST?
And as CHRISTIANS, we must STRIVE to cast SHADOWS that are faithful to CHRIST, shadows that are AUTHENTICALLY Christian. You know, in our day and age, maybe MORE than in any OTHER, people are yearning for AUTHENTICITY. We’ve been BURNED by TOO many FAKE and inauthentic people and promises. We’ve listened to WAY too much political RHETORIC, and too many “pie-in-the-sky” guarantees. We’ve been LIED to TOO many times by ADVERTISERS, politicians and TV evangelists! And so, WE just want people to be HONEST with us -- to be AUTHENTIC. So, IF we are going to call ourselves CHRISTIAN, then we had BETTER be willing to LIVE our faith in our daily lives. And invariably, THAT means SOME sort of SACRIFICE. However, when Christians are authentically CHRISTIAN, people DO listen and take notice. People of ALL faiths, for example, loved and respected Mother Theresa. People LISTENED to her, and NOT because they always AGREED with her, but because they KNEW that she was AUTHENTIC; and because IN and THROUGH her, they could SOMETIMES catch a glimpse of CHRIST Himself. Yes, Mother Theresa worked HARD to cast authentically CHRISTIAN shadows. And THAT’S what WE need to DO as well.
Now, as a CHURCH, I think we’ve done pretty WELL at it! I’m VERY proud, for example, that we have a stated PURPOSE, and that we LIVE by it as we make PLANS and establish PRIORITIES and POLICIES. I’m EXTREMELY pleased with our Open and Affirming statement, and that, like Jesus, we exclude NO one here, but accept and embrace ALL people into our church. I’m DELIGHTED with all of our MISSION and OUTREACH work, AND that it’s so BALANCED between work done LOCALLY, work done NATIONALLY, and work done GLOBALLY. Yes, it’s VERY exciting to be PART of it! And ALL the varied opportunities that we have for worshipping GOD here are just INCREDIBLE! Well friends: BECAUSE of all this, and so much MORE, the SHADOWS that THIS church CASTS within this community, and beyond, are POWERFUL, faithful and LIFE-GIVING shadows, and they TOUCH and ENHANCE innumerable LIVES! And as I prepare to DEPART from this church, and take on a NEW challenge in a NEW town, I just hope and pray that THIS church will CONTINUE to be as STRONG and as FAITHFUL as it is right NOW, and that you will CONTINUE to consider the SHADOWS that you are casting and the LIVES that you are touching, SO that you’ll CONTINUE to WORK at casting authentically CHRISTIAN shadows. Yes, THAT’S my HOPE and my PRAYER!
So, HOW do we DO that? How do we cast AUTHENTICALLY Christian SHADOWS, especially in our INDIVIDUAL lives? Well, FIRST, we try to IMITATE Jesus. Isn’t that what it means to BE a disciple? And it’s very CLEAR in the gospels that Jesus was ALWAYS asking Himself, in EVERY circumstance, what SHADOWS His words and deeds would CAST. He was very INTENTIONAL about EVERYTHING that He SAID and DID. And therefore, ALL who wish to imitate Him must ALSO be very INTENTIONAL with their WORDS and DEEDS.
Secondly, we cast authentically CHRISTIAN shadows by trying to stand as CLOSE as possible to the LIGHT of Christ. Did you ever notice how the FURTHER you walk AWAY from a LIGHT-SOURCE, the longer, duller, and more VAGUE your shadow BECOMES. SO, the FURTHER we are from Christ, the more SELF-centered (rather than CHRIST-centered) our SHADOWS become. And the more SELF-CENTERED they become, the more DESTRUCTIVE they CAN and will BE. And THAT’S why Christ is CONSTANTLY inviting us, constantly CALLING us, to draw CLOSER to HIM, to walk in HIS light, and to be in deeper COMMUNION with HIM. For AS we draw CLOSER to the light of CHRIST, our DESTRUCTIVE and self-centered shadows begin growing smaller and smaller, until they FINALLY fade away, lost in the BRILLIANCE of Christ’s eternal LIGHT. Yes, like Mother Theresa, WE need to literally LOSE ourselves in the light of CHRIST, drawing so CLOSE to Him that His LIGHT actually shines THROUGH us, like a MOTH on a LIGHTBULB. And when THAT happens -- AS it did with PETER, and as it did with Mother Teresa, and as it’s done with so MANY loving and faithful Christians through the ages – WHEN that happens, then EVERYONE we touch, even with only our SHADOW -- will experience the LOVE and GOODNESS, the PEACE and HEALING, of Christ Himself.
So friends, please CONTINUE -- while I’m HERE, and AFTER I’m GONE -- to PRAY; to WORSHIP; to STUDY the scriptures; to RECEIVE the Sacrament of Communion; to DO good deeds for your neighbors in need; to GIVE sacrificially of your time, your talent and your treasure to Christ’s church; and MOST of all, to set your HEARTS on the things of GOD, because ALL these things will HELP to draw you CLOSER and CLOSER to the Light of CHRIST, until you get SO close to it that HIS Light begins to shine THROUGH you. THAT, my friends, is how to cast authentically CHRISTIAN shadows, shadows that have the power to HEAL and to GIVE life. And SO, may God bless EACH of us -- and may God bless THIS church as a WHOLE -- on our JOURNEY toward the ONE true LIGHT, the LIGHT of the world, the LIGHT of Christ! Amen.