Arise, Shine, for your Light Has Come!
Thomas
B. Cundiff
Isaiah
60: 1-3
John
1: 1-18
The Ingathering of the Dispersed
60 Arise,
shine; for your light has come,
and the glory
of the LORD has risen upon you.
2 For darkness
shall cover the earth,
and thick
darkness the peoples;
but the LORD
will arise upon you,
and his glory
will appear over you.
3 Nations
shall come to your light,
and kings to
the brightness of your dawn.
The Word Became Flesh
`
1 In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He was in the beginning with
God. 3 All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into
being. What has come into being 4 in him
was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome
it. 6 There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness
to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He
himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true
light, which enlightens everyone, was
coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being
through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But
to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become
children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or
of the will of man, but of God. 14 And
the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory
as of a father’s only son, † full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him
and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead
of me because he was before me.’ ”) 16 From his fullness we have all received,
grace
upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever
seen God. It is God the only Son, who is
close to the Father’s heart, who has made
him known.
I.
Isaiah
proclaims just as he did last week with the same Epiphnay reading from Isaiah: Arise! Shine!
Your light has come! The glory of
the Lord breaking through darkness with God’s magnificent light. Today we continue looking at the magnificent
gift of light God has given us through Jesus Christ, “God’s Word that became flesh to live among us.” It is only appropriate that we also
partake of the Eucharist remembering through the sacrament of Communion that Jesus
Christ continues in this time and this place to be OUR light and the LIGHT OF
THE WORLD! Truly, the glory of the Lord
has risen upon us!
If
last week I placed an emphasis on what it means to “be clothed in or put on and
wear Christ” through baptism in sharing our faith with others, today helps us
look in more detail at this theme: With Christ in our lives, in what ways are we
called to show and share the light of Christ within the church and through the
ministries of the church?
II.
Having
just installed new officers, this is a good day to talk about what it means for
all of us as disciples of Jesus Christ and church leaders to carry and share Christ’s
light! While some have been chosen and
ordained and installed to do some specific things in the church, all of you,
without exception, are called to also share the light of Christ with
others. There is really no room to sit
idly by to simply watch what others are doing.
We are all called to share the light of Christ with others.
In
fact, this church does a “darn good job” of sharing Christ’s light with
others. I dare say every one of you,
active members and friends, have found ways to carry the light of Christ in
specific, tangible ways. As disciples
and leaders, you share the light of Christ every time you offer a smile to
someone else. Discipleship and
leadership is in your giving a warm handshake or hug to someone you haven’t
seen in awhile. Discipleship and leadership
is welcoming visitors in our midst.
Discipleship and leadership is found in every gift placed in the
offering plate. While some are called
and elected and ordained to be officers in doing specific tasks in running the
church, this point: You/We are all
called to be disciples and leaders in sharing the light of Christ with others.
Three
specific examples I would like to share:
First: think back to
December and the presents we collected for families back on December 23rd. In many significant ways this one program
illustrates how we let the light of Christ shine in and through us! It started several weeks earlier with Kate and
Isabella organizing a small army of helpers to decorate the church including
the tree where we placed the gifts—the tree that many of you as leaders helped
to take down last Sunday.
Shirlee and the
Program Team helped to coordinate the ingathering of dozens of presents for several
families. Not was not an easy task---but
very rewarding! Ruth and Joan helped
supplement gifts with the sale of Christmas Music CD’s, a project of the Mission Team that raised
over $250.00. Presbyterian Women gave
another $100. Don and Tom on behalf of
the Presbyterian Men’s group helped deliver
these gifts after worship. This is just
one example of how this entire church got involved in sharing the light of
Christ with others. (And I sincerely apologize for those of you whose names didn’t
get mentioned!)
What
excites me in sharing this one example, it is but one of many things that
happen each day and week in this church as we do Christ’s work in sharing the
light of Christ. I dare say, many of the
efforts of leaders of this church are done behind the scenes. A second example:
A couple of men in
the church have spent countless hours on cold winter days working high up on
the heating system in the gym. Behind
the scenes and unbeknownst to most of us, these men climbed to clean and repair
these large heating units & huge blowers you see on each side of the stage
way up near the ceiling? This was not an
easy job.
I am sure these guys
had better things to do with their free time, yet they had a light in them to
share in doing some of this work quietly and behind the scenes. These efforts with this one project will save
the church money with heating bills and in avoiding the hiring of expensive
professionals to do this work.
This is not unlike
the ladies who come in almost every week to paint and clean around the church, or
the dozens of YOU who spent a Saturday cleaning and trimmed bushes and trees
this past October……and these are just some of the things I hear about!
I
mention these projects because they illustrate this point: all of you find ways to share the light of
Christ without seeking publicity or recognition.
A third example, I
was recently reminded of a member and elder who for some years has been spending
countless hours each month quietly and regularly visiting one of our senior
members helping her with her check book and finances.
I
could spend all morning citing examples.
While officers of the church stood before you promising before God to
serve with energy, intelligence imagination and love….you too promise to
support them in helping in specific ways to share Christ’s light with others
using your time and gifts and talents!
Arise! YOUR light has come! All this sharing of
the light of Christ needs fuel. Communion
is one way we feed our souls in nurturing/feeding the light we share with
others. We partake of communion
together. Together we recognize God’s
call as a congregation to be the light of Christ. The power of this sacrament is found not only
in how Christ works in and with you in your relationship with God. This sacrament also helps us become the
living and vibrant BODY OF CHRIST – Christ alive and active in this church and
this world. Through this sacrament God
feeds us and provides fuel to help us maintain the bright shining light that
keeps the ministries of this church burning and bright in our midst and throughout
the community and larger world.
My
friends in Christ:
When you and I
accept the bread and the cup this morning, we take in as spiritual nourishment
not just remembering Christ is alive in our midst. We receive these elements in becoming parts
of the body of Christ….together sharing the sacred light of Christ with others.
Called
by God with a variety of gifts and a host of talents, we are the light of
Christ.
May
Christ’s light shine in and through us as we work to keep this church
afloat.
May
Christ’s light shine in and through us as we care for each other as members of
this church….
May
Christ’s light continue to shine beyond the walls of this church in the
community and world.
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