Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
December 30, 2012
Year C: The First Sunday after Christmas
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 147
John 1:1-18
Do We Really Want the Light of
Christ to Shine Forth in Our Lives?
I
hope you all had a joyful Christmas.
This
year I was reminded once again that Christmas here at Grace Church just can’t
be beat.
The
church looked – and still looks – so beautiful. The whole place is decorated
with such care and good taste.
The
music was spectacular. It still impresses me so much that Dr. Anne along with
Eric and our vast choirs are able to produce so much music, such great variety,
and all of it performed with remarkable skill, dedication and even
prayerfulness.
And
then there was this year’s Christmas pageant, led by some hardworking adults
and beautifully performed by our kids. They all took it very seriously and put
their talent and heart into it - maybe most especially Charlie Farrell, who
played Joseph. When the Baby Jesus, played with great patience by Megan Massey,
began to get a little antsy, Charlie (an experienced big brother) used his
cincture as a distraction. That worked for a little while until finally Megan
took the end of the cincture into her hands and then put it in her mouth –
giving everyone a big laugh.
The
pageant ended as it ends every year with one of the kids – this year it was Sara
Massey - reciting from memory the opening verses of the familiar and powerful passage I just read: the Prologue
from the Gospel of John.
The
Gospel of John is the last of the four gospels to be completed, probably around
the end of the First Century – a couple of generations after the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus.
So
the Gospel of John is the product of divine inspiration working through decades
of people reflecting on Jesus – reflecting on who he is and what he means for
the world.
Unlike
Luke and Matthew, John doesn’t give any details about Jesus’ birth – no manger,
no shepherds, no star and no wise men.
Instead,
John begins with the cosmic view – going back to the beginning of everything
and identifying Christ as the Word of God – identifying Christ as God’s
creative power – identifying Christ as the Word of God made flesh.
In
these opening lines of the gospel, John introduces one of his great themes:
Jesus is the light of the world.
“What
has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
And
then, here’s the line that really jumps out at me this year:
“The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not over come it.”
The
darkness did not overcome the light – though not for lack of trying.
Jesus
gave away his life, teaching people to love God, to love one another, to love
our enemies, to forgive and to forgive again, to defeat violence by turning the
other cheek, to give away our lives in loving service to God and one another, most
especially the poor.
But,
it won’t be until Easter – it won’t be until the empty tomb – that life
triumphs over death. It won’t be until Easter – it won’t be until the empty tomb
– that the light triumphs over the darkness.
But,
that doesn’t mean darkness has lost all of its power; far from it.
In
fact, the Church has arranged the week after Christmas in part to remind us
that darkness continues to have great power.
Though
this year we don’t really need to be reminded, do we?
The
day after Christmas is the Feast of St. Stephen – an early follower of Jesus,
considered the first deacon and the first martyr - who was stoned to death for boldly
declaring his faith in Jesus.
Darkness
continues to have great power.
And
Friday was the Feast of the Holy Innocents – the day the Church remembers the
male children under the age of two slaughtered by the ruthless King Herod, in a
brutal but failed attempt to kill the newborn king Jesus. Holy Innocents is
always a somber day but this year it was unspeakably sad.
Over
the past twenty centuries, the light of Christ has reached every corner of the
world, yet darkness continues to have great power.
In
today’s collect we asked God to grant that the light of Christ, “enkindled in
our hearts, may shine forth in our lives.”
Pretty
words, but I wonder if that’s what we really want. Do we really want the light
of Christ to shine forth in our lives? Are we really willing to take the risk?
Are we willing to be like Stephen? Are we willing to stand up to the Herods of
our time?
In
our own country, a vast – though shrinking – majority of people claim to be
Christians yet darkness continues to have great power in the United States.
We
claim to be people of the light. We claim to follow the One who taught that we
defeat violence by turning our cheek. We claim to follow the One who taught us
to love our neighbors – to love even our enemies. Yet, our country is
extraordinarily violent.
As
we’ve been reminded so tragically in the last few weeks, we so-called people of
the light are armed to the teeth. And many of our weapons are designed for the
sole purpose of killing people, using ammunition meant to tear through the
protection worn by the men and women who risk their lives on our behalf. We so-called
people of the light delight in violent games played on fields and on video
screens.
Do
we really want the light of Christ to shine forth in our lives?
We
claim to be people of the light, but so many of us have mistreated God’s good
creation – the creation so good and so loved that God actually came and lived
here. We’ve treated God’s good creation as an open sewer, mostly unconcerned
about the dire consequences of our lifestyle so long as they only affected poor
people in faraway low-lying island countries, or the poor who live downwind
from our incinerators, power plants and garbage dumps.
Do
we really want the light of Christ to shine forth in our lives?
Speaking
of the poor, we claim to be people of the light. We claim to be followers of
the One who told the rich man to give away all he had to the poor and follow him.
We claim to be followers of the One who lived among the poor, the nobodies and
the outcasts.
Yet,
during the presidential campaign, for example, how often did we hear even a
word from either side about the plight of the poor? We heard plenty about the
middle class – about people like most of us who live in places like Madison and
Florham Park. But, what about the people who live in Newark, Camden and
Trenton?
What
about the people we see every time we serve lunch at the Community Soup Kitchen
in Morristown? What about the people we see there – some of whom have clearly recently
fallen out of the middle class and into poverty?
Do
we really want the light of Christ to shine forth in our lives?
Today
we heard the familiar words of the Prologue of the Gospel of John.
John
begins with the cosmic view – going back to the beginning of everything and
identifying Christ as the Word of God – identifying Christ as God’s creative
power – identifying Christ as the Word of God made flesh.
In
these opening lines of the gospel, John introduces one of his great themes:
Jesus is the light of the world.
“What
has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
“The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not over come it.”
As
followers of Jesus, you and I are faced with a choice between the
still-powerful darkness that enshrouds much of the world in despair and death
or the light of Christ that gives peace and life.
Just
as it did for Stephen and so many others, choosing the light will involve
sacrifice – standing up to the Herods of our world will cost us.
But,
after Easter – after the empty tomb – we know that, in the end, life triumphs
over death – in the end light triumphs over the darkness.
Still,
we’re faced with a choice.
Do
we choose despair and death or peace and life?
Do
we really want the light of Christ to shine forth in our lives?
Amen.
Posts
