Light displaces Darkness

"Creation of Light" by John Martin

“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” John 1:4

 

I write this on the last day of 2021 as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly worldwide and in our community. We are hearing reports that this new variant is displacing the Delta variant and is far less lethal. We hope that this displacement by a less virulent variant brings about an end to this wretched pandemic.

 

Years ago, when visiting northern Ontario, I took a tour of a former underground mine. At one point the tour guide asked the small group of tourists if we wanted to see how dark it was down there. With our agreement, she turned out the light. It was a darkness I had never experienced before. It could be easy to feel overwhelmed by the darkness rather than to recall that the light displaces darkness. And to hope our guide's light still worked...

 

John’s Gospel begins with a chapter full of complex theological and philosophical concepts where he introduces themes that flow through the entire Bible: the divinity of Jesus the Messiah, the Holy Trinity, the power of the light over darkness, the Incarnation and the prophetic voice of John the Baptist. These themes are fundamental to our understanding of Jesus as fully human, Jesus as fully God, Jesus as a Jew, Jesus as Redeemer, Jesus as Mediator and Jesus as the one who ushers in the Holy Spirit as gift for all people. John uses powerful images from the creation story of Genesis where the Holy Spirit hovered over all of creation displacing chaos with order.

 

It can seem to us today that the Church has descended back into chaos. As if someone turned out the light and we are in a dark cave. Yet, the central truth of Christianity is that of Emmanuel, God is with us. Do we abandon the idea of the beauty of nature when we confront the violence of a tsunami or an earthquake? Surely not. Do we abandon the central truth of Christianity when we navigate times of darkness? I hope not, for all the law and the prophets remind us of the reality of darkness but to fear not for God is with us and the light displaces the darkness.

 

Don’t let the dualistic nature of the language of light and darkness fool you. A Christian understanding of light and darkness is not an attempt to lure us into a naïve, simplistic, moralism of right and wrong, good and evil, but to have the humble courage to know Christ, the light of the world, in ALL situations as our friend, companion and saviour.

 

I hope you don’t hear this as a call to naïveté or a call to ignore the reality of human sin in which we are all embroiled. That is the false hope of idealism, which is definitively NOT the message John introduced in the opening chapter of the Gospel he wrote. Not at all.

 

John knows the human potential to live in a dark cave. But John knows who can turn the light back on, even when the darkness seems overwhelming. I knew the tour guide could turn the light back on and help us find our way out. John knows that Jesus has the light which illuminates the way of the human condition through darkness. This is why John, like the Psalmist today can proclaim, “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation form day to day.” -Psalm 96:1

 

A Communal Hope: The Prophet Anna

Painting by Jan Van't Hoff

The political, economic and military systems of the world seem to limit our understanding of peace to simply the absence of war. But what about those dreams that are held in the innermost places of people that are shattered by realities of the human condition that are neither political, economic nor military. Those realities that can cause people to cave in on themselves, like the unexpected death of a loved one, a sick child, a broken relationship.

Peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding, may seem like an elusive, naïve dream to some.

The Good News of Jesus Christ involves confronting the world as it is, not as we would have it be. It’s not easy. We need one another.

From the Gospel today, Anna had been a widow for many, many years. She knows the curve balls life can throw. She knows grief. She also knows hope. The artist Jan Van't Hoff captured Anna's face beautifully in the painting above. A face weathered by years and toil but a face that knows deep joy.

 

In her grief Anna went into the Temple. The place where the community gathers and she found hope. She found something there that fed her soul and kept her living in hope all those many years. She learned the disciplines of worship, fasting and prayer. She learned that where the community gathers there too is the hope that true peace can be found.

 

Jesus gathers the scattered and restores individuals and communities that have been scattered and broken by all the realities of the world. Today, our invitation to others - all others - must help people grapple with the realities of their world as it is.

 

How are we as a community of faith helping people grapple with their reality?

Rest, Reveal and Guide Us: Simeon and Anna

Sr. Anne Marie

I went for a walk yesterday along Governor’s Brook. It’s a remarkable series of trails in our neighbourhood. I walked for a while with a friend whose company and perspectives I very much appreciate. After he left, I continued walking and I stopped to take a few pictures. When I stopped, I was overwhelmed by the sense of silence all around me. Birds started landing on branches very close to me. It was stunningly beautiful.

