It was the summer of 1967. My brother and I sneaked into a showing of “Wait until Dark”. Before the movie, we saw the following warning: During the last eight minutes of this picture the theatre will be darkened to the legal limit, to heighten the terror of the breathtaking climax which takes place in nearly total darkness on the screen. If there are sections where smoking is permitted, those patrons are respectfully requested not to jar the effect by lighting up during this sequence.
The film stars Hepburn as a blind woman who is being stalked by a bad guy who wants to kill her (short synopsis of a long plot here). In the closing scene, she is alone in the apartment at night. As she flees her would-be killer, she smashes the bulbs in all the lamps, making the apartment increasingly darker. As she is doing this, the theater is dimmed, light by light, so that at the film’s climax, the audience is in the dark too, and now we are all on a level playing field with the blind woman. Every sound from the movie elicited screams from the audience (including yours truly!)
How scary to be stalked in the dark, where every sound could mean death at the hands of the villain.
It is against the backdrop of darkness and sin that the Magi (Wise Men, Astrologers) seek out the newborn Messiah by the light of a star. Save for the star, the world was otherwise dark. Scary, this being stalked by sin in the dark.
The light comes. So much hope wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and illuminated by a distant star.
What happens to this light today depends on those who are illuminated by it. You and I speak the message of light and hope to a world stalked by sin in the dark. As a people of the Epiphany, may our light shine and give glory to God and hope to all people! We are free from fear in the light that is Christ.
Pr. Bill Barter
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