Sermon preached at 11am Choral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 27th February 2011. A shorter version was also preached at 8.30am Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton, 3pm Evensong.
Second Sunday before Lent, Epiphany 8 (CofE provision) – Year A
Readings: Ps 136: 1-9 Genesis 1: 1-23 Matthew 6: 25-34
Notes only
Creation story from Genesis might have shortcomings as a scientific account of creation, but it makes some important theological points.
First of all – creation comes about through the will of God
“You pour out your spirit and they are created” as the psalmist says.
Secondly - creation is good, in harmony with the will of God. At every step God stands back and says “it is good”.
But if God’s creation is good, where does evil comes from? This is a great mystery, which theologians struggle with. God did create evil. But God gives angels and humans freewill. They really do have freedom to choose, and they can choose to go against God and against his will. This is what evil is – rebellion against God.
Somehow, we don’t quite know how, evil as been sown in amongst the good of creation. The story of Adam and Eve and the fall is one account of this. But Jesus also tells the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt 13: 24-30, 36-43) where the master sows good seed, but an enemy comes and sows tares among the wheat. The separation of good from evil does not come until the end of time (see also parable of the dragnet (Matt 13: 47-50)) when God’s kingdom is realised in a more tangible way.
Thirdly humanity has a special place in creation; it’s pinnacle, created in the image of God; both male and female. God is above male and female – “he” includes both; both are in his image. We have to be very mindful of the special dignity of each human being, created in the image of God.
Then in NT lesson from Matthew Jesus teaches us not to have anxieties about the everyday necessities of life. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you as well.” So we need to seek first God’s kingdom, that goodness of creation which is separated out from evil at the end of time. We need to move in harmony with God’s will, in harmony with creation, with all that God wills, seeking always what is pleasing to God. And then all these other things are added to us as well.
The collect makes good suggestions:
- See God’s hand in all things
- recognise God’s likeness in all his children
These help us to seek first the kingdom of God.
I would like to illustrate this with a story that a man called Opus told me. It was a long time ago that I was told the story, and I might have the details wrong, but the gist of it is certainly correct.
Opus was tall and well built. He had classical good looks and was stylish in the way he dressed and wore his hair. He was probably a youth in the aftermath of the Second World War, which must have been a time of great austerity. I know he came from a large family, so there can’t have been much money around.
With the aspirations of a young man, his good looks and his strong sense of style, Opus came to realise that he wanted an electric razor. These were not readily available after the war, and were very expensive. However they often featured at the cinema, and for Opus they epitomised the glamour and sophistication of a modern lifestyle. He really, really wanted an electric razor.
Now as a young man Opus started living in a Christian community with perhaps six other young men, seeking to live a gospel lifestyle. There were many such groups about and they were related to one another. In these groups it was important not to be attached to any earthly riches, but always to be ready to give and to receive. The priority was to seek first the kingdom of God by overcoming selfishness and growing in love for the other people.
I don’t recall the details, but on one occasion Opus’s household received some gifts to share. The arrival of gifts was quite common, but what really caught Opus’s attention on this occasion was that one of the gifts was an electric razor! Of course, Opus really wanted the electric razor. However, talking with the other men in the house he realised that the razor was to be set aside someone else who was due to visit the house later that week. Opus really struggled with this. He understood that he had to seek first the kingdom of God, and he had to be ready to lose the razor, to let it go…but it was very, very hard.
In due course the visitor came, was delighted by the gift and took it away with him. The razor was gone, but it took Opus a couple of weeks to get over the resentments and frustrations that he felt about losing the razor. Finally he managed to do it; he became free of his desire, his need, for an electric razor.
Then a couple of weeks after that the household received more gifts, including two electric razors. The passionate need that Opus had felt for an electric razor had gone, but he was delighted to be given one none the less.
Then a little later he was given another electric razor, then later still another, and yet another! He started to constantly receive electric razors from the most varied and unpredictable of places. It became overwhelming. Opus felt that God was rewarding him for seeking first the kingdom of God, but the shear abundance of electric razors was also like God mocking him for the petty nature of his earlier desires. Of course electric razors did eventually became commonplace. Argos stock dozens of different models, starting at £13, and many of them are for women! Still Opus had taken the step of seeking first the kingdom of God, and God had added to him all the other things as well.
