The Lutheran Hour
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"Your Time to Shine"
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Text: Matthew 5:14-16
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Our reading is from Matthew 5, Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Your time to shine: the hypnotic flash of a strobe light, the magnetic dazzle of neon lights in Times Square, the soft glow of a night-light guiding a path at midnight, the direction-giving safety of a traffic stoplight, the center-stage beam of a theatre spotlight, the verdant warmth of a greenhouse light, no light, no life; no light of the world, no life for the world. If there ever was a time this dismal world needed a light to shine it is now. I like how the church chooses the coldest, dreariest days of deep winter, especially for those who live in the northernmost parts of the northern hemisphere, and rather than surrendering to the dark, the church does an in-your-face move, designating the bleak midwinter as the season of light, a time we call Epiphany. Epiphany even the way it sounds: it dances with elegance; it shimmers with delight. The word itself brings to mind the light.
Epiphany is exactly that sort of season. It celebrates the coming of the Light of the world, Jesus, the bringer of salvation to all nations. And isn’t it just like God to reserve his most radiant trumpet sound for a time when we are moping around, no matter in what weather situation many of us find ourselves, moping rather than hoping, these days, groping through our own silent valley of the shadow of death. But it is precisely then, when we whisper, “Why, Lord?” Be certain that God sees you and God calls you to rise from this dark night of your soul and walk into His marvelous, most luminous light. God has a new ray of light ready to shine into your life with a new day from on high: His Name is Jesus, the Dayspring. The Creed calls Him “the God of God and the Light of Light” who takes outcasts and makes them a chosen race, who takes those stuck at the bottom of the barrel and makes them a royal priesthood, who takes the unwanted, the unemployed, the unsuccessful, the unhappy, and makes them a holy nation, a people who finally belong. Once we were not a people, and now it is our time to shine, as we live out God’s more excellent way. And it is not only as we bear witness to the light, which we joyfully do, it is not only as we bring the light, which we dutifully do, but as we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are the light of the world. Now that’s a large thing to claim, isn’t it—bold, bodacious—we, the light of the world? That’s often not exactly my experience, nor is it the experience of many.
A young woman stopped in front of me at a coffee shop. Despite a cloud of sadness that filled her eyes, at first glance, her posture, her poise, and her designer-brand purse gave off the vibe that she was a model. That’s not an unusual profile in southern California where this occurred, where many are working hard to make dreams happen in Hollywood.
“I saw your clerical collar,” she said, that cloud of sadness now filling her eyes with tears. “Do you had a few moments to talk to me?
“Of course.” I replied, trying to smile reassuringly. “Consider me on duty.”
But now, she burst into a flood of words, almost hyperventilating: “I just got some news today “My father—and I use that word loosely—was just granted his release from prison, and I’m having flashbacks and panic attacks. “You see he was convicted—for the things he did to me, things I’m too ashamed to talk about. And now he’s free, but I’m still in a prison. Does that make any sense to you?”
I nodded as if to say yes.
“He’s free!” growing louder; I could hear the exclamation mark in her voice, “And I’m still doing time in my deep-down dirty prison. I know you probably can’t tell because I fake it so well. I am, after all, an actress. Everybody thinks my life is peaches and cream and sunshine,” she said.
But I recall thinking to myself, “You’re actually not faking it so well at all right now.” But I let her keep emptying her soul.
She glanced away. “I’m in such a bad place on the inside.”
My mind turned to Isaiah, but I couldn’t quite pull up the passage—the one about being in prison because of sin and dwelling in dungeons of darkness.
Through sobs, she spoke, and really all I did was listen, maintain eye-contact, and affirm her words. Sometimes the best way for us to let our lights shine is to shut the door of our mouth, for the time being. Sometimes the best service we can offer is silence. Sometimes our first witness is our with-ness with others, walking with them in their pain until the Spirit gives us the words to say. After 35 minutes and two lattes later, she asked me if I would pray for her, in this public place. “Of course,” I said. “What’s your name?”
She hesitated. “Call me Scarlet. It’s not my real name, but it’s how I feel. I’m red-hot with anger, like I’m wearing a scarlet letter of shame. It’s so unfair,” her voice began to trail off.
I dared to ask: “And can we pray for your father, too?”
Without hesitation she answered, “Yes, pray that he doesn’t burn in hell!”
