My Light and My Salvation
View My Light and My Salvation ForwardView excerpt from My Light and My Salvation: Lost in the Terror of the Night
My Light and My Salvation
$15.00 + $5.50 Shipping & Handling
Rev. Kurt E. Reinhardt
Made available by Redeemer Press
Preface
As a child I was always afraid of the dark. I was sure that something was waiting to get me at the top of the dark staircase in my childhood home; the only thing that made the journey possible was to have someone with me. Now that I am all grown up I am terrified of the dark. For I know what it is that waits for me in the darkness, prowling around like a roaring lion looking to devour me. The only thing that still makes the journey possible is to have Someone beside me.
The title of this collection is taken from the first verse of the 27th Psalm, which my mother used to read to comfort her frightened little boy. The words that the Lord planted in my heart through her continue to be a comfort to me. They remind me of the One who walks beside me through the darkness, whose light dispels my fears with His peace. Although Satan still assaults me with my sins, death, and hell, the light that shines forth from my wounded God delivers me from them all.
With time my fear of the physical darkness subsided, but as I matured, I developed in its place a keen awareness of the spiritual darkness all around and within me. From early on poetry became an outlet for me to wrestle with that darkness. The world and my sin weighed heavily upon me, and I found some relief in being able to allow the turmoil of my soul to spill out onto paper. Sadly, much of this writing simply reflected the darkness of our fallen world and gave voice to what seethed within me. The writing from this period of my life is heavy-hearted, filled with the despair that is the ugly progeny of sin.
When, by God's grace, I entered the seminary searching for peace as much as looking to learn how to bestow it, God opened up before me a truth that I had always known yet did not fully grasp. The Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ I knew to be a fact, and even a fact that was somehow for me, yet I had not laid hold of its full implications. As I came to see how the Incarnate Christ stands at the heart of the Christian faith, and how that Incarnation unfolds in the precious sacramental gifts that flow from it, my eyes began to open more fully to the One who stands beside me.
My writing from this time onward has continued to ponder and provide an outlet for the darkness that is around and within us, but now also seeks to give voice to the Light that has come into the world to dispel that darkness. The writings of this collection are born of my experience of the Incarnation of Christ being unfolded in my life and the lives of God's people. The grace of God in the gift of His Son to be man for me continues to leave me in awe. This awe is only surpassed by the wonder I feel that Almighty God would use a poor miserable sinner like me to unfold that grace in the lives of others as a servant in Christ's Church. I hope that in some small way the verse that was born of the comfort I received from God may offer you some small comfort on your journey.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. John Stephenson for the part he has played alongside other teachers in opening my mind and heart to these deep truths of God. This volume would not have seen the light of day without this dear brother's efforts and encouragement. I would also like to express my great depth of gratitude to my father and mother, who faithfully raised me in my baptismal faith, and to the faithful shepherds who fed and nourished that faith with the gifts of Christ. Finally I would like to thank the sheep of Christ whom it has been my honour to tend for my Lord at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kurtzville, Ontario. The journey I have had the privilege of making with them as they bear the cross has continued to school me in God's rich grace for us in Christ Jesus.
The cover artwork was graciously provided by Mr. Michael D. O'Brien, a well-known and respected Canadian Roman Catholic novelist and artist. His novels have been a source of comfort and encouragement to me, even as they have evoked serious contemplation upon the role of cross-bearing in the Christian life. His icon entitled "Jesus Christ the Word of Life" beautifully pictures the One who is, by God's rich grace, my Light and my Salvation. No other image could be more appropriate for the front of this work. Here is the Enfleshed Word who stands beside me that I may face the darkness without fear. I am deeply indebted to Mr. O'Brien for permitting me to use his work.
The willingness of Pr. David Petersen to publish this work under the auspices of Redeemer Lutheran Press in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is greatly appreciated. Having never entered into such a venture before, I have found his counsel and assistance most helpful.
I would like to dedicate this volume to my dear wife, Tammy, and our beloved children, Eduard, Beatrice, and Johann. They all stand as a daily reminder of God's rich grace that comes to me purely out of His fatherly divine goodness and mercy without any merit or worthiness in me.
Kurt E. Reinhardt
Kurtzville, Ontario
St James the Great, 25 July 2008