Shine

Epiphany 5A, 2/9/14
Matthew 5:13-20

Isaiah 58:1-9a

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Several years ago, I worked at a church camp.

A lot of you know that about me already.

At Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry, I spent four years working in their wilderness camping program. My camp sends groups into the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota for weeklong canoeing trips. One summer I was a guide, and for three summers I helped coordinate the program and train the guides.

There are a lot of important survival skills you can pick up even with just a few trips into the wilderness.

One of the skills that I picked up quickly was how to find my way in the dark without a flashlight.

Sure, I had a flashlight – a headlamp, actually – but depending on why you’re out after dark, you may not want to use one.

Going stargazing? The light from a flashlight will ruin your night vision for a while, and you won’t be able to see all the stars you want to until your eyes have time to adjust.

Heading away from the campsite to find the latrine in the middle of the night? You may not feel like broadcasting that fact by waking the people in the other tent with the bright light from your headlamp.

So, finding your way in the dark without a flashlight can be a very good skill to have. And it’s something that, I was surprised to learn, didn’t come naturally to most people.

Most people seem to stumble along by trying to see the ground, looking for the next place to put their feet, making sure that they can see the path before they move any further.

It’s a futile effort, really. It’s nearly impossible to see the ground in the forest using only starlight or moonlight. And if you do see it, your depth perception might be off, so you still end up missing ruts and tree roots. People who use this technique often end up tripping over themselves.

The more efficient way to find your way around in the dark is to look straight ahead. Notice where the trees are thinner – it’s where the light ahead is a little brighter. That’s where the path is. Take careful enough steps that you don’t trip over a rock or something, obviously – but look in front of you, look for the breaks in the trees, and that’s how you’ll figure out where to go.

I guess part of the misconception is that the path is something that exists on the ground. But it’s not. The path is as tall as the people who walk on it. 

Seems obvious when you think about it, right?

The thing is, you can see the path on the ground – it’s the part that’s been worn away, where there’s no grass growing, where things have been somewhat leveled out.

But what can you see of the path higher up? At waist level or eye level, what are you looking for to know you’re on the path?

The only indication of the path is light.

And that light can get you where you need to go.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

Therefore, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Light is what shows the way through the darkness.

In a world filled with news of kidnapped babies, fatal car crashes, floods of the century, Middle Eastern conflicts, and scandals of Olympic proportions, the light of Christ is desperately needed.

Jesus tells us today to let our light shine before others – don’t hide it under a bushel, but set our light out for all to see, to spread light into as many dark corners as it can reach!

Be the light on that path that guides others through the darkness.

Even if it shines dimly and barely provides enough light for someone to make their way through the woods, your light is valuable. It is necessary.

Those of us who are Christ-followers have something to offer the world – and according to Jesus, we need to offer it. If we don’t, it becomes totally worthless.

Jesus’ words are both a call to action and a warning.

If we don’t jump into action, we might not have another opportunity.

What we have to offer the world might not seem relevant to people any more.

This is the lesson that the church has been learning over and over and over again in recent years. 

Congregations keep trying to recruit new members with gimmicks and short-term solutions.

If only we had a high school youth group, or an evening worship service, or a projection screen, or music with drums and guitars, or a nursery… if only we could adopt some of those ministries that successful churches have, then we would also thrive. We would survive.

That’s what congregations seem to think.

But that’s not what the statistics say.

If all we have to offer is a good time for kids, or multimedia presentations, or rock music – well, there are about 600 places in the community that can offer those same things, and they can do them better.

But more importantly, none of these ways of doing ministry are really central to the message of the church.

Christ is central to the message of the church.

The Gospel is what we have to offer, that other people don’t.

Now, we can offer that message in a variety of ways – we can have traditional worship or praise services, we can worship in a church building or a storefront, we can have our pastors wear clerical collars or t-shirts – but the important thing is that we keep the message of Christ at the center. That is what is unique to the church. The Gospel is our salt and our light.

And the Gospel is the only hope the church has of growing, or even surviving.

Congregations of all sorts of theological persuasions are growing. Now, you’ve probably heard the statistics – churches like ours are shrinking. Sure. But not all congregations are. Some are growing. Individual church communities are increasing in membership.

Some of these are led by organ and some by guitar. Many of them have screens up front for projection, and many of them use incense and Gregorian chant in worship. But there is one thing that these growing congregations have in common.

They unashamedly proclaim the Gospel of Christ.

They are not afraid to say, yes, we are sinners. And we know it.

But we are forgiven sinners, because Jesus came to the world for people like us.

And… Jesus came to the world for people not like us, also.

Our job, as forgiven sinners, is to proclaim the news of forgiveness to the world, and to show how our lives are changed because of the work of Jesus.

We cannot live for ourselves, once we choose to follow Christ. Being a Christian requires that we live our lives for others.

If our community is going to exist at all, it must exist for the same kind of people that Jesus came to save – sinners, the sick, the marginalized, and the outcast people in society.

Live your life for others.

This is what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

We have some concrete examples today, in the reading from Isaiah.

Loose the bonds of injustice

Undo the thongs of the yoke

Let the oppressed go free

Share your bread with the hungry

Bring the homeless poor into your house

Cover the naked

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.

Then you will be the light of the world, the light that Jesus praises today.

Then you will be that little glimmer of brightness that guides the traveler through the path in the middle of the night, and lets them find their way even in the middle of the wilderness.

If you, individually – and if we, as a community – make it our business to follow Christ with every breath, our light will shine out into the darkness.

And people who are on the path of a spiritual journey will see the light that we are shining forth.

And they just might walk through our doors.

Though, that’s not really the measure of success.

Some of those people traveling along the path of spiritual exploration will follow our light, find our congregation and join us here. Some may follow our light but eventually end up somewhere else.

But the point is, our light makes a difference for someone who is stumbling in the darkness.

People are attracted to Christianity when they see us living out Jesus’ directives. When we actually welcome the homeless poor into our house – yes, really, literally – that is when people who are wandering lost in the woods see our light shining through, and start to make their way to our path.

These are not intended to be theoretical or symbolic actions here. Isaiah is pretty literal about the actions that shine forth light.

Loose the bonds of injustice. Don’t just talk about it – don’t just lament the unjust systems in our society – but act on it. Do something about it.

And when you do, people will see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Let your light shine before others.

It’s a call to action. It’s what we say when people are baptized. Letting our light shine is one of the primary things that identifies us as Christians.

We can let our lights shine by taking concrete actions, like the ones listed in the Isaiah readings.

And when our lights are shining, we end up helping people through the darkness.

People who are trying to get somewhere – who are looking for something – who are seeking spiritual meaning in their lives – if they are looking ahead on the path and trying to figure out where to go next, all of a sudden our light will shine through and will help them find their way. We will bring them closer to the church, closer to the good news of the Gospel, and closer to Jesus.

We can be that guide on dark paths for people. Like I taught my guides at church camp many years ago, when there’s even a little glimmer of light, there’s a path in the night.

Our light can shine forth and help people on their path.

In fact, our light should do this. It’s what Jesus expects of us.

So let’s get busy. Let’s do the work of Christ in the world.

Amen.