Some remarks you just leave hanging. “Lord,” I began, crawling my way slowly into a prayer, searching for the right words, and I prayed something like this: “Lord, You know the deep-down places where we have been hurt so badly we can’t even find the words to describe the violation. You know how sin leaves us feeling dirty to the core. You know this because You suffered for the sins of the whole world. For everyone. For the sins of Scarlet’s father. Which means you really suffered, Jesus. And You know this because You did more than suffer. You brought light into the world. And You did more than bring the light, You are the Light. Lord, have mercy on us. Kindle in Scarlet a spark of faith so that she can see You, Jesus, You, her Light. The Light that leads her to the Father, a Father who will never abuse her. Amen.”
“Thank you. Thank you,” she softly replied, as she stood. “I guess I need to find my way back to that Jesus.”
“No,” I assured her, “He’s already found you.” I never saw the young lady again. Sometimes God places us in the path of total strangers, for a moment, so that we can share just a little glow of the light we know. The true Light which is the best disinfectant for sin. Whether those are sins that we have committed, or whether those are the sins which have been committed against us. And whenever we come into the light, especially “in these grey and latter days,” the hymnwriter says, “our lives give praise to the One who dwells in unapproachable light.” Another prayer from the prophet Daniel 2, beginning with verse 20: “Blessed be the Name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with [God.]”
You might be in a dark and difficult winter this year, but God is the Light who changes the seasons. You might not understand why wickedness seems to win and goodness seems so unavailable, but God is the Light who reveals the hidden things. Your faith might be barely flickering, almost extinguished, but God has a Word for your heart from the heart of the Gospel, John 8: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'” In other words, Jesus is the Light who transfers to us and to all who follow Him, the Light we need. In electronics a transformer is a device that transfers energy from one place to another, from one circuit to another. God transforms us with His epiphany light, so that we can transfer that light into the world.
Samuel Deressa, who teaches at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, puts it like this, in an article where he describes what the West can learn from the rest. By “the West,” he means primarily the church in the U.S. and Canada and Western Europe and, by “the rest,” he means the church in the Global South: Africa, Latin America, South Asia, in those places particularly where Christianity is growing and those places we label, the “developing world.”
Deressa writes: “What I have come to understand after living in America for the last ten years, and visiting European countries nine year ago, is that the sense of the proclamation of the Gospel is not strong among [many] western Christians. African Lutherans seem to be more committed to engaging their community with the Gospel. Women in particular play a major role in creating social networks and small prayer and Bible study groups through which they witness to Christ to the people in their communities.”
Would you like to have power like that? You do. It’s found in God’s Word. It’s found in Jesus. It’s found in the water of Baptism when God found you. Baptism is, shall we say, like a hydro-powered transformation station where we are named and claimed in three splashes of Trinitarian transformation.
Raise your hand in your mind if you’ve been baptized. If you have, don’t forget who you are. You’ve been touched by the Light, in order to be the light of the world. Now, I’m reading minds, (not really), but I know that some of your hands are not up. If you are not baptized today, know this: Baptism is not just a ritual, not just a custom you “get done.” Who needs more empty rituals? Baptism is light-giving and life-giving. It connects you to the power Source. That’s why we give candles to the newly baptized. As we remember our Baptisms, we can let our lights shine, and we can make a difference in this world. We can be a movement that brings the light. Great movements are like sunrises. They first cast their brightness just on the tips of a few mountain peaks. And then they cascade on the tallest steeples. Then they light up the whole valley, and then the whole village, and then the whole world. Not with the glitz or the glitter of showmanship, but with the radiance of Christian fellowship. Sister, brother, friend, it’s our time to shine together, no matter who you are! Like a single mother with more month than she has money, with more bills to pay than she has dollar bills with which to pay them—don’t give up. Let your light shine. Like a professional with a purpose who refuses to complain even though you’re tired of being in meetings, always being on Zoom. Don’t gripe, let your light shine. Like a student who knows not only the subject matter but who know why it matters—because every little light point of light points to the One who is the Source of all light, all wisdom. Like a sinner, like me, who knows the sin-Forgiver, the Light that leads us out of sin as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Like an athlete, who knows what real victory is; it’s a light that no darkness can conquer. Like a worshiper who not only hears the Word but does the Word, lives the Word, sparkles with a Word that “gives light to all in the house,” that gives honor and glory and praise to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reflections for February 05, 2023
Title: Your Time to Shine
Mark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour, and we’re joined now by Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Michael Zeigler: Hello, Mark.
