Blackouts and Power Restored

An author Bobby Gross describes what it was like to live through a blackout in New York City during the year 1999. "As any urban dweller knows-and this is especially true in New York-it's never completely dark in the city. Moon or no moon, there is always some light, usually enough to read by. So this was eerie. Improbably we found a parking place two blocks from home. We crept nervously down the sidewalk, hearing the voices of people we could not see. A waving flashlight here or there provided bearings enough to reach our building. Carefully we shuffled up the walkway to the lobby door and fumbled with our key. Inside we felt our way along the walls to our first-floor apartment, awkwardly let ourselves in, then groped our way to the pantry, finally finding candles and matches. In the small merciful glow we began to breathe easier, anxiety giving way to a sense of adventure. The blackout persisted into the next day, affecting some two hundred thousand people in northern Manhattan. With the coming of daylight, hordes of people spilled out into the neighborhood sidewalks and parks. As the day wore on without power, folks grilled meat and shared food that would go bad in the rising heat. Radios blared, kids played in the fire hydrants and neighbors chatted in what amounted to a huge block party. The shared experience created a kind of camaraderie. Around five o'clock the power came back on and, with it, lights, refrigerators and air conditioners. Then everyone went back inside. This experience became for me a kind of parable about how dark our darkness can be and, in contrast, what a relief when light is restored.

I am sure you can see where I am going, right?  After the let down of the holidays and the continuing struggles in the New Year, we are called in this season before Lent to come and see Jesus.  Without this light of Jesus' love and forgiveness of sins, we cannot see and keep out the darkness that often surrounds our lives.  Join us starting Sunday, January 6 for Epiphany.    

Miriam Circle was going to do the study "Grace Upon Grace" on page 16 of the Fall Lutheran Woman's Quarterly in December, but the Winter Quarterlies arrived a few days before our meeting and one of the Bible Studies in it was Christmas oriented, about the Shepherds, so we studied that one instead and will do the "Grace Upon Grace" study at our next meeting, Tuesday, January 8th, at 10:00a in the church library.  Come and join us.  

We'll have copies of the study available at the meeting for those who don't have the Fall Quarterly.  We are usually finished around noon.