27 February 2011
20 February 2011
Building towards perfection
Sermon preached at the 11am Parish Eucharist at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 20th February 20111. Shorter versions of this sermon were preached at the 8.30am Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton, 9.45am Holy Communion.
Third Sunday before Lent (Septugesima)
Readings: 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11 & 16-23 Matthew 5: 38-48
Notes only
Start with story about “If someone sues for your coat, give him your cloak as well”
- the “I like your shirt” story
Our gospel readings at present come from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is very challenging!
Last week’s gospel gave us some very challenging teachings from Jesus
- he condemned all anger, lust, divorce and untruthfulness
I said in last week’s sermon that Jesus seems to set an impossibly high standard, a standard that is beyond us all.
- we might be tempted to throw in the towel, say “this is too much”
- but we must remember that we are on a journey towards the life of heaven
- we might not be ready for heaven yet, but by the grace of Christ we will be one day if we travel in the right direction
- we journey not in our own strength but in the strength of the Spirit & grace of Christ.
This week we have more very challenging teachings from Jesus
- do not resist the evildoer
- love your enemies
Again Jesus sets a high standard – but we must not despair.
We can think of the Journey again.
Or we can think of the slimily used by St Paul
- we are being built into a spiritual temple – a temple of the Holy Spirit
- this applies to us as individuals, and also to us collectively as church
- God is working in us to build up the temple
- it is a process that happens over time
- We need to co-operate and work on this building up because the spiritual temple endures. Earthly things fall away, we suffer loses, eventually we die, so better to invest in the spiritual temple which endures.
- We are building towards perfection – towards the life of heaven. As Jesus said in the gospel “Be Holy as your heavenly father is Holy”.
Whether we think of it as a journey or think of it as a building under construction our part is to live our day to day life in front of God seeking to grow in love for God and neighbour day by day, moment by moment. But sometimes we must ask ourselves, “What can we do?” “How can we contribute to the journey, to the building?” Lent starts in three weeks so no is an excellent time to ask these questions. Lent is traditionally the time of year for seeking to turn more fully to God.
What might be do this Lent? We could
1) Give up some luxury or pleasure (chocolate, coffee, alcohol, facebook?) in order to orientate ourselves towards God. Every time we miss the item we can remember God, and that we do it for love of him; or
2) Add some new spiritual discipline to our lives; perhaps some extra prayer or worship or bible reading or religious study. We will offer options on a Wednesday evening in church – Complain for prayer or “Explore” for study.
3) Do something practical which involves cost to ourselves for the benefit of other people. traditionally almsgiving. Could also be the giving of time or attention to someone who needs it. Could involve visiting someone who is a bit isolated, or writing to someone we are losing touch with.
So let’s start thinking now, so as to use Lent well, and to make our full contribution in the building up of the spiritual temple. Amen.
Third Sunday before Lent (Septugesima)
Readings: 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11 & 16-23 Matthew 5: 38-48
Notes only
Start with story about “If someone sues for your coat, give him your cloak as well”
- the “I like your shirt” story
Our gospel readings at present come from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is very challenging!
Last week’s gospel gave us some very challenging teachings from Jesus
- he condemned all anger, lust, divorce and untruthfulness
I said in last week’s sermon that Jesus seems to set an impossibly high standard, a standard that is beyond us all.
- we might be tempted to throw in the towel, say “this is too much”
- but we must remember that we are on a journey towards the life of heaven
- we might not be ready for heaven yet, but by the grace of Christ we will be one day if we travel in the right direction
- we journey not in our own strength but in the strength of the Spirit & grace of Christ.
This week we have more very challenging teachings from Jesus
- do not resist the evildoer
- love your enemies
Again Jesus sets a high standard – but we must not despair.
We can think of the Journey again.
Or we can think of the slimily used by St Paul
- we are being built into a spiritual temple – a temple of the Holy Spirit
- this applies to us as individuals, and also to us collectively as church
- God is working in us to build up the temple
- it is a process that happens over time
- We need to co-operate and work on this building up because the spiritual temple endures. Earthly things fall away, we suffer loses, eventually we die, so better to invest in the spiritual temple which endures.
- We are building towards perfection – towards the life of heaven. As Jesus said in the gospel “Be Holy as your heavenly father is Holy”.
