01/07/2024 ~ Baptism of the Christ ~ Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11 ~ Communion Sunday~ NOT DELIVERED ~ SERVICE SNOWED OUT.

The Light

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” — Genesis 1:3.

You may have heard me say this a number of times. I served one church in rural, Upstate New York for Twenty-three years. You may have heard me say this a number of times. Before moving to Maine to marry Bonnie one of the prime things on my résumé was writing for theater and theatrically related areas.

Now in case no one ever said this to you, working in the theater is a tough racket. It’s hard to earn a buck. Therefore, outside of theater work I held many 9 to 5 jobs from computer operations to tour guide at South Street Seaport Museum to back office work on Wall Street— all to keep bread on the table.

In part because of working at many different jobs, the non-theater work alone takes up a lot of slots on my résumé. Once the theater work is added to the list, using just one line per job, that résumé runs two pages.

Further, I was not in any single job before serving that one church for 23 years longer than 4 years. So being at one place as long as I was really presented quite a change in my life. In a sense I was outside of my comfort zone.

On the other hand, I’ve done so many things, I think that helps me as a pastor. I’ve had a multitude of life experiences and that helps me relate to many different people.

Now that I’ve delved some into my background, I want to focus on one theater item on that résumé. At one point I worked at the Actors’ Fund of America, now known as the Media Fund of America. The name change illustrates a truth.

From its start in 1892 the Fund has also supported all the behind-the-scenes folk who work in the arts. As to scope, today the Fund offers social services, emergency financial assistance, counseling about affordable housing. It runs the Lillian Booth Actors Home, both assisted living and skilled nursing, in Englewood, New Jersey.

When I started out working with the Fund I was a volunteer and later I became an employee. But I’d like to highlight just one of my duties from when I was a volunteer.

I am sure this doesn’t happen any more, but back then the Fund had a blood drive. Give a pint of blood? You get two tickets to a Broadway show. I ran the ticket table.

The reason I’m telling you this is to explain that I did this work, I was drawn to this volunteer work because it was about helping people. And the people being helped were theater people— my people.

Since I was too often, myself, a starving artist, I could not do something grandiose like make a large monetary donation. But I could do something. And, pardon the cliché, it is always better to light a candle than to curse the night. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Torah— the teaching— in the work commonly called Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” (Slight pause.)

It seems to me we moderns have a number of inaccurate fixations about Scripture. Prime among them is many people see the first two chapters of Genesis as a story about the physical creation of the world, the universe. Second, some see this story as being about an all powerful God who commands the world, the universe into existence.

The problem with this way of looking at it is at least threefold. First, obviously, the story is about theology, not physics and, therefore, it is not about matter, dust.

Second, in competent translations the words day and night are capitalized. Why? These words are not meant to identify a 24 hour cycle. These are proper names and God gives them those names. Further, in Hebrew, Day and Night are seen as living, breathing entities, not as fractions of a 24 hour cycle.

Third, the story is written in Hebrew. Hebrew has no command tense. If there is no command tense, the words we translated as, “Let there be light” are not a command.

Of course, if the words, “Let there be light,” are not a command God is not commanding anything, so one does need to ponder what is going on here? What is the theology being addressed? (Slight pause.)

I think the theology says that light is already present in the void, already there, a real, living, breathing entity. Light is there and exists and sits there amid the formless, disordered, ominous, threatening, rebellious, destructive chaos.

Perhaps light feels overwhelmed, frightened. Then, in the midst of the chaos God does not command but invites the light, itself, to be present, to be there, to be real, to embrace a reality, to boldly claim that it is a living, breathing entity.

When light hears the voice of God, light takes up God on the invitation, affirms its own nature and… shines. Thereby, light begins to provide a place and a context for viable life. Hence, the invitation of God to ordering— this forming, this shaping of life, this living and breathing— becomes a real possibility. (Slight pause.)

There is no question in my mind about the theology of our heritage, about Who Christ is— Christ is the light. There is no question in my mind about who we are, about what the call of God is to us. We are invited to accept the call of God to participate in light. God invites us to see light, light which is already there all around us.

When God says, “Let there be light” it is an invitation not just to the universe but also to us to participate in the ordering, forming, shaping, an invitation to participate in life giving ways. It is an invitation to movement, an invitation to the reality of hope, peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love.

Why do I say that? The theology of Scripture is clear. God invites us to see what is already there. And God sees this ordering, this forming, this shaping as happening through our participation in and with peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love. (Slight pause.)

As a community of faith we have a great opportunity before us. God invites. We can and I believe we should respond. I believe it is our calling to light a candle, the candle called peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love. Amen.

01/07/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “‘Let there be light.’ I sometimes think a better translation would be God allowed for the light. So perhaps that is what we need to do in a world which can be filled with grievance, allow for light, search for light, see light.”

BENEDICTION: Howard Thurman was an African-American pastor, author, theologian, educator, mentor to leaders within the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Thurman wrote the poem Now the Work of Christmas Begins. I’ve used it as a Thought for Meditation but thought it also might be an appropriate Benediction this morning. “When the song of the angels is stilled, / when the star in the sky is gone, / when the kings and princes are home, / when the shepherds are back / with their flocks, / the work of Christmas begins: / to find the lost, / to heal the broken, / to feed the hungry, / to release the prisoner, / to rebuild the nations, / to bring peace / among the people, / to make music in the heart.”