My Thursday morning Bible study class is studying the gospel according to John.

In this gospel, the themes of light and darkness and “the world” play an important role.

When the evangelist speaks of the darkness, it is not something to which we can easily relate. I got a reminder about this recently when the electricity went out at night.

Of course, we all know the first thing we do when the lights go out is to reach for the light switch and turn it on. It does not take long to laugh at ourselves as we realize the reason it is so dark is that the electricity is not available.

So when we lost electricity a couple of Mondays ago, I knew not to try to turn on the light, but I did know there was a flashlight on the TV stand at the end of the bed by my closet. So I got out of bed and carefully made my way to where the stand ought to be.

As I groped in the air for some indication of the dresser that should be there, I felt a doorway. But it was strange feeling — totally turned around.

And by the time I felt the wall and a rectangular fixture where there should not be one, it began to dawn on me that I had gone far away from where I should have been. What I was feeling was the AC controller in the hallway!

A push of the appropriate button gave the familiar green backlight. Now I had my bearings. But how lost I was up until that point! Darkness is very dark in this case.

This, my friends, is a good example of how I view the general society in which we live. Even though many claim to be in the light, we grope in a darkness deeper than we are ready to admit. We have many experiences upon which to draw. We have many events by which to grow intelligence.

Our teachers have been diligent in attempting to give us the pathways to follow. And we still step out into the darkness, thinking we know the way, when we do not have a clue. We think we know the way and we wind up turned around.

Yes, there are havens of light that desire to share the Light of the world. And there are many who walk in the darkness to which the gospel of John points, and these many have no desire to leave the darkness.

Some do not even know they live in darkness. The havens of light need to be at work in the midst of the darkness so those wandering in the darkness may have that beacon of Light that gives them guidance and bearings.

On last Sunday night’s newscast, Rebecca and I heard a short report on a “Christian Q” conference. The point worthy of note is that the younger generation (20s and 30s, it seemed) taking their place in the leadership of the church wants to move away from the classical and now-poorly-viewed right-wing/conservative/ evangelical movement.

This younger set of leaders wants to have a church moving in the midst of the darkness speaking out on topics more inclusive of the ills of our society than one or two politically hot topics.

These havens of light want to shed Light on the subjects of human traffi cking, prostitution, child/ adult/spousal abuse, and AIDS victims.

These young leaders speak as if they have a strong desire to be in the darkness as points of Light, not the spiritually blind. How many of us are still groping in the dark like the Pharisees and scribes?

We think we have some answers. We think we have some experiences. We think we have some Light to shed and are working on that assumption.

Do we acknowledge the topics that need to have the Light shed upon them, and then shy from making the waves?

Jesus Christ came into this world so those who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life. He came into the world (the darkness), and people loved darkness rather than the Light. But the Light exposes all thing — done and undone.

It is my prayer the body of Christ take a long, serious look at what and how we are doing things.

Perhaps we should take seriously the ages-old direction of this younger generation and examine what and how we are doing the work of shining the Light in the darkness of the world.

If younger people actually see us and our work from a different perspective, pray them much success in their work. I pray they upset the applecart enough to get the “Pharisees and Sadducees” in an uproar, because this is what Jesus did as he moved in the darkness.