Whether we think of it as a journey or think of it as a building under construction our part is to live our day to day life in front of God seeking to grow in love for God and neighbour day by day, moment by moment. But sometimes we must ask ourselves, “What can we do?” “How can we contribute to the journey, to the building?” Lent starts in three weeks so no is an excellent time to ask these questions. Lent is traditionally the time of year for seeking to turn more fully to God.
What might be do this Lent? We could
1) Give up some luxury or pleasure (chocolate, coffee, alcohol, facebook?) in order to orientate ourselves towards God. Every time we miss the item we can remember God, and that we do it for love of him; or
2) Add some new spiritual discipline to our lives; perhaps some extra prayer or worship or bible reading or religious study. We will offer options on a Wednesday evening in church – Complain for prayer or “Explore” for study.
3) Do something practical which involves cost to ourselves for the benefit of other people. traditionally almsgiving. Could also be the giving of time or attention to someone who needs it. Could involve visiting someone who is a bit isolated, or writing to someone we are losing touch with.
So let’s start thinking now, so as to use Lent well, and to make our full contribution in the building up of the spiritual temple. Amen.
13 February 2011
Jesus on the Law
Sermon preached at Choral Mattins at St Mary’s Lapworth on Sunday 13th February 2011. A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8.30 Said Eucharist and at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton’s 3pm Evensong.
Fourth Sunday before Lent – Year A
Readings: Ps 119: 1-8 Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20 Matthew 5: 21-37
One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes relates to the time when he was appointed within H. H. Asquith’s government to be First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. At that time there was widespread concern about the build up of German naval power, and there was a recognition that the Royal Navy would need to be strengthened if it was to retain its command of the seas. However there was political disagreement about how many dreadnought ships should be added to the navy, perhaps four, perhaps six. Then a German warship started to intimidate French shipping off Morocco, and suddenly a political consensus emerged. Churchill later summarised the debate saying, “The Conservatives wanted six; the Liberals wanted four; we compromised on eight.”
I was reminded of this story by our gospel reading today. Jesus was talking about the Jewish law and commenting on different matters, some of which were controversial at the time. The conversations would typically be about how much the Law should affect the day to day behaviour of the people. The Pharisees might say by four degrees, the Scribes might say by six degrees, but Jesus would say by eight! Jesus’ interpretation of the law always seems to go much deeper and be far more far reaching than the interpretation of other scholars at the time. In fact it seems to me that Jesus thinks about the Jewish Law in a way that is quite different from the way that scholars of the time might think of it.
It seems to me that the law given through Moses was an effort to explain what good behaviour was; what it meant to help people to be good Jews, worthy of receiving God promises to his chosen nation. But then, over time, it seems that the Law ceased to function as something pointing people towards God, but became more like a boundary defining what was, and what was not, acceptable behaviour for a Jew. During this period the number of rules increased dramatically, and things like how far you could walk on the Sabbath became very precisely defined.
It seems to me that Jesus did not think of the Law as a boundary at all. For him it was all about pointing us towards God. And for Jesus it was not just behaviours that mattered. What mattered much more was the inner attitudes and values and beliefs that drive behaviours. In the eyes of Jesus, it is essential that attitudes, beliefs, values and therefore behaviours too are orientated towards God, that they draw us towards God. Jesus wants us to know God better, to share in God’s attitudes plans and hopes, to become like God.
And this makes the Law Oh so much more demanding. The letter of the law condemns the killing of a person, but Jesus condemns even being angry with a person, or thinking of that a person is a fool or traitor. The letter of the Law condemns adultery, but Jesus condemns even lust. The letter of the Law has a procedure for divorce, but Jesus condemns divorce. The Tradition says you must not break a vow, but Jesus says don’t even make vows, but always keep your word. And in fact Jesus goes on. It gets even harder in next week’s gospel with “Love your enemies”.
What is very noticeable when we think of the Law like Jesus does, as something that points us towards God, as something which prepares us for an eternal life shared with God, is that suddenly we are completely inadequate. No anger, no criticism of others, no lust, no divorce, no parting from our word…we are all of us hopelessly inadequate because none of us can live to this standard.
