“In him was life, and that life was the light
of men. The light shines in the darkness
. . .”
Light plays a significant role in the
Advent and Christmas seasons. It is the
light of the star that leads the people to the birth of the Savior. And, now, we have the writer of the Gospel of John proclaiming that the
Savior of all is “the light” . . . the “light” that opens eyes to see God . . .
the “light” that opens the heart to follow . . . the “light” that reveals God’s
Kingdom . . . the “light” that brings hope for a better day, a better
world. Jesus himself proclaims it in
John 8:12: “When Jesus Spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the
world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
On this last day of the Christmas
season, we have the writer of the Gospel
of John getting all theological with us.
The writer uses all sorts of theological words . . . words like “the
Word”, “light”, “flesh”, “grace”, “blessings”, and “truth” . . . to let us know
that God is now among us as witnessed by the presence of Jesus. And, for me, the most important of the
descriptors that the author uses is “light”.
With light, we see. With light others can see.
Think about light.
Light is a universal symbol of spiritual
awakening . . . spiritual enlightenment.
I have heard many people tell me that it was when they “saw the light”
that they found God. None of us likes
darkness . . . darkness hides things, scary things, unknown things. Light breaks the darkness and allows us to
see things as they are . . . to see what is there . . . allows us to see the
truth. Light illuminates all that it
touches.
I remember the first church youth group
meeting I ever attended. It was one of
those meetings where the sponsors had hoped to get us youth to understand what
the early church might have been like when it had to go sneaking around in
order to meet. Thus, the meeting was
surrounded with a lot of secrecy . . . we had to follow a lot of clues to find
the meeting place. As the meeting place
was discovered, each person was taken down to a dark room, and told to
wait. It was pitch black in that room .
. . couldn’t even see one’s hand in front of one’s face. There was no clue as to how many people were
in that room. And, we sat there in the
dark silence.
After a while, someone lit a
candle. The light of the candle broke
through the darkness and dimly lit the room, but it was still dark. Then another candle was lit . . . a little
more light, a little more was exposed.
Over and over this took place and with each candle the darkness was
driven out and we could begin to see.
Soon the room was all lit up and everyone could see everyone else . . .
there were probably fifteen of us in the room.
Each year we end our candlelight
communion service with a simple spiritual exercise of “passing the light”. As the sanctuary is darkened, a candle is
lit from the Christ Candle. From that
candle another candle is lit, and the flame is passed on to the next
person. This continues until all the
candles are lit and the sanctuary is bright once again. A single candle lit is not much, but when it
is shared and passed on, it can light up the darkness. The symbolism and power of that spiritual
exercise is always moving for me as it reminds me of not only the “light” but
also the role that I play in sharing the light so that others may see.
For the “light” to been seen, it must be
shared. The writer of the Gospel of John tells us that the “light”
is God . . . the “light” is God in the flesh as seen in Jesus . . . and, that
the “light” must be shared. The writer
tells us that this was the role of John the Baptist: “There came a man who was sent
from God; his name was John. He came as a
witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might
believe.” In reading and
hearing these words, generations after they were written, we find ourselves as
the bearers and witnesses to the “light”.
We are to share and spread the “light”.
We are to let our “lights” shine.
I am positive that all of you know the
song, This Little Light of Mine. We all learned this children’s song long ago
as kids. It is embedded in our hearts
even though we probably don’t sing it often or at least as often as we
should. Often thought to be a Negro
spiritual . . . it is not, the song was written in the early 1920s. Though no one knows for sure who wrote the song,
it is often attributed to Harry Dixon Loes—a teacher, composer, and musical
director at Moody Bible Institute.
Whatever the case, the song is well-known by many and is still being
sung today. It is a song that belongs to
everyone.
Though it was meant to be a song that
declares one’s willingness to embrace one’s faith in all of life’s
circumstances . . . to never lose one’s faith no matter what, the song became
one of the “freedom songs” from the Civil Rights Movement in our history. It was a song that brought people together in
difficult times and situations . . . sung in the face of violence in divisive
times. It was a song that brought unity
as it spread through the crowds singing it.
It is uplifting and game-changing . . . authentic. Sort of like lighting a candle and passing
the light.
In early August of 2017, in
Charlottesville, Virginia, tensions were rising at the “Unite the Right” rally
that brought together white supremacists and neo-Nazi supporters. The threat of violence was escalating as
counter protesters from area churches gathered.
The counter protesters were originally going to stand silently in the
face of those at the rally, but as groups in the parade marched by there were
insults and slurs thrown at the counter protestors. As it continued the crowd was getting amped
up . . . something bad could easily erupt.
One minister could feel the tension and
potential for chaos. Wanting to
dissipate the tension and avoid conflict, the pastor decided to change the
atmosphere. He stated, “I know song can
do that. So, I broke into This Little
Light of Mine.”
In a moment captured on video, the
clergy and volunteers who sang are shown standing in a line, their voices
rising over the chants of "You will not replace us" from the rally
crowd. "The tensions went down ... and it shook the Nazis," says the
pastor. "They didn't know what to do with all that joy. We weren't going
to let the darkness have the last word."
They let their light shine.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew: “You are the light of the
world. A town built on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp
and put it under a bowl. Instead they
put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before
others, that they may see your good deeds ad glorify your Father in heaven.”
We are called to let our “light” shine
wherever we are each and every day. We
are called to drive the darkness out . . . out of our lives, out of the lives
of others, our communities, state, nation, and world. We are called upon to “light” up the world
with God as Jesus was doing. We are to
expose the “truth”, God’s will, so that all may see it and believe in it.
So, remember:
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it
shine.
Shine all over the world, I’m gonna let it
shine.
Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine.
Under a bushel, oh no! I’m gonna let it shine.
Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Amen!
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