When You See

AM Psalm 119:97-120 • PM Psalm 81, 82
Jer. 8:18-9:6 • Rom. 5:1-11 • John 8:12-20

I often get to light a candle for the four- and five-year-olds during Children’s Sunday School before we share the lesson. I’ll get the candle out and get a single match ready and then before I strike it, I’ll say, “Jesus said, I am…”

And together the children will say, “THE LIGHT!”

And if I do it right, the match ignites right when the children say the word, “light.”

(It’s the little things that go a long way in Children’s Sunday School.)

Today’s reading from John has Jesus telling the people, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

I read those words and I think of the children I get to work with on a Sunday morning and the candle we use and the match that sparks a flame and our simple ritual.

I think of how mysterious matches and candles are to children. How fire is so attractive and yet so dangerous and so scary. Sometimes on a Sunday we’ll go back to the candle and light it several times and use the snuffer to change it into smoke over and over, mesmerized. The single flame of a candle can be a very alluring object, almost magical.

I think of how some of us may experience Christ like the lighting of that candle. Jesus’ life and teaching is attractive and alluring and mysterious and also dangerous. It leads to a cross and tomb before it gets to a resurrection. I claim to follow Jesus but I cannot say that I never walk in darkness.

When children talk about Jesus they make no distinction about his deity: “Jesus is God.” It’s simple. Ask them about light and they say, “God gives us light. He made the Sun and it makes everything be seen.” Or, “The light is when you see. The dark is when you don’t.”

Somehow that helps me understand what Jesus is saying to the people, to the Teachers and the Rule Followers.

“I am the light. I am when you see.”

Written by Troy Schremmer

Troy works with preschool age children as an enrichment teacher in music and movement. He also sings songs at our public library and volunteers as a teacher-helper in Children’s Sunday School.