 

After my walk, I felt led into our parish church to give thanks to God for my friend and also for some time alone in silence. I hadn’t planned it that way.

 

I entered the church and saw Sister Anne Marie praying. We had a lovely chat about Kairos and Chronos. Our conversation was a consolation for me. I took a picture of her (above) and went on my way.

 

In our Gospel reading today Luke tells us about Simeon and Anna. Luke wrote his Gospel “to set down and orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us” (1:1).  It was written at a time when the first eyewitnesses were beginning to die. 

 

Simeon and Anna show us how to wait and the source of consolation and peace. I think they show us that waiting involves the soul clinging to a promise but also enduring suffering.

 

Throughout Luke, and Acts, also written by Luke, the work of the Holy Spirit is on full display. So, through the Gospel reading today, what can we learn about this Holy Spirit? I want to suggest three lessons: Rest, Reveal and Guide.

 

a.   The Holy Spirit rested on Simeon. Simeon was a just man, a righteous man, who was in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit rested on him. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives the Church teaches that the first effect of the Holy Spirit is the forgiveness of our sins. This is the true gift of Divine Love, which is truly God, who takes away the sins of the world. It’s a free gift, unmerited by us. As the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon, so too the Holy Spirit rests on us and grants us the grace of forgiveness. This gives us a taste of peace, this same peace, Shalom, that was known by Simeon.

 

b.   The Holy Spirit guides Simeon to go to the Temple. When we get an experience of this peace, this Holy Spirit resting on us, we are guided to follow where this peace, this Divine Love, leads us. Simeon was guided to the Temple where he encountered Jesus. We too, as a Eucharistic people, are led to the Altar where we too experience the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. We are a Eucharistic people, called to gather in thanksgiving for this great gift.

 

c.   The Holy Spirit reveals something to Simeon. The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he saw the Messiah. The Holy Spirit is One with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit reveals to us, Jesus, the Son, who gives glory to the Father. The Church teaches that the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us, not only Christ’s true presence in the Blessed Sacrament, but also Christ’s true presence through Sacred Scripture and through one another.

 

As a Sacramental people, when the Holy Spirit rests on us, we receive God forgiveness, we are guided to follow God’s leading to the Altar, where it is revealed to us that we too are sent. We are sent to be people of peace and a source of consolation for all people through our humble, prophetic witness to the Divine nature of Jesus, just as did Simeon and Anna. This is the will of God – Our Mission. It will be accomplished in God’s time, not ours. 

 

Almighty and Merciful God,

in your goodness take away from us all that is harmful,

so that, made ready both in mind and body,

we may freely accomplish your will. Amen.

God is Faithful: Holy Innocents 2021

Nicholas Mynheer, The Flight to Egypt, 2004

The historical context for Matthew description of the birth of Jesus occurs in a world that remains sadly similar to our own. According to the UN website, there are 84 million displaced people today. 24 million people are living in refugee camps. There are also paranoid political leaders and wars, which can easily catch our gaze. But there is also, just like in Matthew’s time, people who are simply trying to live lives of faith, hope and love in the midst of it all. Despite the underreporting or sensationalism of media reports on religious matters, many people still have faith and desire to respond to God’s will in the midst of the many challenging matters of our world.

 

And this is precisely where faith grows legs, stands up and walks in humble confidence, knowing that it’s not going to be easy but it is truly right and just.

 

In the Gospel today, Joseph is told in a dream, “Get up, take the child, and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

 

Do you remember the Joseph from the Genesis chapter 37 and his coat of many colours? After being thrown into a dry well by his jealous brothers and left for dead he was picked up a caravan of traders and taken to…Egypt!

 

Joseph, husband of Mary, is led by angels in a dream to go the same place where Joseph, son of Jacob, was taken against his will.

 

In the Old Testament, Joseph’s father, Jacob, went to Egypt to escape a famine in their Palestinian homeland and find the son he thought had been dead for years alive and well.

 

In the Gospel today, Joseph, husband of Mary, flees with God’s Son, Jesus, to escape danger at home. A different danger in a different time for certain. But…God’s actions in a difficult new situation look very similar to God’s actions in a previously difficult situation. God is always faithful.

