The Light of the World: Re-Connecting with the Source

 Jesus bids us shine, with a clear, pure light,

Like a little candle burning in the night;

In this world of darkness, we must shine,

You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around,

Many kinds of darkness in the world abound;

Sin and want and sorrow, so we must shine,

You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Reading: Matthew 5:14-16 

Chapters 5-7 of The Gospel of Matthew comprise what we know as the Sermon on the Mount, a series of teachings offered to the crowd that gathered around Jesus early in his ministry.  Taken all together, the Sermon on the Mount is a bold statement of the kind of life, the kinds of choices, and the kind of relationships that Jesus expects of those who follow him.

Remarkably, Jesus addresses this teaching to the crowd – to ordinary people, who normally expected the rabbis, the teachers and the priests to be the ones to set the example for others.  Jesus calls on them – on people just like us, to be an example to the world of how God intends all people to live.

You are the light of the world. 

A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl;

Instead, they put it on a lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house.

In the same way, your light mist shine before before people,

so that they will see the good things you do

and praise your Father in heaven.

Reflection

You are the light of the world.  How does it feel?

The song says we “shine with a pure, clear light, like a little candle burning in the night.  In this world of darkness, so let us shine, you in your small corner, and I in mine.”

Do you feel like you’re shining like that right now?  Or do you feel somewhat dimmed?  Starting to flicker and fade?  Or even snuffed out?

Jesus means us when he says “you are the light of the world.”

In the story, he is talking to ordinary people just like us.  At this point in the story – the chunk of chapters called The Sermon on the Mount, he’s not talking with the rabbis.  Not talking shop with the teachers and the lawyers.  Not discussing the mystery of God with the priests.

He’s standing on a hillside preaching to a crowd of ordinary people just like us, who struggle day by day to get by, who live a lot of their life hand to mouth, who’ve been hurt and humbled along the way, who’ve been wounded by life and step by hard step been opened up to become real people – real, down-to-earth human beings.

The other thing about them is that they’ve gathered around him specifically to listen to the good news of God’s love for them, to hear and learn about how to live in a truly holy way, and to find their place in bringing the kingdom of God to light on Earth. 

And isn’t that also us?  For 225 years – yes, it’s been 225 years! – the Fifty congregation has been like that in this little corner of the world.  Since the first Methodist assembly of United Empire Loyalist refugees gathered on the bank of Fifty Creek, this has been a place where people have gathered in and around the name of Jesus for worship and for education in the faith, for mutual support and care, knowing God’s love for themselves and sharing God’s love for all others around them.

A lot of good has been done here.  Over its history, this congregation has produced civic leaders.  Has offered all kinds of charitable and compassionate outreach.  Has supported people in times of need, and celebrated with them in times of joy.  Generations of children have been nurtured in Sunday school and vacation Bible school.  Funerals and weddings and suppers and sales have all had their place here.  And everyone in the community knows that on Christmas Eve there’s a place for them, no matter how crowded.

"You are the light of the world” because a city set on a hill – or a church built along the highway and beside the creek, cannot be hid… Your light must shine before people, so they will see the good things you do, and praise your Father in heaven.”

Is this still the case, though?

I don’t doubt it is in our private and personal lives.  I think of you who are seniors in apartments and long-term care facilities, and how you most likely conduct yourselves in the hallways and with other residents in your building, and on the phone with friends and family.

I think of you who work and are in the community, and of the character and behaviour and the kinds of choices you’re know for, by the people you work with, the customers you serve, the children you teach or care for.

I think of families and single households and the way you are at home, with your neighbours, and with people you encounter along the way.

I think of all the gestures of kindness and the acts of self-sacrificial charity that are expressed day by day, house by house, neighbourhood by neighbourhood all around the world, by us and by others.

“In this world of darkness, still we all shine, you in your small corner, and I in mine.”  But are we still “the light of the world” in that larger way – as a church, as a community of faith doing more and different kinds of things together than we can do separately, and that the world still needs? 

And even with Zoom and Facebook, email and texts and phone calls linking us in a vast network of good will and good words, do we have the ways we need of really gathering around Jesus, to feed the flame that we have from him, and to replenish and strengthen the light of God we carry within us?

The job of being the light of the world is not onerous.  Once the city is set on the hill, it just has to be there and let itself be what it’s meant to be.  Once the lamp is lit, it just needs to let itself be put somewhere where it’s dark, to do people do some good.

The thing that really needs to be worked at, is letting ourselves be built and maintained as the community Jesus makes us to be together.  To let ourselves be lit, and re-lit as needed as the lamp Jesus uses to bring light into a world and to other people in need of it.

So how do we do that these days, as we live into the fourth wave of the pandemic?  How do we gather around him –around Jesus, to hear and to see what we need, to be the light of the world? 

Where do you go, and what do you do, to stay in tune with God?  To hear again the good news of God’s love for you?  To learn to live in a truly holy way?  And to find your place in bringing the kingdom of God to light on Earth? 

A Little Spiritual Practice 

Find a candle.  Any kind of candle.  Whatever kind of candle makes sense to you.  Whatever candle just calls to you when you see it. 

Then take the candle to someone else – someone close to you, or a stranger – whatever you dare. 

Ask them to light it for you.  Because you cannot light it by yourself, or for yourself!

Ask them to light it for you, and then to give it back to you, with these words or something similar, spoken to you, “In the name and spirit of Jesus, you are the light of the world.”

And then, in the name and spirit of Jesus, why not do the same for them, with a second candle?