1/3/21 “Seeing in the Dark” by Nancy E. Petty
John 1:1-18
“When it comes to seeing in the dark, traditional belief is that humans are not able to. However, new research has challenged this, suggesting that at least 50% of all people are able to see the movement of their own hand, even in an environment that is pitch black. Researchers from the University of Rochester in New York and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee say their findings suggest that what humans normally understand as sight has just as much to do with the brain as it does the eyes.”[1] These researches are not alone in researching how humans see in the dark. A quick Google search will take you into the world of “seeing in the dark” studies. And while these studies can be a bit complicated in their explanations of how our eyes and brains work in a way that enables us to “see in the dark” the fact remains that indeed we as humans are able to see through darkness.
As one who grew up quite fearful of the dark, thanks to a beloved grandmother who encouraged that fear, this information would have been helpful to me as a child. To know that in a time-frame of 10 to 30 minutes our eyes become dark adapted to “see” in low-light conditions would have ended many sleepless nights of me lying in bed with my eyes clinched tight fearing that awful thing lurking in the dark waiting to grab me. It wasn’t until much later in life that I came to experience what researches now tell us: that in time our eyes adjust to the darkness and, if even dimly, we are able to see light in the dark.
This image of darkness not overcoming seeing the light is at the heart of the Gospel of John and his telling of the Christmas story. It is a powerful image that has inspired people throughout the ages to keep hope alive even when things seem dark with despair. I can only imagine that it was those words from John’s gospel about the darkness not overcoming the light that inspired Dr. King to proclaim that “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
This past year has been full of darkness. The darkness and despair of a pandemic in which 348k lives have been lost in our nation in part due to political positioning. The darkness of an election year that brought out some of the worst faces in American politics. The darkness of police brutality against black and brown bodies. The darkness of economic inequality that results in the people being homeless and going hungry in the richest nation in the world. The darkness of government policies that promote environmental injustice. And, at the heart of it all, a nation’s founding history of the darkness of racism that has from the beginning dimmed the light of America’s ideal of being a harbor of welcome and compassion.
And yet, in all this darkness of this world, present and past, there are those brave souls throughout history who have dared to see in the dark—to hold steady for those 10 to 30 minutes, and in some cases 10 to 30 to 100 years—until their eyes could adapt to the darkness to see the light that the darkness does not overcome. People like Moses and the shepherd boy David; the midwives Shiphrah and Puah along with Hagar and Esther. The prophets Jesus and Muhammad; Buddha and Gandhi; Rosa and Eleanor; Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis; Barak Obama and Ruth Bader-Ginsberg. And not the least, the people of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In challenging our church to live into our founding identity as a church that follows a social gospel that Jesus taught and lived, I sometimes forget to reflect back to you all the ways your light overcomes the darkness of this world. As I look back over all the darkness of the last year I am so inspired by how you, the Pullen community, dared to see in and through the darkness; and how you never wavered in not letting the darkness overcome your light of generosity, welcome, courage and faithfulness to justice love.
The study I quoted at the beginning determined that 50% of all people are able to see the movement of their own hand, even in an environment that is pitch black. I’ve always known that Pullen people were well above average. As a community of people bound together by God’s love, grace and compassion you have far exceed that 50% mark in “seeing in and through the dark” of this past year.
Seeing in the dark, with a spirit of openness and graciousness, you transitioned from a meeting and worshiping in-person community to a Zoom worshiping and meeting community that has continued to welcome new people into our church. Your light has shown so bright through the darkness of the past year that 8 people have joined our church, four of whom have only experienced our community through Zoom gatherings. And at least six other unique and caring individuals who have been joining our community through Zoom are exploring Pullen with a desire to join our church. All of that to say, your light has shown through the darkness of 2020 in ways that have invited and welcomed new people into our church, even as we have had to gather virtually.
Seeing in the dark, not long after the pandemic began requiring us to no longer gather in person, you organized and implemented a safe, physically distant human chain from our church property to the State Capitol remembering the Black and Brown men, women and children killed by police brutality, bearing their names on placards that you held in silence for an hour. A chain of over 300 people that not only reached the Capitol but encircled the Capitol grounds. Your courage and creativity to see in the dark inspired three other churches to do the same thing several months later in North Raleigh along Creedmoor Rd.
Seeing in the dark, you remained faithful in supporting our Round Table ministry that seeks to offer friendship and food to those in our community who experience food insecurity weekly, and through a pandemic that deepened hunger and homelessness in our nation.
