TESTIFYING TO THE LIGHT

If I say, “This little light of mine,” most of you will know to follow up with “I’m gonna let it shine.” So, “this little light of mine; (I’m gonna let it shine)” and the more enthusiastic among us probably will add “let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”

As children of God, we are called to let our light shine into the darkness around us. None of us who has lived even for a few years will deny that there’s much darkness in our world.

During this year, we have heard a lot about darkness in the lives of others –

Scores of people shot to death during a rampage on a college campus;
Hundreds of people suddenly homeless as fires devour their homes;
Thousands of people in despair as their hope for a brighter future is assassinated.

And then there’s the darkness in many of our own lives:

Wrestling with family issues that still show no sign of resolution;
Walking through the valley of the shadow of financial debt;
Withdrawing from an addiction without a light at either end of the tunnel.

None of us who’s lived even for a few years will deny that there’s much darkness in our world.

There’s also much darkness in the world of the Johannine community. The Jewish-Roman war from 66-70 CE left many widows and orphans. The Roman initiated destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE left already splintered religious groups in turmoil – resulting in severe identity and power struggles. The ensuing conflict between the Christian Jews and synagogue authorities – both Jewish groups – erupted in harsh words that left a bitter taste in many a mouth – not unlike the harsh words that we often hear in today’s political, social, and yes, even religious exchanges.

There’s also darkness in the world of John the Baptist. Living under the forced peace of Rome, yearning for the One who would deliver them from their oppressors, and hurting from the corruption of many religious authorities, the people of John’s day lived much of their lives in darkness.

It is into the darkness of that world that John was sent - sent by God. John was sent before the light to testify to the light that was coming into the world. John wasn’t the light – he was sent to testify to the light – to point the way to the One who is the true light.

Theologian Gail O’Day reminds us that “the Word becoming flesh is a decisive event in human history – indeed, in the history of creation – because the incarnation changes God’s relationship to humanity and humanity’s relationship with God. (It) means that human beings can see, hear, and know God in ways never before possible . . . (so) those who receive the incarnate Word become new people and enter into a new life with God.”

That new life is marked by one word – love. Not the love-as-a-feeling that comes and goes, but love as a commitment to act in ways that glorify God, honor others and respect oneself.

It’s about choosing to love kindness and to do justice.
It’s about welcoming the stranger as well as the friend.
It’s about including those whom it might be so much easier to exclude.

I daresay none of us can love like that without huge doses of grace from God. As former chaplain, preacher and spiritual leader William Sloane Coffin reminds us in the essay “The Politics of Compassion,” in his book The Heart is a Little to the Left, “make love your aim, for ‘though I speak with the tongues . . . of all angels,’ – musicians, poets, preachers, (we) are being addressed; “and though I understand all mysteries and have all knowledge,’ – professors, your turn; “and though I give all my goods to feed the poor’ – radicals, take note; ‘and though I give my body to be burned’ – the very stuff of heroism; but have not love, it profit(s) me nothing.” “I doubt if in any other scripture of the world there is a more radical statement of ethics: if we fail in love, we fail in all else. . . Love is our business; if we can’t love, we’re out of business.”

So, when we look at the big picture, it isn’t really so much about “this little light of mine” as it is about the light to which we, like John the Baptist, have been sent to testify. . . the light that, when we make room for it to shine in and through us, can make a positive difference in even the darkest of times.

As we reflect on the year that is about to end, consider those persons, places and events through whom God worked to shine light into your life. Consider the ways in which you have cooperated with God in bringing light into the lives of others.

What difference does it make that the light has come into our lives?
How do we allow God’s light to shine through us?
How is the good news of God in Christ showing itself in this community?

Consider how the light shines in this community – donating, preparing and serving over 5,000 meals this year to our guests at Church Street Eats:

Testifying to the light

Consider how the light shines in this community – collectively promising God hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to restore God’s cathedral:

Testifying to the light

Consider how the light shines in this community – welcoming hundreds of visitors to this Cathedral during diocesan conventions, Cathedral concerts, evensongs, noonday services, ordinations, weddings, baptisms and funerals:

Testifying to the light

But there’s still more light in us – light that’s waiting to shine on the darkness in our families, in this city of Hartford, in our nation and in the world. And even though there’s a lot of darkness out there, the One who is light can continue shining brightly through us if we’ll keep remembering that: “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”