Shine with Radiance (Epiphany 2A)

 

Shine with Radiance
Homily delivered the Second Sunday after Epiphany (Epiphany 2A RCL)

The Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
15 January 2017; 8:00 a.m. Said and 10:00 a.m. Sung Eucharist
Parish Church of Trinity, Ashland (Oregon)
Readings:  Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42; Psalm 40:1-12

God, give us hearts to feel and love,

take away our hearts of stone
 and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.

  

When I first became an Episcopalian, I was puzzled by the use of the word “collect” to describe the opening prayer.  I wondered what it had to do with taking up a collection, which clearly happened much later in the service.   I finally asked about it in an Inquirer’s Class we took and found out that the word was not pronounced col-LECT, but rather COL-lect, and had nothing to do with passing the plate.  It is a summing prayer that gathered together the themes of the various readings.  Its form starts with one of the attributes or actions of God, and then offers a petition responding to it.

So today’s collect:  “Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world” there is your attribute of God.  Then a petition growing from it:  “Grant that your people, illumined (enlightened) by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory.”

“I have placed you as a light to the nations” says the Isaiah passage.  The Psalm talks about God’s song as if it were light that gives people the ability to see: 

“He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God; 
many shall see, and stand in awe,
and put their trust in the Lord.”

Paul in 1 Corinthians connects the joy we feel in the gospel with the witness we bear to others through our deeds and words: “the grace of God … has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind… [thus] the witness you bear to Christ has been strengthened among you.” 

In the Gospel reading, we hear John the Baptist give his witness to the Light of the world, and see the reaction of some of his disciples to meeting that Light: Andrew immediately finds his brother Simon Peter and says to him, “We have found the Messiah” and introduces him to Jesus. 

Being formed in Christ’s light, and passing it on to others: this is the essence of living as a follower of Jesus.   “Grant that your people, enlightened by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory.”  Jesus, the word and sacrament of God, made present to us in scripture, preaching, and such things as baptism and Holy Communion, brings us light.  He stirs us to joy.  He challenges us to grow into what God intends us to be.  

Jesus teaches clearly:  “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 the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, 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.”  (Matt. 5:14-16)

It’s all there in the spiritual: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.  Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” 

As good as life is, it is really easy to get depressed at times.  Our relationships and families only approach, but never arrive, at the ideal of loving kindness that families should have.  Our friends and loved ones get sick and die.  Sometimes we experience betrayal and abuse by those who should be giving us care and support.   In our church life, we sometimes make it so hard on each other.  Church is supposed to be light and life, not petty squabbles or infighting.  It is supposed to form us as disciples of Jesus, not judges and condemners of others.  And we are hard on each other in our community and national life.  The nation is the most divided and bitterly conflicted, I think, than we have been for over 150 years.  

Jesus says in the face of all this: let your light shine!

The change in administrations has caused a controversy in Episcopal Church circles.  Some say we cannot pray for the President-elect.  His name is just too painful for many, especially those who have suffered sexual abuse or harassment, bullying, or discrimination based in race, national origin, handicap, or religion.  Others reply rightly that scripture teaches us to pray for our national leaders, even if the prayer is only to change their hearts and behaviors. We are all children of God and need prayers. 

The Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, issued a statement this week saying that given scriptural teaching, the Prayer Book, and the example of Jesus, we must pray for the new President.  All Saints’ Pasedena announced that even as they continue to pray for the nation’s leaders, they have dropped the new President’s name from petitions, since it is so traumatic for some.   Others insist that fair is fair, and say that “we pray for our President Donald” is in order if we prayed for “our President Barack.”  The other side replies, “We prayed for George W. Bush by name.  But Trump is different.”     

The fact is, the Prayer Book’s suggested forms of prayer give petitions for the President and leaders of the nations, but do not instruct us to use their names.   In Anglican churches in countries where the British monarch is head of state, the authorized prayers usually include the sovereign’s name.  This practice was part of Tudor and Stuart political control of religion to ensure that a state-sponsored church supported the monarch’s line.  But this has never been the American Prayer Book’s way.  I saw the real dilemmas it causes while serving as a priest in post-1997 Hong Kong at a Church of England rite cathedral and seeing the agonies of some Chinese parishioners who had earlier fled bitter persecution in Mainland China when they heard Anglo- or left-wing Chinese prayer leaders pray in the Cathedral Intercessions for “our President [Jiang] Zemin” or “our President [Hu] Jintao,” the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.  I can only imagine what praying by name for such an active persecutor of Christians as current leader Xi Jinping must do.

This week, as noted in your bulletins, Trinity has reorganized our instructions for Prayers of the People.  We seek better focus and shorter public prayers.  We have decided to follow our Prayer Book’s usage and simply forgo the use of names in Prayers of the People except for those on our short, urgent list of those needing healing or support in time of trouble.    So President Trump will not be named in Prayers of the People even as we pray for him, that he may have the strength and wisdom to know and to do God’s will, serve the common good, and be, to use the Prayer Book’s words, “ever mindful” of his “calling to serve this people in [the fear of God].” We have not announced that we will not pray by name for the incoming President.  We will also usually not be naming church leaders or others whose names appear on our larger prayer list.  We do not want to reduce prayer to political partisanship.  But we do want to live the gospel and pray for all in need of prayer.  

What is key here is this:  we must let our light shine.  We all must be fair-minded in dealing with those who differ from us politically.  We must not let labels or name-calling dictate our behavior.  A new administration always brings with it uncertainties and fears, and this is particularly the case with this one, presided over by a man who made a point in the campaign of vilifying and dehumanizing his opponents and whole classes of people.  We must focus on the policies and behavior of all of our political leaders.  If any pursue policies that are hurtful to the marginalized, that puts the Kingdom of God farther away rather than draws it nearer, then we must oppose those policies and actions clearly and effectively.  If any try to do things that help advance the common good and the lighten the burden of those suffering, then we should make common cause with them on these things, not vilify them for being “insincere” or “deceitful.” 

In such a divisive climate, we must call policies and actions by their true name, and not worry so much about labels and the names of those we support or oppose.  Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and those of the Confessing Church who wrote the Barmen Declaration were careful not to oppose the Nazis on the basis of partisan labels.  Rather, they named and opposed specific actions and teaching of the Nazis that violated gospel truth and scripture.  I am very troubled by Mr. Trump’s exclusive choice of “prosperity Gospel” ministers as prayer leaders this week at what should be a united national ceremony of transferal of power.  I must say clearly:  the doctrine that wealth is a sign of God’s approval and poverty a sign of God’s curse is heresy, and opposes much of the teaching of our Lord.    

“Letting your light shine” in the current context means activism and public witness.  It means taking the power of prayer seriously, and praying for our enemies.  It means listening to our opponents fairly and carefully.  It means letting the joy of the gospel, the love of God, and the fellowship and friendship given us by the Holy Spirit bubble up from our individual hearts and minds, from our limited church community, and pour out in abundance into our private and public affirmations and actions.   It means, to borrow words from the departing First Lady, “when they go low, we go high.”  It may mean civil disobedience to unjust and immoral laws.

Sisters and brothers at Trinity:  As Saint Paul says, “Now is the day of salvation.  Now is the acceptable time.”  Now more than ever, we must live the gospel, follow Jesus, and let his light shine out through us.  The Kingdom is ever in our midst, and we must not lose heart. 

In the name of Christ, Amen.