Mark Eischer: We are in the season of Epiphany, and I’m noticing a common thread between the message we just heard and the one that you’ll be preaching next week. Dr. Nunes’ sermon is titled, “Your Time to Shine,” and your sermon is “Shine like Stars.” So we have this theme of light, of stars, of shining. What does that all have to do with Epiphany?
Michael Zeigler: As Dr. Nunes mentioned in his sermon, the season of Epiphany is the season of light, and epiphany is part of the longer church year. It’s the way that the Christian church for centuries has organized the year, organized time.
Mark Eischer: Which is quite different from the way our culture or the way the media organizes the year.
Michael Zeigler: Yeah. The mass media organizes time around what you can buy: stuff. So coming up, you got to buy your chocolates and your flowers for Valentine’s Day. In contrast, the church year is organized around the life of Jesus. So, Christmas is the celebration of His incarnation. The Son of God’s incarnation. How, though He existed from eternity with His Father, He became a human being and took the Name Jesus. And so, Epiphany is the season when this truth about Jesus gradually comes to light, again, for us. Just like Dr. Nunes described in that sunrise, that just gradually starts to shine on the tops of the mountains and the tops of the cathedrals, and so forth. Epiphany is that sunrise for us, when it dawns on us who Jesus is, the kind of Person He is. That He’s truly Man, truly God, and it dawns on us what He came to do. How He came to deliver us from the darkness and shine God’s light for everyone, to give life to everyone. That slowly comes to light again for us.
Mark Eischer: How is Dr. Nunes’ story about that encounter he had with the actress at the coffee shop, an example, perhaps, of how we might reflect God’s light to others? And I’m wondering, would you add anything to that story? Or do you have other ideas of your own regarding that?
Michael Zeigler: First, I want to say, as a listener of sermons—I preach sermons, but I also listen to a fair number of sermons—I’m grateful whenever the preacher gives me a concrete example, which is what that story was. And I appreciate his emphasis on listening. That sometimes our best, as he said, witnesses are with-ness, being silent and listening to someone tell their story and share their grief as she did with him. And then letting the Holy Spirit give us the words we need to say at the right time. And also realizing that these aren’t always planned. That sometimes they just happen. These opportunities come upon us unannounced.
Mark Eischer: Now, most Christians aren’t going around wearing clerical collars in public like Dr. Nunes was in that story. So, opportunities though can come to us in many other ways. Right?
Michael Zeigler: You asked about examples of how we can let our light shine, and not all of us have identifying markings as Christians or Christian leaders or teachers. However, to give another example, I am a part of a small group Bible study that’s from my church. But we don’t meet in the church building; we meet at a local coffee shop, early Saturday mornings. We get together. We read the Bible. We talk about how God is speaking to us and leading us. We pray for each other, pray for those around us. And I notice when we do this, people are always watching. They’re taking notice of what we’re doing. Sometimes they ask about, “What are you doing?” Or “What church are you from? “Sometimes they’ll even ask us to pray for them. So these opportunities come. They just don’t always come when we are expecting them or when we’re planning for them. And so the importance is to expect that God is going to give us these opportunities and to be open to them when they come.
Mark Eischer: Next week, your sermon is titled “Shine like Stars.” Could you give us a preview?
Michael Zeigler: Sure. The background inspiration for the title comes from the book of Daniel 12. Daniel talks about how the righteous and the day of resurrection will shine like the stars. And then the apostle Paul picks up on that language in Philippians, that we shine like stars in heaven. That light of Jesus in us, shining into the world.
Mark Eischer: And that passage in Daniel also talks about those who lead others to righteousness.
Michael Zeigler: Right. It’s from Daniel 12:2. Daniel looks to this time. He says, “When many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise, shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”
So I don’t mention those passages specifically in the sermon, but they’re in the background there. What I’m talking about is this idea that Christians, all Christians are called to shine, as Dr. Nunes was discussing today, and I’m comparing and contrasting that with another common understanding of the word “star,” as in “celebrity,” like stars on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood or something.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness” arr. Carl Schalk. From Hymns for All Saints: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs (© 2011 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.
“O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.