God is always faithful.

 

How are you being called to be faithful to God who remains faithful to you?

A Prophetic Moment for Your Soul: Christmas Day 2021

Last night I preached on our taking a step back to consider our image of God. God who is Emmanuel – God with us. As we consider this image of God - this image of God revealed to us through Scripture - we must consider the Christmas event. That God came in human form, as a baby, born into a poor family and whose first visitors were poor, socially marginalized shepherds.

 

What’s your image of God?

Is it an angry old man on a cloud concerned about petty moralism here on earth?

Is it like a World War I general, far from the front lines of the battle?

Is it a distant something that is not all that concerned about what happens? Not too concerned about anything that happens here in the world.

 

Our image of God must consider the Christmas story.

Our image of God must contemplate the vulnerability of a child. 

Our image of God must contemplate this child who grew into a penniless field preacher from Galilee who went to the cross to perfectly reveal Divine Love to us.

Our image of God must contemplate the humanity of God.

Our image of God must contemplate that the humility of God is an expression of a great love that God has for you. Yes, you.

 

In today’s Gospel we read from the prologue of John's Gospel. The important words that understand Jesus as God, the logos behind all that is, seen and unseen.

 

Jesus came into a context of Roman occupation, deep divisions among the Jewish people and much fear.

 

Today, as we are in yet another COVID shutdown, it is an act of mercy and compassion to take a step back and acknowledge how much we have been through over the last two years. I know for me; I have been with lonely people whose loneliness has only gotten worse. People who couldn’t travel to grieve the loss of loved ones. Those with delayed medical procedures.

 

In the past week I heard stories of bus drivers who regularly get spit upon and yelled at by angry commuters. I spoke to a young man who works a minimum wage job at a local pharmacy who is regularly yelled at and insulted. I have read in the local media of the mistreatment of medical staff by patients and protestors who are angry with public health protocols. 

 

What kind of dull, dreary, angry do we allow to be revealed to us when we cease to see the wonders and miracles all around us. God is with us. Divine Love is all around us, even in the midst of the dull, dreary, anger that seems to catch our focus more easily. 

 

Our world is suffering from a self-inflicted wound of selfish nonsense and spiritual blindness.

 

Throw on top of it all the reality of parish amalgamation we are in the midst of, and it could seem like a nearly continuous drip of negativity that attached itself to the core of our beings. We seem to live in this space that is oscillates between hypervigilance and the numbness of shutting down.  

 

I wonder if underneath it all is a deep desire to simply rest and to feel safe again. Surely this is a normal and healthy human desire: to rest and to feel safe.

 

God is with us. Divine Love is still being revealed to us in the midst of the wounds of the world, in the midst of all the pain and anger. Even in the midst of our selfish nonsense. As such, this is also a prophetic moment to not let this period in history pass without taking stock of our soul. There is a wellspring of truth, beauty and goodness to be found in the midst of all this and we should not let the moment pass too quickly through our soul because the precious gold will be revealed when all the other stuff is sifted away. When the dull, dreary, angry, selfish nonsense is sifted away; when the loneliness and hurt and pain are sifted away, there is life-giving beauty to be found amid everything that is falling apart. Yes, in you. 

 

This is a prophetic moment for our soul.

 

It is an invitation to true wealth in the midst of so much spiritual poverty.

It is an invitation to wholeness in the midst of so much falling apart.

It is an invitation to healing your soul in the midst of so much hurt.

It is an invitation to peace in the midst of so much chaos.

 

It is an invitation to re-birth. It is a nativity that takes humility, vulnerability, patience and courage.

 

We need – we must -  have a clear understanding of our image of God to navigate this space well. If your image of God is more like a cosmic traffic cop worried out giving out tickets for petty moral failures, you will probably miss out on the beauty of surrendering to God who is gentle, compassionate, awesome, merciful, powerful, beautiful and vulnerable. 

 

This God is with us. Emmanuel.

 

This is an invitation to receive the grace that is available, even in the midst of all this unknown.

 

Today, let’s take a moment alone to pray to this God of Light in whom there is no darkness, this Jesus of Mercy, this Holy Spirit of Comfort to ask for the grace to see the tender beauty of the moment that has been given to us.

 

God is with us.