What we have to accept is that we are on a journey, a journey towards God, towards the life of heaven. It is a journey and we are not there yet. We are not 100% saints yet. We certainly cannot live to the standard that Jesus expects, we are not yet ready for life in heaven. But we also need to accept that by faith in God, and by the grace of Christ, we will one day complete that journey, we will pass through different purifying experiences and God will make us ready for heaven. Ultimately, as our first reading pointed out we all have to choose between fire and water, between life and death, between heaven and hell. So really we have to choose heaven, and the quicker we make progress on the journey to get there the better it is for everyone.
So we are on the journey towards heaven, but every now and again something happens that reminds us that we still have a long way to go. Perhaps a scripture reading like today’s reminds us that we are completely inadequate. What do we do? Do we give up on the journey because it is too difficult? Do we start to hate ourselves because we know that we are sinners? No. No, we remember that God continues to love us, and we must continue to love ourselves and, like God, we must hope for and work for the very best for ourselves. We must remember that Jesus came into the world precisely to save sinners like us and to bring us to the life of heaven. So we need to confess our sin and our inadequacies and our failings to God. We need to hold them before God and see them as God sees them and become totally realistic about them. And this can be painful, it reminds us that we are not as good as we like to think we are. But, it seems to me, that pain, in conjunction with Christ’s sufferings on the cross, gives us the grace to move forward. It fills us with the desire to move forward. It assures us that we move forward in God’s strength not our own. It helps us to make progress on the journey. We realise that God’s love for us goes much deeper than our sin.
So we hear a scripture reading like today’s and when we hear all about God’s laws, let’s not think of them as a boundary, and worry whether we are inside or out. Rather let’s think of them as pointers to God and to the life of heaven. Let’s be sure that we still have a long way to go before we reach God, but let’s also have confidence that Jesus will walk with us on that journey, and that Jesus, through his death and resurrection has already overcome all our sin. The end of the journey is assured, but we still need to walk it Amen.
Fourth Sunday before Lent – Year A
Readings: Ps 119: 1-8 Ecclesiasticus 15: 15-20 Matthew 5: 21-37
One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes relates to the time when he was appointed within H. H. Asquith’s government to be First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. At that time there was widespread concern about the build up of German naval power, and there was a recognition that the Royal Navy would need to be strengthened if it was to retain its command of the seas. However there was political disagreement about how many dreadnought ships should be added to the navy, perhaps four, perhaps six. Then a German warship started to intimidate French shipping off Morocco, and suddenly a political consensus emerged. Churchill later summarised the debate saying, “The Conservatives wanted six; the Liberals wanted four; we compromised on eight.”
I was reminded of this story by our gospel reading today. Jesus was talking about the Jewish law and commenting on different matters, some of which were controversial at the time. The conversations would typically be about how much the Law should affect the day to day behaviour of the people. The Pharisees might say by four degrees, the Scribes might say by six degrees, but Jesus would say by eight! Jesus’ interpretation of the law always seems to go much deeper and be far more far reaching than the interpretation of other scholars at the time. In fact it seems to me that Jesus thinks about the Jewish Law in a way that is quite different from the way that scholars of the time might think of it.
It seems to me that the law given through Moses was an effort to explain what good behaviour was; what it meant to help people to be good Jews, worthy of receiving God promises to his chosen nation. But then, over time, it seems that the Law ceased to function as something pointing people towards God, but became more like a boundary defining what was, and what was not, acceptable behaviour for a Jew. During this period the number of rules increased dramatically, and things like how far you could walk on the Sabbath became very precisely defined.
It seems to me that Jesus did not think of the Law as a boundary at all. For him it was all about pointing us towards God. And for Jesus it was not just behaviours that mattered. What mattered much more was the inner attitudes and values and beliefs that drive behaviours. In the eyes of Jesus, it is essential that attitudes, beliefs, values and therefore behaviours too are orientated towards God, that they draw us towards God. Jesus wants us to know God better, to share in God’s attitudes plans and hopes, to become like God.
And this makes the Law Oh so much more demanding. The letter of the law condemns the killing of a person, but Jesus condemns even being angry with a person, or thinking of that a person is a fool or traitor. The letter of the Law condemns adultery, but Jesus condemns even lust. The letter of the Law has a procedure for divorce, but Jesus condemns divorce. The Tradition says you must not break a vow, but Jesus says don’t even make vows, but always keep your word. And in fact Jesus goes on. It gets even harder in next week’s gospel with “Love your enemies”.
