The Word of God is our guide, our companion in the darkness, the Word which comes from God is our hope and confidence. This is not our own creation in the darkness but God’s gift of light here and now. And it will carry you along until the new day dawns, until the end of the night.

We have grown used to the metaphor of light and darkness to describe the state of the world and the purpose of the church in it. Such language is rich in Scripture. John’s Gospel begins by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” In the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the light of the world.” Later, our Lord will say, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And at the end of the book of Revelation, when the New Jerusalem is pictured, we are told, “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.” In the end, the night is finished, and the light encompasses all things.

Now, usually, when I contemplate this metaphor of light and dark as a means of understanding the role of faith in a fallen world, I think primarily in terms of sin and righteousness. The light is where we find the truth, the things of God, what is good, right, and salutary. And the darkness contains all the things we want to keep hidden from the light. The darkness is where our sins thrive, where greed, perversion, and hatred dwell unchecked by the light. But these days I’ve begun to see this a little differently. The darkness is more than a place where sin hides; it is a place of longing without hope, a place locked in despair that is constantly searching for something beyond itself but cannot find it. It is helpful to see the darkness as a place where one searches for God but does not find him.

Now that may be a subtle distinction, but I think it is an important one. Today is Transfiguration Sunday, and the text that we’re looking at is from 2 Peter. Now St. Peter is addressing a people struggling with false teachers. There seems to be an abundance of voices seeking to twist and pervert the Word of God, ultimately leading to doubt and despair. But our text begins with this simple line: “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What plagues the people of God are cleverly devised myths.

Myths thrive in the darkness. These are stories that seek to explain the structures and patterns of the world.

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