Sunday Homily - March 3rd, 2019 - Lights and Baskets

The Transfiguration of Christ Icon

I.

"This little light of mine,
 I'm gonna let it shine.
  This little light of mine,
    I'm gonna let it shine.
     This little light of mine,
      I'm gonna let it shine,
       let it shine, let it shine let it shine."

Its a song that many of us may know instinctively.
 Its a song that my mom used to sing to me when I was really small,
  Its a song that MANY parents sing their children,
   and its a song that, even if you don't know it, you have probably at least heard it.

There are more verses, too!

"Don't let Satan [blow] it out,
 I'm gonna let it shine!"

"Let it shine 'till Jesus comes,
 I'm gonna let it shine!"

But, by far my favorite verse of this song is the following:

"Hide it under a bushel NO!
 I'm gonna let it shine!"

Now, you can tell that I was raised right,
 because that was the Authorized King James Version of the Bible right there.
  I mean, who else would say "bushel" instead of "basket"?
   And, for those keeping score, "bushel" is simply referring to a large basket.

The song, of course, is directly derived from Jesus's own words
 in his sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5.

And the full portion of that account is the following:

"No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,
 but on the lamp 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 in heaven."
   [Matthew 5:15-16 NRSV]

"Hide it under a bushel NO!
 I'm gonna let it shine!"

II.

That light, the light of Christ,
 the light that Jesus shone into the world?
  That same light is at play in all of our readings from Holy Scripture today.

In the Old Testament, the account from when Moses ascends the mountain of God
 and actually speaks with God in that very same transforming divine presence!

Moses's face SHINES with the glory and the holiness of the Lord!
 People see it and listen to the words that God spoke to Moses
  and they hang on every word,
   not because it is Moses's word, but because it is the Heavenly Word.

Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, then shows forth the glory of his divinity
 in his transfiguration, the revealing of the intense glory of his Person,
  the transfigured glory of the Only Begotten Son of God.

And just as Moses beheld the glory of God upon the holy mountain,
 so again Moses appears in the presence of the Eternal Word again,
  with the radiance of glory shining around them.
   And it was such an intense experience that the disciples didn't even talk about it
    until after Jesus was resurrected from the dead
     and they, too, beheld the glory of God in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

But, the light of Christ,
 the divine light of God Almighty,
  the glory of the Lord Most High
   is a light that all too often is obscured
    by those who carry "This little light of mine."

And that's why we all, today, who are on the doorstep of the Lenten season,
 need to listen very closely to the cautionary word of Saint Paul.

Paul, writing to the Corinthian church,
 cautions his hearers from hiding their faces
  and turning their gaze from the Lord, the Spirit.

Moses, who shone forth the glory of God,
 who put a veil over his face to hide that glory until he spoke with God again,
  is seen by Paul as doing a disservice to the people of Israel
   by shielding them from the actual transforming glory
    of being changed into the very image of the Eternal Word
     the very image of God.

And Paul cautions EVERYONE of the more stifling sort of veil:
 the veil that may lie over our minds when we hear the Scriptures.

Just as we may hear the words of Scripture,
 the words of the Covenants,
  the actions of God in the time of Moses,
   and when the Eternal Word of God actually came to earth
    was born of the Virgin Mary,
     and became the very atoning sacrifice for our sins:
      just because we can sit here and hear it
       does not mean that our minds are open
        are illuminated,
         to hear what we are being called to do.

And that's why we have to be so careful to listen to God closely,
 to know the voice of the Lord Most High,
  and to ask God for the veils that lie over our minds
   to be taken away and to be set free from that bondage.

III.

So, why is it so important that we recognize the veils over our minds?
 What is so helpful about talking about these veils anyway?

The reason is simple, friends:
 when you let "this little light of mine" shine brightly into our lives,
  it illuminates all of those things that we would rather keep in the dark.

There are things in our lives,
 in the life of our community
  in our culture
   in our nation
    that would much rather stay in the dark
     than be illuminated by the transforming light of Christ.

It is so often much more comfortable to put those baskets over that light,
 to veil that light,
  so that, well...the light of Christ can shine on that part of my life,
   but, oh, that other part...let's just leave that part in the dark.
    Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Friends,
 brothers and sisters in Christ,
  what kind of things are we afraid to let the light of Christ shine upon?
   What are the things of our lives that we are desperate to hide from God?

And more importantly, y'all,
 what are the veils that we attempt to put over the light of Christ?
  What are the things that we try to hoodwink God with
    so that actual transformation into Christ:
     that painful, slow, methodical, metamorphosis into the glory of God
      can be put on hold for the sake of our darker and less-than-godly affections?

The light of Christ is holy, transforming, and GOOD for the salvation of our souls!
 But, we have to admit to each other:
  it is also very scary, to have everything in your life laid bare before your Creator,
   even the parts of your life that you desperately want to hide,
    the parts of your life that you truly believe would expose you as unworthy of God,
     unworthy of love,
      unworthy of being called "good."

I'll say it again, y'all,
 if we can't talk about hard stuff at church,
  where else are we gonna talk about it?

I've got awful things in the closet of my life
 that I'm often scared to death that if anyone found out about them,
  my life would be destroyed.
   And, I would make a nervous wager this morning
    that maybe I'm not the only one gathered here this morning
     that is carrying a basket full of darkness around this morning,
      a bushel to gentle lay over the scary, painful, transforming, good Light of Christ.

And yet, "this little light of mine"
 is going to shine whether you want it to or not.
  The light of Christ is going to plunge you deeper into the life of Christ
   than you every thought possible.

And "this little light of mine"
 won't stop burning until you are made whole and healed from all your infirmities
  cleansed of all your sin
   and presented before God as a sanctified and holy person, saved by Jesus Christ.

Prepare yourselves.
 Because as we enter into the great penitential season of Lent this Wednesday,
  we are setting out into the desert within our souls,
   with "this little light of mine" to shine into the darkness
    and to illuminate those things in need of transformation.

I urge you,
 I urge me:
  Allow Christ to penetrate that darkness, even to the darkest corners,
   those contours of ourselves that we would rather not let Jesus see.

Because, we all may find that the more horrible reality,
 the most dark pit of our soul,
  the most sinful piece of ourselves
   is met with the only thing more scary than all of these things:
    forgiveness.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.