Don’t you just love Christmas lights? I
do. I’ve started putting my lights up the week of Thanksgiving, and I can’t
wait to see my whole street and neighborhood illuminated. Christmas lights just
make me feel happy—especially the way some of my neighbors decorate. In this
part of the world a house isn’t properly decked-out for Christmas unless you
can see it from the International Space Station. By Advent 2 the street where
Faith Lutheran sits looks like the Las Vegas Strip. I love it!
Lights, of course, have been part of our celebration
for a very long time. It’s generally believed that the date on which we celebrate
our Lord’s birth was chosen sometime in the 2nd Century. Since Jesus
didn’t have a birth certificate, we don’t really know when he was born;
however, our Christian ancestors decided to take the pagan Roman festival of
Sol Invictus (the “unconquered sun”), celebrated on December 25th to
commemorate the winter solstice, and re-purpose it as Jesus’ birthday. The pagans
would light lots of bonfires and such in the hope of encouraging the sun to come
back, bring longer and warmer days, and grow the crops. Apparently there was
much whooping-it-up and festiveness at this time, and the early Christians
figured this was as good a time as any to rejoice in the birth of the Savior.
It makes sense to me. Now of days, when
there’s so much darkness around us, we really need to look to the light. It’s
time to brighten things up. The gospel lesson assigned for Advent 3 Year B in
the RCL (John 1:6-8, 19-28) throws a different “light” on our friend John the
Baptist. Last week John was calling us to repentance. This week, he’s pointing
to Jesus as the light of the world.
You have to give John the B credit: for
all of his flamboyant weirdness, he’s a remarkably humble guy. He’s always
pointing past himself—discounting his own importance—in order to shine the
light on Jesus. This Sunday, I would hope we would see a joyful light. The
third Sunday in Advent is traditionally known as Guadete Sunday, or “Rejoice Sunday.” We get a little break from
watching for Christ and, like John, we are called to point to Christ as we see
him already active in the world (and we get to light that nifty rose-colored
candle, too!).
So..? Where have you seen the light of
Christ this week?
Today I had a conversation with a woman in
the parish who has just lost her thirty-eight-year-old son to sudden heart
failure. In the darkness of her grief she told me of how her son’s co-workers
had taken a collection and presented the young man’s widow and orphaned
children with over twenty-one hundred dollars in gift cards. Such a sign of love and
respect is a little candle in the darkness, and an echo of the sacrificial love
which Jesus came to share.
I heard on the local TV news last night the
story of an anonymous donor who paid literally thousands of dollars to a Walmart store in Northeast Philly to
cancel the balances on all lay-away merchandise, thereby reducing the debts owed
by an untold number of Christmas shoppers—people he or she has never met and
will never meet.
I look at the work done by my own
congregation, and I see our light shining in the darkness. We offer support groups
for the addicted, food for the hungry, clothes for the poor, shelter for the
homeless, Christmas gifts to orphans, and funds for the victims of natural
disasters. We may only be shining in a small, dim way, but we are still shining.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it
I look, also (as my go-to gal for sermon
help, Dr. Karoline Lewis, has pointed out in her “Dear Working Preacher” column
on www.workingpreacher.org) to the
light of truth that is now shining in our country on the darkness of sexual
misconduct, assault, and harassment. Wicked behavior has been hidden in the
shadows for a very long time, but now we can rejoice that a light is being
switched on and we can hope for a more respectful and honorable society to
emerge as a result.
The
light of Christ, as Matthew 25 always teaches us, is seen in the guy with the
cardboard sign asking for spare change at the freeway onramp, the guy ringing
the Salvation Army bell in front of the drugstore, or the kid who comes to your
door selling Christmas candy to support his underfunded school program. The
light shines whenever we have the opportunity to think beyond ourselves to the
world’s needs. And we should rejoice to have the opportunity.
But before we get too happy about our own
generosity, I remind myself again that John the Baptist’s job in the Fourth Gospel
is always to point away from himself to the true light that is Jesus. No administration,
program, charity, foundation, or individual act of mercy will enlighten this
planet if we’re not first willing to be illuminated by the grace found in Jesus
Christ. If we want a way to see in the dark, let’s first look to the one who
showed us mercy, forgiveness, sacrifice, and the noble suffering of
faithfulness. Then, as he said,
“Let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Rejoice!
No comments:
Post a Comment