Jesus, Immanuel, Forever Remaining

nb: So when I had sent out the title, it had meant to be "forever redefining."  I don't know how the mistake occurred, but one thing I've realized now is that the better thing to do is not to point out the mistake, but just ride it out.  I actually really do not like titling sermons as a practice: it creates a piece of work, not an act of reflection.  I'm find with a post-title for indexing and organization, but otherwise, it just seems strange.  This mistake seems to affirm that decision.

• Every morning when I wake up before sunrise, I find that I still struggle to navigate around my bedroom.
  • You'd think by now, having lived there over a year, that it'd be easy. The bed hasn't moved, nor has my night stand.
  • But even still, as these things go, there are things littered along the way. Sometimes the kids come in our room in the middle of the night and are sleeping on the floor. Sometimes I leave my clothes on the floor at night as part of my elegant "floordrobe" that keeps growing.
  • And I suppose as my bleary eyes begin to focus, I could certainly make contours out along the way - my feet could feel children or clothes, the pain of bumping into something would be indication... but in the end, I'm not sure that's the best approach: to do that would be a greater risk if I miscalculate. I could seriously injure myself should I miscalculate stumbling in the dark.
  • The better option, it always seems to me, instead of stubbornly walking in the dark, is to flip on the light on my phone and make my way. Even if it is imperfectly lit, it's enough. It guides me on my morning's path, which is certainly well worn - shower, brush teeth, get dressed, grab things and out - but it is ever more visible when I have it illumined.
• Of course today we're talking of light, and of salt, too. And over the course of this week, I can't help but notice how many folks in the world seem to be stubbornly walking familiar places in the dark.
  • Part of what has been on my mind is again First Baptist and the ripples of pain that it's causing a group of people who have been so often been told that they are not welcome into a community of believers as they are.
  • I also am mindful of some of our partners in our Flourishing Together series - OneJax and the Interfaith Center of NE Florida, as their funding is being threatened.
  • There were 52 mass shootings in the US in January alone.
  • And, of course, we cannot ignore that people are being killed for offenses that are not capital - traffic stops, for instance.
• This all feels the same to me - trying to stumble in the dark in semi-familiar territory and inflicting wounds on themselves and others as a result.
• And of course we all respond to this differently.
  • Some of us may just say that we're not going to get out of bed until the sunrise: we'll wait for something external to come and save us... maybe like Jesus coming again.
    • But really, what life is that?
  • Or (and this is certainly my instinct at times) we're going to get up and rebuke the wanderers. Why are you so foolish, I want to say? This is ridiculous, and you're hurting yourself and others in the process!
    • But therein lies a problem - often, in the hurried move to get up and rebuke, we can forget the light. And so then not only are those who are stubbornly wandering still not helped, we're now wrestling with someone in the dark - only increasing the likelihood of pain for everyone. I certainly found myself on that path this week with so many things happening. I wanted to go take all these folks to task.
  • So I think the third option is what Jesus is inferring: our task is to be light.
    • There are clear paths that can move us on our way that can be illumined: think about the passage in Isa that we heard. I love the way Peterson puts it: to all appearances they're a nation of right-living people, but they bicker, fight, swing a wicked fist. Is what God's really after is some showy piety and wander in the bleak? No! The light that's required is to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, and cancel debts. Share food with the hungry, invite the homeless, cover the shivering, and be available to your families. When you do that, says God, the light comes on.
    • So if we take the texts at their word, the cell phone flashlight is doing well by the people who the society has deemed unredeemable. The ones unwelcome in membership, perhaps. That diversity, inclusion, and equity are God's illuminating path, ironically.
  • Jesus makes it clear to us that he's not here to abolish these edicts from either the law or the prophets, no, Jesus is going to always remind us that he's going to double down on it with the voracity of the most dedicated scribes - and as we unfold next week, we see how he will push the people further through their laws.
  • But here's where the beauty is, and why this is good news - the world Jesus is framing for us, God's Commonwealth - is brilliant, is abundant, is well seasoned. It is the sunlight filtering through our bedroom windows inviting us to a new day with clear vision and joy. It's a vision so grand that it can truly only be God-sized. And yet here, now, today, it's here. Letting our light shine - showing it to the world - when we talk of God's inbreaking, this is what we mean.
• So I wonder how we commit to this? To be the light?
  • We can't stay in bed
  • We can't fight in the dark, either.
  • Instead, it should be an open invitation of action - and it needs to start within our hearts every day
  • When we come on Sunday, are we coming out of duty or acting as a grouped source of light?
  • When we give, do we give for structural reasons, or to seek to break the chains of injustice?
  • In the end, there are so many things we can do both stumbling in the dark or being in the light. What matters is what our hearts collectively decide.