2023-08-14
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
August 13, 2023
Matthew 5:13-16
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Let us pray:
Gracious God, may we take in the light of your words, allowing them to move through us and guide us today and always. Amen
So, no doubt you have figured out our metaphor for today… LIGHT
The Light of God.
A few weeks ago I spoke of the Living Water of God, the power and strength, the nourishment it provides us. Today’s words, The Light of God, will have a definite outward focus, through God’s Light, what do we bring to the world.
I am a hobbyist photographer and over time I have learned light is one of the most important elements in creating the feeling I want in my images.
― George Eastman, founder of Kodak stated that:
“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”
Way back in 1977, when I was a senior in High School, I got to do my senior project with a local professional photographer. I learned how to develop color prints in my own, makeshift, darkroom in our basement. This was where I started to learn how to effectively use light, especially natural light to get my desired results in my photographs.
In the digital age of photography, you can use editing programs to get results that you might seek for your images. I am a bit of a purest, I prefer not to manipulate my images digitally and really want to use the light provided to get my desired results. Granted, I have used some fun artistic photo apps, but that is mostly for creating fun images of some bad photos. J By using the light provided I feel I am sharing what I see with the rest of the world… I was moved by the light, and I want the world to see it!
I was reading a piece online about the uses of light in photography and the following struck a chord with me:
“Light is what allows us to convey information and, more importantly, emotion in an image, once you understand light, you’ll be able to create a wide variety of creative and effective images.”
When I think about the Light of God in my life, I am drawn to an analogy with my photography. (A Metaphor in the Metaphor) J How I receive that light and how is it expressed by me to convey what I want the world to see. My hope is to convey God’s love in the way I am in the world. I know I don’t always succeed; I am human after all, I can get snarky when the world irritates me. J but I try to center myself in God’s light and share it with the world the best I can.
Several weeks ago, I was scrolling through Reels (short videos that are posted in social media, if you are not careful you can get sucked in to a lot of silly and yes stupid stuff) but, on this day, I saw a reel that inspired me to choose Light and the light of God for today’s message.
The reel is of a North Carolina State Graduate, whose name is Kelsey, speaking at her commencement. I want to share a bit of her address…
“I'm sure all of you have been asked the same exact question: what you are going to do (after graduation)? and that's a very different question from who you are going to be. What I want us to consider is what does it mean to be a human being not human doing. When I first came to NC State, I had a lot of labels that I was proud of; D1 athlete, softball player, researcher, social work student. If you were to ask me about my identity, I would have listed all of those tangible things, but during my junior year I suffered A traumatic brain injury from softball …my career ending concussion meant that softball was now forever over, and I was on the brink of even continuing as a student. I struggled to speak without frequent stuttering, pausing, confusion, and couldn't prove myself through performance of any kind. The external labels that I built my entire identity on were broken, crumbled to the core and I was left with all the pieces of who I used to be and unsure how to rebuild. So, as I recovered for several months, I made a resolution to help rebuild my identity. I decided that in order to heal the way I saw myself, I had to start by the way that I saw and spoke about others. I would start describing people not by their labels but by three things; their attitude, the way that they treat others, and what makes them uniquely beautiful… instead of describing my roommate as an engineer I would first tell you that she is a kind, intelligent, adventurous girl who loves her family deeply. I started equating other people's identities towards their internal characteristics. I began to build a healthier foundation for myself.
…We all have the opportunity to decide who we are going to be when we leave this place today… who we are internally is the root of what we do and what we produce to the world… that we are going to change. Whether it's a relationship role or role in a job … you were so much more than your role. So, you might be going to do work in engineering, but that means you're going to be an intelligent problem solver, you might be going to do social work, but that means you're going to be a compassionate community member. Regardless of what you do, you always have the opportunity to be the person that you've dreamed. When you choose a positive attitude, treat others with genuine kindness and appreciate your own unique inner beauty, if you embrace those three things your life will become richer, seeing the world through a lens beyond the labels that confine us. …we have to look beyond our label to appreciate who we really are and appreciate others for who they really are and because of that, I encourage all of us to think and do and become something uniquely amazing.”
