St Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Tennessee
Romans 13:(10)11-14
May the incarnate Word, the Light of the World speak in our hearts today and everyday.
It’s finally Advent y’all! Whether we are ready or not.
This is the first day of the new church year. This is the day we begin looking toward the coming day of the Lord, both in the remembrance of the Nativity of the Christ, known as Christmas, but also in preparing ourselves for his eminent return.
Part of looking ahead always includes a little of reflecting on the past. As I reflect on this past year there are many good things to remember. The opportunity to visit the Holy Land was certainly a highlight. But one of the greatest delights of this last year has been to serve through active ministry in this community, A time of learning and growth, full of love and joy, as well as humility and reoriented perspective.
The past year has also brought with it many dark nights. We have borne the loss of some we love who have gone ahead of us, many whom we remembered just three weeks ago on All Saints. We seem more divided than ever as a nation and a world. The mountains are burning, and we have even witnessed the extinguishing of six tiny lights in the death of multiple school aged children in Chattanooga just in this last week.
The world can seem very dark right now, and the apocalyptic readings the last few weeks may only raised anxiety.
But in reflecting on the scripture for today, I brought to mind a poem I read a few months ago while doing preparation for a class.
The poem by Robert Francis, seems to express what many of us may be feeling in these darker days.
Three darks come down together,
Three darks close in around me:
Day dark, year dark, dark weather.
They whisper and conspire,
They search me and they sound me
Hugging my private fire.
Day done, year done, storm blowing,
Three darknesses impound me
With dark of white snow snowing.
Three darks gang up to end me,
To browbeat and dumbfound me.
Three future lights defend me.
Three future lights defend me.
Since the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist in late June, the days have begun to physically grow darker as the nights grow longer.
We are now entering the time of year with the most dark, and cold. Just as the words of Robert Francis offer. . . the dark can seem to surround us; to browbeat and dumbfound us. And if we are not careful, it can become overwhelming. When we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the dark,
we become cynical, we become depressed, we become frightened, and we become angry.
Giving in to these feelings are what work to extinguish our “private fire.” Over Thanksgiving I was relaxing by watching some Star Wars, and I have never heard this point put more succinctly than by a young-ish Master Yoda in Star Wars Episode 1: A Phantom Menace. In the film, The young Anakin Skywalker is brought before the Jedi council to test whether or not he is suited to begin training as a Jedi Knight. Some on the council recognize the darkness within the boy, and they ask if he is asked if he is afraid.
To this questioning, Master Yoda responds,
“Fear is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to anger,
Anger leads to hate,
Hate leads to suffering.”
It is through this path from fear, both corporal and individual, that suffering enters our world, and it seems that all you need do is walk outside to see its prevalence among us.
So where is our hope?
Our hope is in the light; in clinging to the private fire, in being defended by the “three future lights,” The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit --- Who was, and is, and is to come. It is with light that we banish the darkness. We are made acutely aware of this fact during the season of Advent as today we have lighted one candle of the Advent Wreath. Each week we will light a new candle. As the darkness of the day grows deeper, the flickering lights grow brighter and brighter, banishing the darkness.
Last Friday I had gone to the movies with my mother and sister. On the return trip to my parents house the surrounding became very dark, very dark indeed. This is flat, Ohio, farm country. There are no street lights, and the lighted houses are few and far between. It was also late, the evening after Thanksgiving so not many people were traveling on these back roads. I became very aware of the depth of the night.
But on the horizon I saw a glimmer. There was a bright light, breaking the darkness. As we drove closer the source of the light became very clear.
One of the local farmers had placed a symbol on one of his silos.
A star. . . a very large, very clear, and very bright . . . Star!
On clear nights we can look up and see trillions of these stars, these tiny lights piercing the darkness, but at this time of year we are drawn to a particular star. We follow the path of a particular light, do we not?
That star gave light to announce the birth and show the path to the Light of the World.
The Light of the World has given us a new path; a way of light. That way is . . . Love!
To play with the words of master Yoda a bit, one might put it this way:
Love is the path to the light side.
Love leads to compassion,
Compassion leads us to share the light,
Sharing the light leads to life.
In the segment of the letter to the Romans which we heard this morning, the author tells his readers to “Wake Up!” Put away the things of the night and put on the armor of light, step into the day . . . the new day.
I was running over this phrase “Put on the armor of light” and thinking about the defense of the three future lights in the poem what all armor actually entails.
There is something to be said about putting on armor.
Yes, it protects us, deflecting the munition of the enemy and keeps us safe.
But wearing armor does something else. It gives us IDENTITY. It identifies the knight, the warrior, the bravest, the noblest, and the most powerful on the field of battle.
Inside that armor may be a shivering, cowering, coward, but the chain, and the metal, and the glint of shield and sword, have presented a new identity.
When we put on the armor of light we are taking on a new identity. That identity is one of a child of the light of the World. We are taking on the identity of a follower of Jesus. We must live into that identity.
The field onto which we must willingly walk is very dark. It is full of fear, and anger, and hate, and suffering. But through the love of Christ that burns within us, we carry within us the antidote to all that, the healing balm to burn away the suffering.
A few weeks ago, Koinonia offered an evening of prayer and the music of the Taize community. One of those pieces which we offered, I think best sums up the love we carry when we put on the Armor of Light. The English lyrics are as follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8BmvxqJH0g
Within our darkest night
You kindle a fire that never dies away
Never dies away
Within our darkest night
You kindle a fire that never dies away
Never dies away.
In the coming weeks of Advent as our anticipation grows. as our anxiety grows. and as the darkness grows, may we be ever mindful to put away the things of darkness; to put on the armor of light, to show the love of God that he may kindle a bright, blazing, starlight fire within us that will never die away. AMEN
