You Are the Light of the World. It must have seemed like such a strange thing to say. There they were, a little band of

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1 You Are the Light of the World It must have seemed like such a strange thing to say. There they were, a little band of disciples huddled around a traveling Jewish rabbi in an out of the way little corner of the world, far removed from the centre of power. There were no shakers or movers in this group, just some common fishermen, a despised tax collector and a few other misfits. And to these nobodies Jesus says, You are the light of the world. You can imagine their response: Come on, Jesus, you re kidding, right? You don t mean us, do you? Surely, Jesus, you must be exaggerating! But I don t think Jesus was kidding, and I don t think he was exaggerating. He was stating the simple truth, the simple gospel truth. This little band of disciples sitting around him was the light of the world. Why? Because they were connected in a living relationship with him who was and is the Light of the world. Jesus put it this way in the gospel of John: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. That s why that band of disciples was the light of the world, because their lives shone with the light of Him who truly is the light of the world: Jesus Christ our Lord. They were his followers, and that meant they had, as John declares, the light of life. And history has proved that Jesus was absolutely right. From that hillside in first century Palestine, Jesus disciples fanned out across the then known world spreading Christ s gospel, shining His light. According to tradition, Peter carried the gospel west to Rome, to the very centre of political and economic power. Thomas carried the gospel east to India. Andrew carried the gospel north to the region north of the Black Sea. To this day Andrew is known as the patron saint of Russia. One by one, two by two, on foot 1

2 and on horseback, by ship and by carriage, in synagogues and in prisons, in royal courts and courts of law, in the privacy of homes and in the public arena of street corners and market places, they told the story of Jesus; and the light of Christ spread. And we are sitting here today precisely because they obeyed their Lord and did not keep their light under a bushel, but let it shine for all to see. We are all familiar with the story of Zacchaeus, the despised tax collector, whose life was changed because Jesus stopped to have lunch with him and showed him simple hospitality. The story of the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus is just ten short verses in the gospel of Luke; but, of course, the story doesn t end there. For that was just the beginning of a whole new life for Zacchaeus, whose life had been illumined by him who is the Light of the world. God only knows what other lives were touched by the little tax collector, whose own life was touched by Christ s grace and acceptance. Half of my possessions I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay them back fourfold, Zacchaeus promised Jesus. Can you imagine the surprised looks on the townspeople of Jericho when Zacchaeus came calling? Knock, knock! Who s there? Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus who? Zacchaeus, the tax collector. I ve come to pay you back the money I defrauded you, Zacchaeus said with a smile brighter than the money in his hand. And here s three times as much more just to say, I m sorry. But why, Zacchaeus, why? And that was Zacchaeus cue: Because I met Jesus! Let me tell you about him. And one by one, two by two, the Light of God s love in Jesus Christ spread, person to person, house to house, village to village, nation to nation, century to century, right into this very sanctuary. And do you 2

3 understand what I mean when I say that Jesus wasn t exaggerating when he said to his motley band of followers: You are the light of the world! Now, let me tell you something even more amazing and startling. The words that Jesus spoke to his first disciples are meant for us, too. The light didn t get snuffed out when Jesus died. It shined all the more brightly when the risen Christ burst out of the darkness of the tomb on Easter morning. And it still shines he still shines among us and within us as our living Lord. And so I say to you boldly and confidently: You are the light of the world! I am not kidding and I am not exaggerating. It is the pure and simple truth the gospel truth. You are the light of the world! For Christ, the true Light of the world from whom we draw our light is in our midst and surrounds us with his love and infuses us with the glow of his transforming power. The only question for us is this: will we hide our light under a bushel or place it on the lamp stand for all to see? When I was a kid, my two brothers and I used to vacation at the beach in South Carolina with my six cousins. One of the things we enjoyed doing was walking on the beach at night, the sounds of the surf in our ears. I remember one dark, windy night out on the beach. There was a new moon in the sky, and it was pitch black just the stars shining high over head and a few distant cottages gave off any light. We each had brought along a flashlight to find our way along. There we were, nine kids walking along the surf, shining our flashlights, sometimes shining them down the beach and watching the light disappear into the thick darkness. I don t know who came up with the idea, but we all thought it was a good plan. Let s hide the flashlights under our jackets! We ll keep them on, glowing under our jackets as we walk along in the dark. We ll each go our own way and when we come up to another 3

