(Homily preached at Church of the Ascension, Hamilton, Ontario, by Bishop Terry Brown, Seventh Sunday of Epiphany, February 19, 2017. Texts: 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11, 16-23, and Matthew 5: 38-48.)
First, I would like to welcome the family and friends of Jahmaica who is being baptized today. You are truly welcome and I hope we can all greet you after the service. Some of our Anglican worship may seem strange – this is a traditional Morning Prayer Sunday – yet our foundation remains Jesus Christ.
In today’s first lesson from 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds the church of Corinth that “no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ”.
It is a very strong foundation; it resists the divisions in the Corinthian community, or in our communities, and does not let them bring separation and division. Our foundation is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. And we are full of joy that young Jahmaica’s parents have chosen that foundation for their daughter in asking her to be baptized. And it is their responsibility and ours to encourage her to root her life in the foundation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is “our sure foundation” in the words of the hymn. Jesus Christ is a strong foundation. All our work and ministry as Christians is built on that foundation. It enables us to remain strong in adversity, in unhappy political climates, in situations of stress and anxiety. Our foundation is not like that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, soft and uneven, causing us to be always leaning and ready to fall.
Part of our having Christ as our foundation is respect for his words and teaching. Those words are sometimes extraordinary, as in today’s Gospel; and those words can be lived and fulfilled only if we choose Christ as our foundation.
Look at those extraordinary commands, causing us to go beyond the ordinary expectations of society: Do not be vengeful, rather turn the other cheek, give both coat and cloak, go the extra mile. Give to all who beg from you and do not refuse someone who wishes a loan. Do not love just your friends, but love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you.
What is being said here is that our human love, imperfect as it often is, when it has Christ as its foundation, is to reflect the universal and unconditional love of God: the God who sends rain on both the just and unjust, who loves all equally, whatever they have done, whatever has happened in the past.
The natural human impulse is to love those who love us, or with whom we have a special link through family and friendship. Certainly, love of family and friends is very important and commended by God. But Jesus is saying we need to go beyond the familiar; indeed, all the way over to loving our (so-to-speak) “enemies”, those who do not share our deepest values and may even have worked against us. Perhaps those “enemies” do not even want to speak with us or have anything to do with us, after all, they are enemies. But even there, we can pray for them.
And that might be a challenge for this upcoming Lent: make a list of people you do not like or have treated you poorly, personally known or not: and make that list into a prayer list; that God’s all-seeing and cleansing love may be with them also.
Or, try to reach out to a difficult person, perhaps in the workplace or the family or amongst friends: reach out with kindness, listening and understanding, reflecting God’s unconditional and non-judgemental love.
In the Baptismal Liturgy today, we shall all renew our Baptismal promises after we say together the Apostles Creed, which began life as the Baptismal Symbol or Declaration, as we shall do it today. What are those promises: to continue in worship, fellowship and prayer; to resist evil and repent when we have failed; to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, by word and example; to exercise a Christian ministry of service and see Christ in all whom we meet; to seek justice and peace amongst all people and respect the dignity of all human beings; and to respect the fullness of God’s creation, including the whole natural world, including the environment.
Many people do not make such promises and some who do, do not live by them. They are the promises that, though God’s grace, enable Jesus Christ to be our foundation, and enable us to love with the unconditional love of God, transforming our broken and sinful world into a better place for God’s grace and love to flourish.
Unfortunately, the world often seems to be going in the opposite direction – narrow nationalism (loving only those who are “like us” in some way), racism, religious hatred, excluding the stranger and building walls. Jesus accepted not just Jew, but also Samaritan and Gentile. Paul’s early churches, including the Corinthian church, brought together people from enormously different backgrounds: Jew and Greek, men and women, slave and free, rich and poor, single and married, labourers and intellectuals. Yet all share the foundation of Jesus Christ and, as such, old divisions are ended and reconciliation is accomplished.
We pray that this parish and all our churches will practice this love that goes beyond hostility or grudging acceptance to true embrace and friendship. That is the life that should result from our Baptismal Promises, our Baptisms, our participation in the Eucharist, our common prayer – all through God’s grace.
Next Sunday is our annual Vestry meeting and at the end of the service today the Vestry Reports, Financial Report and 2017 proposed Budget will all be available for you to take home to study. Please bring them back next week for our meeting. I suggest we study them with the theme we have been talking about, our foundation in Christ as a parish: thankful for what we have managed to accomplish, reflecting on how we might better strengthen that foundation, and how we might better to work from it, through God’s grace, in our ministry to one another, to those who visit, and to the world around us, near and far. Christ is our sure foundation. Thanks be to God. Amen.
How many of you found yourself singing along, either out loud or internally to our prelude this morning “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Goin’ Let It Shine”? It is a catchy little number that draws you in. My first memories of it were going to summer camp and our leader was a vibrant red-haired southern belle from Kentucky named Daisy. She would just starting singing it any time and before you knew it, everybody and I mean everybody was joining while you continued doing whatever you were doing.
The origins of the song are indeed in the African-American Spiritual tradition, but what interested me was how it took on another life when it was adopted by the Civil Rights Movement. They often sang it as they prepared to go out and witness to the world.