These words of Kelsey’s got me thinking about what makes us who we are and how do we show ourselves to the world.
Everyone is unique. We may share similar qualities to others around us, but we are each unique.
God is intentional that way.
God’s light moves through us all, like light through rain or glass. That light is refractured, you know… that made up guy…“Roy G Biv” Red, Orange, yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. The Rainbow is a beautiful reminder that we are all so very different. Light is refractured because when it travels through something, like glass or water it changes speed and it bends, comes through at a different angle. The rainbow occurs because each of the seven colors bend and refract at a slightly different speed.
When we think of God’s Light refracting through each of us, we can take notice of how different that light travels through each of us and shows itself in unique ways as we move through the world.
What does your refractured light look like? I loved how Kelsey talked about having to reidentify herself. We often get caught up in the notion of who we are… is what we do for a living, our vocation. But really, we need to look inward, what does my outward projection look like…
… what type of person am I and who do I want to be within my vocation, in my daily life.
The question asked in our reading today… “do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl?”
If we do that, we can’t see People’s unique light! Place your light on a stand, illuminate the house, the people around you, the world!
I think people often forget to let that person shine through. Maybe something is blocking their light… the light is under a bowl… so the darkness prevails in their heart and therefore darkness falls on those around them.
Not all of my profound wisdom comes from Social Media… but Judy Bagley-Bonner shared this on Facebook; a motto of an elder at the Ostrog Monastery (located in Montenegro)
“Whoever carries the Kingdom of God in himself will unconsciously transfer it to others, people will be attracted to our peace and warmth, they will want to be with us and gradually they will be conquered by the atmosphere of heaven. It is not even necessary to tell people about this – heaven will radiate from us without us even realizing it.”
The wisdom is… it isn’t your words that is God’s Light shining through. Set your light on a stand! Share it with the world and the world will change for the better.
I am going to step back to my Metaphor of the Metaphor… my photography…. A dear friend gave me a book for Christmas this past year. Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice. It’s a book I wanted to just read through all at once… but it encourages the reader to slow down and only read a chapter and then practice what you have read and then days or weeks later read the next.
One of the first things I took in while reading… was the word “Behold”. The word behold is in the bible many times, it is used in scripture to call our attention to something important. We are being asked to look deeper, see something deeper and observe differently.
Look past what you know you see, what has always been there and see what is under the surface.
Some of you may practice Contemplative Prayer, clearing your mind of clutter, looking deeper and finding what is real, what is the truth.
The Author, Christine Valters Paintner, writes,
Contemplative seeing and beholding are conscious acts of becoming receptive and dropping as much as possible, our own ego, desires and projections. It is only from this space of openness and wonder that we truly see the movement of God in the world.
Beholding a person or place is a conscious and receptive act of releasing our inner judgements and projections as much as possible. From this place of openness, we are then free to experience the grace and movement of God.
In photography this brings about an internal shift… the same can happen for us as we contemplate who we can be, not what we do.
We can take a deep breath and let God’s light move through us. As we do this, we start to see things, people differently. Like the NC State Grad… looking at those around us as “Who they are”, not “what they do” and in turn revealing in ourselves, “who we are intended to be”.
We start to experience a physical, emotional and spiritual shift as we look at people and the world as a whole with intentions to understand the true sense of their being.
I know many of you do the NY Times daily puzzle Wordle. A word from two weeks ago is not often used in today’s common language but I found a spot for it J God’s Light Begets God’s Light!
If we create in ourselves an intention to be God’s Light to the world and to see others in a deeper truth, we won’t need to announce what we are doing, we can bring the kingdom of God to the world by sharing the light of God – “Heaven will radiate from us without us even realizing it”.
I have one final thought, a question… what prevents us from embracing the light that is uniquely ours and sharing it. That light of God shining through us, it changes speed and is refractured as our own unique gift to the world.
I want to close with a poem written by Marianne Williamson. Williamson is an Author, Speaker, and Humanitarian.
Our Deepest Fear
from Marianne Williamson’s Book A return to Love
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
Place your light, your refracted light, on a stand, let it shine for the world to see and may you bring the Light of God to the world! Amen