4 in our group, we will unzip our jacket and show our light. That will identify us as members of our group. We all agreed and promptly put our flashlights under our jackets. All we could see was each other s silhouettes as we each went our own way. When we would meet another, we would unzip our jackets and shine our light to identify ourselves. Then we would quickly zip our jackets back up to hide our lights. We called ourselves the Secret Society of the Light. And I must say there was a certain comfort on that dark, chilly night to know that a light was glowing underneath my jacket and that I was a founding member of the Secret Society of the Light! It seems to me as I have reflected on that experience that the church often acts like the Secret Society of the Light. So often we keep out light to ourselves, only shining it briefly on Sunday mornings to identify ourselves to our fellow members. But Christ does not shine his light upon us so that we may keep that light for ourselves; rather, he shines his light upon us so that his light might shine through us to everyone around us. Jesus put it this way his Sermon on the Mount: You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. In other words, Jesus tells us that we are not to be the Secret Society of the Light, we are to be beacons of light, shining for all the world to see. And the good news of the gospel is that we can be. It doesn t take any special skills or talents; it just requires us to unzip our jackets and let the light shine. The good news is that God can use ordinary people such as ourselves to spread the light of God s love. As Prime Minister Trudeau said yesterday in his Canada Day speech on Parliament Hill, the story of Canada is not so much the story of people with extraordinary skills and talents who accomplished 4

5 extraordinary things as it is the story of ordinary citizens, who did extraordinary things when called upon. That is also the story of the church the story of ordinary people through whom God does extraordinary things when they dare to step forth with faith and courage and unzip their jackets and let God s light shine. This past February, my wife, Shirley, invited knitters here at Knox to begin knitting Twiddlemuffs to give to people with dementia, whose hands are often restless and find comfort in having something to fiddle with. What s happened since then? Folks at Knox have given away 26 hand knit twiddlemuffs to Homewood, 10 to Riverside Glen and 12 to St. Joseph s Home here in Guelph. Geraldine Sanderson s knitting group has given away over 70 Twiddlemuffs to seniors homes in Waterloo and Kitchener and if you ve lost count, that s more than 118 Twiddlemuffs that have made and given away in just five months! And those numbers don t include the more than 80 lap blankets that the Seniors Connecting group has made for folks in need of some TLC in our congregation and for seniors homes in Guelph. Nor does it include the hundreds of bowls of soup prepared by the kitchen crew for Seniors Connecting lunches (if you missed this past Thursday s luncheon, you ll have to wait until the fourth Thursday in September for the next one). Or the hundreds of anthems sung by the members of our choir, or the thousands of dollars raised to bring the Syrian family to Guelph or the thousands of dollars raised for maternal healthcare in Malawi or African famine relief, or the hours Bob Seim spends with young mothers teaching more effective parenting skills or the thousands upon thousands of prayers offered and hugs given and phone calls made and cards & letters and text messages & s written to let folks both inside and outside the church know they are loved. 5

6 The good news is that we don t have to have any special talents or skills to share this good news to share this light. All we need to do is look around us and see the needs and the opportunities, and trust that when we respond in love (however inadequate our efforts may feel), God can use us yes, even us to be bearers of God s light. God loves you. But shhh don t tell anybody. It s a secret. God s transforming grace is sufficient to overcome all our mistakes and failures and to see us through all the storms of life. But shhhh don t tell anybody. It s a secret. I m a member of Knox Presbyterian Church, but shhh Don t tell anybody. It s a secret. I m a member of the Secret Society of the light! No, no no! We aren t members of the Secret Society of the Light. We are the light of the world, and it is no secret what God can do with ordinary people like you and me. After all, if God can take the motley band of misfits that first followed an itinerant preacher named Jesus and use them to turn the world upside down, just imagine what he could do with you, and you and you, and (gulp) me, and all of us gathered here today. And so, in the name of Jesus Christ, I invite you, I call you, I charge you: unzip your jackets. Let your light shine, not just in the walls of this sanctuary, but also and especially in the neighborhoods and the darkest recesses of the world around you. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. Let is shine, let it shine, let it shine! Hide it under a bushel, no! I m gonna let it shine Sermon preached by Rev. Herb Gale Knox Presbyterian Church Guelph, Ontario Sunday, July 2 nd,

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