What is very noticeable when we think of the Law like Jesus does, as something that points us towards God, as something which prepares us for an eternal life shared with God, is that suddenly we are completely inadequate. No anger, no criticism of others, no lust, no divorce, no parting from our word…we are all of us hopelessly inadequate because none of us can live to this standard.
What we have to accept is that we are on a journey, a journey towards God, towards the life of heaven. It is a journey and we are not there yet. We are not 100% saints yet. We certainly cannot live to the standard that Jesus expects, we are not yet ready for life in heaven. But we also need to accept that by faith in God, and by the grace of Christ, we will one day complete that journey, we will pass through different purifying experiences and God will make us ready for heaven. Ultimately, as our first reading pointed out we all have to choose between fire and water, between life and death, between heaven and hell. So really we have to choose heaven, and the quicker we make progress on the journey to get there the better it is for everyone.
So we are on the journey towards heaven, but every now and again something happens that reminds us that we still have a long way to go. Perhaps a scripture reading like today’s reminds us that we are completely inadequate. What do we do? Do we give up on the journey because it is too difficult? Do we start to hate ourselves because we know that we are sinners? No. No, we remember that God continues to love us, and we must continue to love ourselves and, like God, we must hope for and work for the very best for ourselves. We must remember that Jesus came into the world precisely to save sinners like us and to bring us to the life of heaven. So we need to confess our sin and our inadequacies and our failings to God. We need to hold them before God and see them as God sees them and become totally realistic about them. And this can be painful, it reminds us that we are not as good as we like to think we are. But, it seems to me, that pain, in conjunction with Christ’s sufferings on the cross, gives us the grace to move forward. It fills us with the desire to move forward. It assures us that we move forward in God’s strength not our own. It helps us to make progress on the journey. We realise that God’s love for us goes much deeper than our sin.
So we hear a scripture reading like today’s and when we hear all about God’s laws, let’s not think of them as a boundary, and worry whether we are inside or out. Rather let’s think of them as pointers to God and to the life of heaven. Let’s be sure that we still have a long way to go before we reach God, but let’s also have confidence that Jesus will walk with us on that journey, and that Jesus, through his death and resurrection has already overcome all our sin. The end of the journey is assured, but we still need to walk it Amen.
06 February 2011
You are the light of the world!
Sermon preached at 9.45 am Holy Communion (BCP) at St Michael’s Baddesley Clinton on Sunday 6th February 2011. Shorter versions of this sermon were preached at St Mary’s Lapworth at 8.30am and at 11am.
Epiphany 5, Year A (Fifth Sunday before Lent)
Readings: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-12 Matthew 5: 13-20
Recently I read about an experience of a young child, we’ll call him Peter, at school in Texas. It was playtime, and Peter was playing with his friends, but the friends did not want the children from the other class to join in with the game. The Teacher on duty ticked the friends off for being selfish and asked them to play with the other children. There was an awkward pause, but Peter knew in his heart that the teacher was right, and that the generous thing to do, the loving thing to do, was to include the other children. He called out to one of them and began to involve him in the game. A few moments later he looked round, and he was amazed to see that his friends had also welcomed the children from the other class, and now all the children were playing together.
It is a very simple story, but it is a very good example about how generosity and goodness has an infectious quality; how one good deed leads to another, how if one person sets a good example, often others will follow.
I remember I had an experience of this myself a few years ago. My morning drive to work involved an awkward right hand turn. When traffic was heavy it was often necessary to drive in way that was rather pushy in order to make the right hand turn. Gradually I found that my driving style was becoming pushier and more aggressive in general because I was practising this attitude at this particular right hand turn. Then, one day, when I had just arrived at the junction and was preparing to pick my moment to go, suddenly a car on the main carriage way slowed down for me, and signalled for me to come out. I moved out straight away, and waved to the man, to whom I was very grateful. But as I drove on I found that the incident had somehow lifted my soul. Suddenly the world seemed good, and everybody was a friend and I found myself driving very courteously, and letting people out of congested side roads myself.