This little light of mine, I’m goin’a let it shine!
The lyrics of the song are based on our text this morning, right from the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is saying to us,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid…so let your light so shine before others, that they will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven”.
As most of you know, I was ordained last week. Wow! What a growing process it has been and this reading has escorted me all the way. You see, once upon a time, I was a little girl in a church that had no female presence. No female readers, no female altar servers. But I had a calling, I felt I belonged on the altar and serving God’s word. It has taken me almost 50 years to get to this point, but I stand here today, able to proclaim the Gospel and to preach. I had a wee candle and I let it shine, and the most I let it out, the brighter it got. The brighter it got, the better I and others could see…
So here we are reading about Jesus and his plan to change the world by radical love. Just look at the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus explains a whole new world order. “Blessed are the humble, the merciful, the peacemakers”. Jesus has asked us, to look at life and at society in a completely different way, and what do we say when we need to do this “I’ll take a second look”, “I need to put some light on this issue”. The New Testament is no different. It uses light as a metaphor for Jesus, (Light of the world in the Gospel of John)
And then Jesus says, “ YOU are the light of the world…Let YOUR light shine before others, that they may see your good works.”
Wow! One minute we are calling Jesus the Light and the next he is calling us the Light. Maybe what he is saying is, if you call yourself a follower of me – then your vocation is no different than mine. I was the light of the world, now YOU are the light of the world. Through my life, my works and love, I brought people back to God. Now, you are to do the same.
This little light of mine, I’m goin’a let it shine!
There is another old hymn I found, (I’m always looking for hymns about seafarers) and this one you may know too – Let the Lower Lights Be Burning”
The refrain goes like this:
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor fainting struggling seaman, You may rescue, you may save.
This hymn was written by Philip Bliss over a century ago. He was an itinerant musician. For awhile he lived in Chicago and he went to hear the great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody. In his sermon, Moody talked about a ship that was trying to find Cleveland harbour in the midst of storm, in the darkness of night.
The Captain could see the lighthouse, so he drew near and shouted to the light housekeeper, “Is this Cleveland?” The Lighthouse keeper shouted back, “Quite true, sir”. The Captain asked, “Where are the lower lights?” The lighthouse keeper said, “They have gone out. Can you make the harbour?” The Captain replied, “We must, or we will perish!”
With that he sailed his ship into the harbour, passed the lighthouse, missed the channel and was dashed against the rocks. It was a terrible tragedy. Many people were killed.
Until I heard the story, I had no idea what the “lower lights” referred to. I thought it was a strange phrase but the lower lights are the lights away from the lighthouse that illumine the water line. They enable the ships to come into the harbour at night through the narrow channel of the harbours mouth.1
I talk about this hymn because I think it comes close to what Jesus is talking about. “Let your light shine”. He is talking about the redemptive power of human deeds. He is talking about the redemptive power of love and compassion, and kindness and concern for other people. You might not think you have much to offer, that your light doesn’t shine very bright compared to the luminaries of our time. But, in the darkness of someone’s life, that smallest light can save.
People in darkness know this. The know the redemptive power of small deeds. Mired in the darkness of sorrow depression, nobody seems to care. They are isolated in grief. Then the phone rings, or the mail comes, or there is a visit. It is such a simple thing to the person who gives it. But not to them. They will never forget it. It is the light coming into the darkness.
There is something else here in the text to make note of. Jesus says, “a city set on a hill cannot be hid”. Every time I read this, I think of our church. Not just because here we are up the hill. We have a terrific location here in Corktown, and as the real estate people say, it’s all about location, location, location.
But I don’t think that’s what Jesus was talking about. I think he is talking about our community here. The church we make, we are. He encourages us to bloom and shine, but shining is outreach and I think Jesus is challenging us to do outreach. It’s about when a person in darkness summons up the strength to come to church. Light. They come here looking for light. When your world is dark, you look for light.
We greet any new people or returning people with open arms, cups of warm tea or coffee and a great welcome, but I believe Jesus is challenging us, not to hide our light under a bushel. I believe Jesus wants us to step out of our safe small corner here in Corktown and be like rays of light – stretching out father into the community. Touching people who don’t necessarily come to church but need church.
We are each a flame, that lights up the darkness, but together we make a great light that lights up the sky and all can see. I believe that Jesus, of Radical Love, Jesus the Changemaker, is challenging us to reach out. There are all different ways to reach out. There is a new committee to work with an immigrant Karen family, the pastoral care team needs friendly visitors and people who will call those homebound, isolated and alone. Can’t call – but can you write and mail a card to a few people now and again. Our Parish Visioning Process showed we are concerned with the apartment dwellers that surround our church. So many are isolated, marginalized seniors. Perhaps you would like to work on that initiative. Maybe you want to tutor children or adults. Volunteer at the hospital. Maybe drop off a couple of cookies to a neighbour.
It is really about offering yourself. That’s what I did. Little by little, I grew braver and the more I let my little light shine, the more I wanted to shine brighter.
I hope you get this song stuck in your head, and take it home with you.
This little light of mine, I’m going let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m going let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m going let it shine
Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.
Amen.
1 Story by Mark Trotter
