Season 7

Episode 714: “Bringer Of Light”

Episode 714: “Bringer Of Light”
Original Air Date: February 11, 2001
Written by: Luke Schelhaas
Directed by: Robert J. Visciglia, Jr.
Produced by:

Martha Williamson
Jon Andersen
R.J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:
Lucy Baker Amanda Fuller         
John Baker    Arye Gross
Erica Baker    Eve Gordon 

Monica and Tess are captivated by the thousands of stars that decorate the beautiful night sky.  Monica elaborates on the majesty of God’s heavens as it is revealed that the angels are actually sitting in planetarium hosted by Andrew.  Across the city, fifteen year-old Lucy Baker sits in her room looking at the sky, where only the moon can be seen above the city lights.  Erica Baker joins her daughter and the two share a moment pondering what or who created the universe.  “It’s just luck,” responds Lucy’s father and science teacher, John.   Lucy is not convinced that her atheist father is right.

At school, tension runs high between John and Lucy, who is barely maintaining a C average.  John reminds Lucy that her grade hinges on her next research paper and she needs to come up with a topic.  Despite her struggles in science, Lucy excels in Monica’s English class.  Monica encourages Lucy’s growing curiosity of how the universe was created by allowing Lucy to combine her research for her English essay and her science project.  Lucy is pleased that her science paper to prove the existence of God will antagonize her father.  John dismisses Lucy’s idea as mindless speculation and demands she pick another topic or fail the assignment. Their differences are momentarily set aside when Erica informs them that her ovarian cancer, which was in remission, has returned.  John is confident that medical science will successfully get them through it again.

As Erica’s health gradually declines, she begins to question her own beliefs.  Lucy goes to the planetarium to continue her research despite her father’s objections.  There Andrew suggests that she look into Intelligent Design Theory, which claims that the universe is too complex and precise to be a random coincidence.  Andrew asks Lucy, “if you discover a watch…sitting on a tree stump.   Would you assume that all these little springs and wheels and gears fell out of the sky and landed together just right to make this watch?”  The next day, Lucy’s discovers from a classmate that the survival rate for a second bout with ovarian cancer is practically zero.  Overwhelmed at the prospect of losing her mother, Lucy confides to Monica her feelings of helplessness.  Monica consoles Lucy, explaining that her name means “bringer of light,” and that her mother is still alive and needs her now more than ever.  Lucy is determined to prove the existence of God to comfort her ailing mother.

Lucy turns in her two papers,  but is distraught that her mother doesn’t find the inspiration she is looking for in Lucy’s science paper.  Monica suggests that Lucy has given her mother the wrong paper to read.  Lucy, with Nurse Tess’ help, takes her mother outside the city limits to see the stars.  Erica reads Lucy’s English essay, which states how grateful Lucy is for the beauty of the universe…grateful to God.  John arrives at the hospital to find his wife missing and his frantic search leads him to the planetarium where Monica encourages him to take the first step and invite God into his heart.  John does so, and is answered by Monica who reveals herself as an angel.  Monica tells John that God loves him, and he is miraculously transported to the clearing, where the family is reunited in God’s love.

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