Matthew 5:13-16
We are a very busy congregation. “The church that does things!” I’m proud of the many things we do and the ways we celebrate them. I tell people that the heart of our worship is Light Signs where we say out loud the ways we are being God’s love in our community. Sometimes busy can be overwhelming! This week I put 300 miles on my car – in town! – driving about being busy. When we are most busy may be the best time to hit “pause,” to stop and reflect for a moment on whether the busy-ness matches our values and our dreams. Are we busy with the things that matter most to us? This summer I bought a massive planner, not just for keeping track of busy but for space to put on paper the “why” of what I do. (So far the calendar is full and the goals are mostly blank, but the possibilities are there waiting for me.)
At the heart of every question about how we use time and resources is a deeper question: who am I? Who do I want to be? Jesus told the people around him, and through the ages he tells us, “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.” Because you ARE, life has flavor and zest, life has purpose and hope. We call our reporting on each week “light signs” because Jesus invites us to be light in this world – a light that shows a way forward, calms fears, brings joy.
In her book Becoming Wise Krista Tippett relates a story she was told by Rachel Naomi Remen. Dr. Remen received this story as a present on her fourth birthday from her grandfather who was a rabbi. She tells it this way:
In the beginning there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. In the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident and the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. The wholeness of the world, the light of the world, was scattered into a thousand thousand fragments of light. And they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.
Now, according to my grandfather, the whole human race is a response to this accident. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift it up and make it visible once again and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world. It’s a very important story for our times. This task is called tikkun olam in Hebrew. It’s the restoration of the world.
And this is, of course, a collective task. It involves all people who have ever been born, all people presently alive, all people yet to be born. We are all healers of the world. That story opens a sense of possibility. It’s not about healing the world by making a huge difference. It’s about healing the world that touches you, that’s around you.
Each Sunday when we share our light signs, or when we’re quiet but remember the ways we’ve been light without sharing them aloud, we’re reflecting the ways we are healing the world. This story isn’t as old as Jesus, but it grew out of the heart of Judaism which was Jesus’ heart. Jesus was telling the people that even though they couldn’t overthrow the Empire which controlled their lives, they could live each day by the light of God’s love. The could BE the light of God’s love. And that light would heal their small piece of the world. It would make it salty and delicious. It would create the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven, hidden in plain sight and overthrow the Empire without open rebellion
Today is Reformation Sunday when we’re asked to remember Martin Luther nailing his 99 proposals to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517, inviting conversation about how things were going in the life of the church. He wasn’t overthrowing the kingdom of the church. He was suggesting that it might be time to think and act in new ways. He was giving power to the people, wanting them to know for themselves the story of faith and God and Jesus and inviting them to see themselves as light in the world. John Calvin wanted to be part of that conversation and apply its principles to both the church and to emerging autonomous cities, starting with Geneva. Today when we engage in conversation about how to be the church in our time and place we stand on their shoulders. We’re not talking about how to change the whole world, but only about how to be faithful stewards of the bit of light God has entrusted to us and let it shine as healing to those bits of the world we touch. Over time, that proves to be life-changing.
Because we are already doing church in some new ways, we don’t always feel connected to our larger denominations. We don’t always feel like we fit in with other congregations. But this is a good Sunday to think about heritage and connections. When I was thinking ahead about the conversation we’re going to start today, I wanted to know how our denominations answer the questions we’re going to ask: Who are we? What do we do? Why? Their answers are a surprisingly good fit for Family of God. I’ve put some of them in the bulletin so you have them for now and later.
Welcoming all into the fullness of God’s love.
A world experiencing the difference God’s grace and love in Christ make for all people and creation.
Activate each of us so more people…discover community, justice and love.
Nurture safe and healthy spaces…shape an abundant future
God is still speaking.
United in Christ’s love, we seek justice for all.
…serves as a catalyst for God’s love in action.
Offer God’s extravagant welcome in the world.
We’re going to talk a lot about what we do (and don’t) do. What we do begins with who we are, and Jesus told us clearly: