This Little Light of Mine
Sermon preached on Sunday 5 February 2023 at St Ann’s Belfield
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.16)
It should have been a delicious meal. All the ingredients were good. It looked delicious on the plate. But it had no flavour ! All it needed was salt. But there was none on the table. And I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t want to offend my kind host.
In the ancient world, having your own source of light at night was essential. If your light went out you were stuck. If there was a knock at the door you would not be able to see if it was friend or foe. There wasn’t much sympathy if your light had gone out because you had been careless and had not topped up the oil. Who are you going to ask for a light ? Of course neighbours are happy to help but … well.. It is a bit embarrassing.
The two Biblical images of salt and light are very familiar, and make perfect sense in any age. We can imagine our Lord speaking to the people who gathered to listen to him about being salt that has flavour, and not hiding your light under a bushel basket. (Matthew 5.13-14)
Homely though they sound, salt and light became for Jesus images of human resistance. They invite us to take the courage to stand up against hunger, exclusion, poverty, greed and all that hurts and harms God’s children. In a world where fellow human beings are made distant objects so we come to believe that their death is not our concern, the salt reminds us that small acts of love, small acts of resistance against death, really matter. The light tells us not to give up but to look at the light still shining. To keep oil in your lamp.
You may know the Gospel/children’s song “This little light of mine”. It’s become for me a mini song of resistance. When I was court a few weeks ago, it was often on my lips. Especially when the bombast of court was at its loudest.
How do we live in the middle of these crises ? Professor Sir David King, the former government chief scientist said in 2021 that what we do in the next 3 to 4 years “will determine the future of humanity.” But our government plans to add fuel to the fire
At such a time we cannot spend all our energy making shopping lists of our minor sins. Our collective folly needs to be tackled. As Walter Wink said “The issue is not, "What must I do in order to secure my salvation?" but rather, "What does God require of me in response to the needs of others?" It is not, "How can I be virtuous?" but "How can I participate in the struggle of the oppressed for a more just world?" (Walter Wink, Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way)
We invest our energies in establishing our own purity in the eyes of God. There is a secular version of this privatised spirituality, which the talk of carbon footprints plays into. As a church, even in our response to the existential emergency, others, we succumb to "a satanic temptation to die with clean hands and a dirty heart.”
I was in court in January. As I try to stand up against the destruction of the world, I feel almost crushed by the darkness. It was hard to hear the prosecution define what I had done as “causing chaos.” My intention was, and still is, for us - as humanity - to avoid chaos.
It was not a small thing to decide to block a road. I wish there was another way. But I and others have tried over many years to bring a stop to the murderous fossil fuel emissions, by lobbying Parliament, signing petitions, etc. I could not speak about my motivation in the court in January. Because of the nature of the offence we were charged with, we were silenced. I could not make reference to science, or the floods in Rochdale, or how I worry for my grandchild. Or that we have very short time to act.
The darkness may be great but it has not overcome the light. I sat there humming silently this little light of mine. I sat there in quiet contemplation of the love of God for each one of us. I thanked God for my co-defendants. I prayed for the judge and the jury.
I could not run from this situation. Like many of us, I have often tried to keep calm and carry on. We human beings are very good at avoiding the darkness.
Jesus stood up for love with every part of himself. The Light of the world faced the darkness head on - with mind, body and spirit - with love, with sorrow. Remember how he wept over Jerusalem ? He kept his light, God’s light, shining in the darkness. That’s what I hope to do.
In the film Gandhi we see a powerful depiction of the Salt March in India in 1930. You may remember the image of Indian protesters dressed in white stepping forward to be beaten by soldiers with big sticks. A growing number of non violent protesters walked 239 miles from Gandhi’s Ashram (place of prayer) to the coast. It began with 78 followers and resulted in 60000 Indians being jailed for breaking the law. The empire could not stop people making salt from sea water. It took some time but this and other acts of stubborn, loving resistance led to the end of British rule.
Today, we face a great darkness. The forces against us are rich and powerful. They are here there and everywhere. They have captured the minds and hearts of many talented people.
Remember how Jesus struggled with the devil in the wilderness. He knew the power of the Roman empire. They had their gods, their technological power, their confidence and conviction. But in its heart it was rotten; the Roman Empire ran on slavery and violence.
There is a very clear parallel with us in the UK. There are massive vested interests in fossil fuel extraction. They have captured the media.
But in spite of all this evidence, in spite of all the doom, we are a people of joy.
Because we have experienced that light shining in the darkness
We have seen it shining in others, they are truly “glorifying God” by their lives of courage, love and service
We know we are called to be light too
We know that light is desperately needed
And that when it shines empty empires crumble to dust.
May the light always shine in you