And it seems to me that stories like this illustrate what Jesus wants from us when he asks us to be the Light of the World. Last week we remembered Simeon in the Temple, saying that the baby Jesus would be a “light to lighten the gentiles” (Luke 2: 32) and we remembered that Jesus really adopted this understanding for himself when he himself came to say, “I am the light of the World” (John 8: 12). When I spoke about this last week I said that we needed to walk in the light of Christ ourselves, and then we, as the body of Christ, had to offer that same light of Christ to the world. Well Jesus in his statement today, “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5: 13) emphasises that second of these two points. We are called to be the light of Christ for other people, so that they me see our good works and give glory to our father in heaven.
So how do we do that in practice? How do we be the light of the world? Well let’s remember that this light does not come from us. The light that we give to the world has to be the light of Christ, shining through us. It is not as though we generate this light ourselves, rather it is about allowing the light of Christ to shine within us.
So I think it boils down to the same message as last week. First and foremost we need to walk in the light of Christ ourselves. We can’t be light to the world if we don’t have the light of Christ within us. The light that Christ gives us comes especially from his teachings and his example. We need to live by his teachings and follow his examples, so that we are filled with his light. Then it is a question letting this light shine out, and not keeping the light under a bushel. This means being open and transparent about our faith, not hiding it away in a box and only taking it out on Sundays! Above all it means being generous to others, like Peter in Texas, or like the car driver who let me out at the junction. As these acts of generosity spread, we are being light to the world. Amen.
Epiphany 5, Year A (Fifth Sunday before Lent)
Readings: 1 Corinthians 2: 1-12 Matthew 5: 13-20
Recently I read about an experience of a young child, we’ll call him Peter, at school in Texas. It was playtime, and Peter was playing with his friends, but the friends did not want the children from the other class to join in with the game. The Teacher on duty ticked the friends off for being selfish and asked them to play with the other children. There was an awkward pause, but Peter knew in his heart that the teacher was right, and that the generous thing to do, the loving thing to do, was to include the other children. He called out to one of them and began to involve him in the game. A few moments later he looked round, and he was amazed to see that his friends had also welcomed the children from the other class, and now all the children were playing together.
It is a very simple story, but it is a very good example about how generosity and goodness has an infectious quality; how one good deed leads to another, how if one person sets a good example, often others will follow.
I remember I had an experience of this myself a few years ago. My morning drive to work involved an awkward right hand turn. When traffic was heavy it was often necessary to drive in way that was rather pushy in order to make the right hand turn. Gradually I found that my driving style was becoming pushier and more aggressive in general because I was practising this attitude at this particular right hand turn. Then, one day, when I had just arrived at the junction and was preparing to pick my moment to go, suddenly a car on the main carriage way slowed down for me, and signalled for me to come out. I moved out straight away, and waved to the man, to whom I was very grateful. But as I drove on I found that the incident had somehow lifted my soul. Suddenly the world seemed good, and everybody was a friend and I found myself driving very courteously, and letting people out of congested side roads myself.
And it seems to me that stories like this illustrate what Jesus wants from us when he asks us to be the Light of the World. Last week we remembered Simeon in the Temple, saying that the baby Jesus would be a “light to lighten the gentiles” (Luke 2: 32) and we remembered that Jesus really adopted this understanding for himself when he himself came to say, “I am the light of the World” (John 8: 12). When I spoke about this last week I said that we needed to walk in the light of Christ ourselves, and then we, as the body of Christ, had to offer that same light of Christ to the world. Well Jesus in his statement today, “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5: 13) emphasises that second of these two points. We are called to be the light of Christ for other people, so that they me see our good works and give glory to our father in heaven.
So how do we do that in practice? How do we be the light of the world? Well let’s remember that this light does not come from us. The light that we give to the world has to be the light of Christ, shining through us. It is not as though we generate this light ourselves, rather it is about allowing the light of Christ to shine within us.
So I think it boils down to the same message as last week. First and foremost we need to walk in the light of Christ ourselves. We can’t be light to the world if we don’t have the light of Christ within us. The light that Christ gives us comes especially from his teachings and his example. We need to live by his teachings and follow his examples, so that we are filled with his light. Then it is a question letting this light shine out, and not keeping the light under a bushel. This means being open and transparent about our faith, not hiding it away in a box and only taking it out on Sundays! Above all it means being generous to others, like Peter in Texas, or like the car driver who let me out at the junction. As these acts of generosity spread, we are being light to the world. Amen.
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