Seeing in the dark, you—Pullen people, gave over $12k above and beyond your pledged gifts to specifically help people whose lives and livelihoods have been disrupted because of the pandemic. Through your generosity and compassion, you saw through the darkness and your light:
Paid rent, electric bills, water bills and bought groceries for 10 families in neighboring Heritage Park – the closest public housing community to our church.
YOU SAW THROUGH THE DARKNESS AND YOUR LIGHT…
Helped us care for Pullen families who lost income because of the pandemic.
Helped us offer financial support for mental health care to those in our community experiencing depression and anxiety because of the pandemic.
Bought Christmas presents for families we know and for families we are getting to know.
Paid for holiday groceries for two families struggling to put food on the table.
Provided Christmas toys for children in three families.
I must tell you this story of how the darkness of 2020 did not overcome your light. I had agreed to meet a young woman at a local Walmart to help her get her children’s Christmas out of layaway. As I stood in line with her, my eyes focused on the elderly woman in front of me. I can’t explain it but from her flowed a spirit of humility and faithfulness. I noticed her gripping tight in one hand some money. I took her for a woman who had worked hard for her money and had sacrificed to save her money to buy someone in her life a Christmas present. As she approached the counter the clerk took her ticket to get her layaway. I stood just behind her right shoulder waiting to see how much she still owed on her purchase. The clerk said, “That will be $147.18.” As she began to unrolled the money she had held tightly in her hand, I stepped beside her and quietly said, “I would like to pay for your layaway if that would be okay with you.” She jerked her head back and looked at me like I had just said something awful to her. She replied, “What did you say?” I said, “If you would let me, I would like to pay the remainder of what you owe on your layaway. Actually, my church would like to pay for it.” Again, she looked at me stunned, the clerk still standing looking at us but being very patient, the woman said, “Are you serious?” I said, “yes, my church would like to do this for you.” And with a look of unbelief in her tired eyes and a quiver in her voice she said to me, “Ain’t nobody ever done anything like this for me ever.” With that, I handed the clerk payment and handed the lady one of my cards with Pullen Memorial Baptist Church printed on it along with my name and number and said, “If you ever need anything call the church and someone there will talk with you.” With a tear in her eye she took my card, thank me and I watched her slowly put the cash she had been holding in her hand in her pocket.
I tell you that story because it is but one snapshot in a church’s family album of loving and compassionate people doing things for others that “ain’t nobody ever done” for them before. There are stories that go back a 135 years of Pullen people doing kind and compassionate and loving things for people in the Raleigh community that nobody had ever done. Stories of Pullen people extending a caring hand to strangers. Stories of Pullen people welcoming the displaced into our community and offering refugee to people that other churches turned away. Stories of Pullen people feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. Pullen, you didn’t just start “seeing in the dark” in 2020. You have been “seeing in the dark” for years. You have been the light that the darkness could not overcome here in Raleigh and in places all around the world.
And in the darkness of 2020 you kept on “seeing in the dark” in ways that both amazed and astounded me. Adding to what I have already mentioned, you continued your financial giving to support our annual budget at a level that very few churches were able to maintain during the past year. Of the $1 million, 94 thousand, 112 dollars pledged, in a year of great financial instability, you gave, $1 million, 26 thousand, 549 dollars and 27 cents. One could look at that and say, “But that left us over $65k short of our pledged amount,” and that would be true. But in a year of a global pandemic that has uprooted every aspect of our lives, your generosity amazes me. We will end our year in the black because of the SBC loan we were granted by the government that has since been forgiven. It is for sure that we will need more “seeing in the dark” eyes as we turn toward our 2021 budget and I have every confidence in Pullen’s light to overcome the challenges ahead because you are a people who are known for “seeing in the dark.”
Finally, lifting up your amazing ability as a church to see in and through the dark I want to lift up your commitment to doing the racial justice/racial equity work we have committed to doing as we seek to live the social gospel and follow Jesus. I know and you know that this work will not be easy but easy has never been our way as a church. And not allowing the darkness to overcome the light is not easy work in this world. And still, John writes in his Christmas story, “the Word became flesh and lived among us…full of grace and truth…and from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”
Today, on this first Sunday of a New Year, I simply wanted to say to you that I, along with so many people in this community and in this world, know you as a church that “sees in the dark.” You are known as a church that does not let the darkness overcome the light. You are known as a church that embodies in the flesh the love that came to live among us in the flesh. You are known as a church full of grace and truth. You are known as a church that both receives and gives grace upon grace. I want you to know that I see you, this community sees you and the world sees you. Your light radiates from that light that came into the world to live among us in the flesh. May you, may we, be blessed in 2021 as we continue to be that church that is committed to “seeing in the dark.”
[1] Medical News Today Newsletter, November 3, 2013.
