October  8, 2017          Keep Your Eye on the Light                                                                                                         
        This past week, on Wednesday Evening, I attended our Epic Youth Group meeting. We enjoyed a meal together and then we moved to the youth room for bible study. Now going back to last year, the group has been studying Jesus Sermon on the mount, as a way of helping us understand what it means to be a Christian.

        This week, we read the passage where Jesus tells us that the eye is the lamp of the body. If you eye is healthy, than your body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, then your body will be full of darkness. And if the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness…

          As I meditated upon this saying of Jesus, I thought about the events of the past week, specifically the shootings in Las Vegas. A lot of the news commentators, spend their time focusing on people’s fears about this happening in their communities, about the divisions and hatred that create this kind of violence. But I also noticed, that some of the commentators talked about the people in the crowd, protecting each other, dragging people to safety, of tending to those who were injured, and police and other safety personnel risking their own lives, to stop the gunman from firing.

        In the last few weeks, it seems like a common theme, we have seen tragedies in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Las Vegas. We have heard the news focus on the darkness of the devastation, suffering, and loss  - yet right along side that, we keep hearing stories of light, stories of the compassion, and goodness of people reaching out to help one another. And despite the constant political rhetoric in our nation these days about division, immigration, other religions and foreigners being the cause of our problems, we see people of all religions, races, immigrants or not, working together, and sacrificing of themselves, to help one another. In these events, we see both light and darkness, but the question for each one of us is, which one will we choose to see and which one we will choose for the living of our lives.

        One of the sermons I read this week is from Dr. Will Williamon.  Dr. Willamon suggests that instead of focusing on Making America Great Again, which seems to lead to all kinds of division and darkness, that we should instead be focusing on Making America United Again – which leads to unity and peace. And the spirit of unity, that he recommends for all of us who are Christians, is found in our Epistle reading this morning, the spirit of Jesus Christ.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

       This spirit is the light by which we are called to view the world. This spirit is the light by which we are called to act on behalf of not just ourselves but of others, brothers and sisters throughout our nation and around the globe. If our eyes only behold the darkness and fear generated by those seeking power over us, then indeed the darkness will be great, the violence and suffering and death unending. But if we seek to live by the light of Christ's humility, obedience to God, and service, than God will make our nation great again. Not by any political leader, but by God's presence in our lives seeking justice and peace for all.

        One final note. There will always be people who question the authority of others. They will say that they share the light and we share the darkness. In our gospel lesson Jesus points out two things. First, the Pharisees have placed their political beliefs above their religious beliefs. That is a sure sign of darkness. The other is that the work of those who share the light results in the fulfilment of the kingdom of heaven in our midst. Peace, justice, unity, compassion, faithfulness, healing, reconciliation forgiveness and etc. It results in the blind seeing, the lame walking, the unclean cleansed, and good news proclaimed to the poor.  When these things occur, than we can be certain we are seeing and walking by the light of God, and that is the Good News of Jesus Christ.