NO CLOSET CHRISTIANS
Sermon by Dwyn M. Mounger, M.Div., Ph.D., Interim Pastor
Community Presbyterian Church, Deerfield Beach, Florida
July 11, 2010 (15th Sunday in Ordinary Time).
Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 82 (paraphrase); Colossians 1:1-14; Matthew 5:14-16.
Sermon by Dwyn M. Mounger, M.Div., Ph.D., Interim Pastor
Community Presbyterian Church, Deerfield Beach, Florida
July 11, 2010 (15th Sunday in Ordinary Time).
Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 82 (paraphrase); Colossians 1:1-14; Matthew 5:14-16.
Our
daughter Misty, just last Monday, in her early 30s, gave birth to our
second grandchild who, like his three-year-old brother, is a boy.
But I clearly recall an event when Misty was just twelve years
old. In the dead of night, about five o’clock one morning, I
startled awake at a HORRIBLE sound coming from her bedroom! Her
clock radio, turned to full volume, was blaring: “BRANK! BRANK!
BRANK!,” as if nuclear attack were imminent -- and simultaneously the
radio, turned to the loudest rock station in town, was blasting out the
orgiastic voice of a groaning singer (I suppose resembling Lady Gaga
TODAY) to the accompaniment of the crashing beat of a rock band!
Naturally, Misty was sleeping through it all!
I STOOD there in my pajamas, frantically pushing buttons and turning levers, but I couldn’t get the sound to STOP! One switch DID manage to bring a few seconds of peace. But as I turned to leave her room, the alarm-radio, like some monster in a horror movie, CAME ALIVE again! --FINALLY, I thought just to unplug it from the wall socket! Blissful silence!
As I returned to bed, I wondered, “Who in the world would INVENT an alarm clock so hard to SHUT OFF?” But then I concluded, “Why not? --Alarm clocks EXIST to be heard. They EXIST to awaken folks to the light of day!”
And, friends, so do Christians! In fact, God CREATED, REDEEMED you and me, through Christ, SO THAT we can bring God’s LIGHT to this world! Isn’t that exactly what Jesus says in our Gospel for today, from Matthew, chapter 5? Just LISTEN:
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, 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."
Now notice Jesus doesn’t BEG us and ask, “Please BE a light for others!” He cries, “Christians, you ARE the light!” How often we pastors and elders and teachers in the church have mistakenly pleaded with our people, “Go out now and become lights to others!” But if we’re Christians, we’re ALREADY beaming some sort of signal to our community and to the world -- for good or for ill. You and I have no CHOICE but to do so. And if we’re not shining with God’s loving good news, then we’ve never really known the light at all! Tragically, never really EXPERIENCED Christ!”
You see, there’s no such thing as a closet Christian. No one can follow Jesus in secret -- for either the secrecy will destroy the discipleship or the discipleship, the secrecy! Jesus here uses a WONDERFUL image to prove his point. Please take out your printed BULLETIN for this service and look at the PICTURE at the top. There you'll see a drawing of two little oil lamps like those that the people of ancient Palestine USED. In fact, when the early CHRISTIANS met to worship UNDERGROUND, in the dark catacombs of ROME, they lit mini-lamps just LIKE these. And JESUS, growing up in NAZARETH, in Galilee, would have know these illuminators as every-day objects. OLIVE OIL was the FUEL for the lamp. You're pour the oil in the opening at the top. And through the little hole would poke out a wick, which you lit. You kept your lamp burning much of the time -- often day AND night.
You see, houses in Palestine were quite dark -- with only one or two small windows to let in sunshine or moonbeam. (I almost said, “moonSHINE,” a word that has a different connotation!) So you’d light one of these lamps -- if you were rich, you’d light MANY of them -- and the flame would shed radiance and cheer!
This brings us to the question of WHERE our Christian light is to shine. Listen AGAIN to Jesus: "No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house."
Every home in Palestine had at least one lamp stand: a tall but narrow table. In fact, Jesus’ earthly father Joseph, being a carpenter, would probably have crafted MANY such stands and sold them to the villagers. Perhaps Jesus, as a boy and young man, crafted them himself. What was the purpose of a lamp stand? You set your burning lamp on it. And the higher the lamp stand, the larger the area that the light would cover! The flame on the tallest of stands would illuminate the darkest recesses of the small rooms of ancient houses.
On the other hand, if a lamps flame ever went out, it would be fairly hard for you to rekindle it. Matches were unknown. So, whenever you LEFT your home, you didn’t extinguish your lamp. Instead, for safety’s sake, you it OFF its stand; then you placed it on your dirt or stone floor. And you COVERED it with a clay bushel basket or bowl, which had a few holes in it. And the lamp would CONTINUE to burn, with no danger of setting anything afire, until you returned home. But, of course, the lamp cast almost no light while under the bushel, except, perhaps, a soft glow onto the floor, so that, when you re-entered your room, you wouldn’t stumble in the darkness.
Now, friends, where does God want us Christians to let our lamps shine? -- Many folks, I’m sure, would answer, “In the church, of course!” WRONG! To be sure, you and I do come to church for light. That’s where we bring our lamps all together to share the light with one another and to RECEIVE God’s continuing light through the Word, the Sacraments, Christian learning and fellowship. But God doesn’t mean for us to EXTINGUISH our lights when we depart! I’ve met some church folks who see the church as a kind of snug shelter from the cold, cruel world. To them it’s a kind of womb where Christians can hover around their cozy flame -- and stay warm and be consoled and flattered and cheered, while the world goes to HELL!
Now, if YOU believe that, then you’re hiding your lamp under a bushel. And that’s a TERRIBLY DANGEROUS thing to do! The church then becomes totally irrelevant! Fred Craddock, formerly New Testament professor at Emory University, in Atlanta, asks: “What could be more useless or meaningless than. . .hidden lamps?”
It’s dangerous, too, because a lamp under a too-tightly CLOSED bushel can quickly die! The air inside soon can grow all foul and poisonous. And after awhile all OXYGEN vanishes, and the flame tragically DISAPPEARS in choking smoke!
Bur, friends, UP on that LAMPSTAND! --That’s a DIFFERENT STORY! Even though the lamp there isn’t protected, even though it’s subject to being knocked over, shattered, the flame burns BRILLIANTLY, BEAUTIFULLY! It drives away all secret, gloomy shadows and nourishes itself on every refreshing breeze and draft that comes along!
Friends, that’s the way Christ wants you and me to shine! Sure, it’s scary for us Christians to be so visible -- to our whole community and the world! We’re TEMPTED to HOVER OVER and GUARD, COVER our tiny flame, lest harsh gales and unexpected gusts make it WOBBLE and FLICKER and cast terrifying SHADOWS on the walls. But how EXCITING it is for an individual Christian or for a whole congregation, in the courage and strength of the Savior, to CLIMB UP on, and to REMAIN on, the LAMPSTAND! We may get scared at times, but there’s never a DULL MOMENT for us!
WHY? – Well let me share with you a true story. It would happen each year before I began my call to full-time interim ministry, moving all over the country in a U-Haul truck that contained only the basic things we might need for a year or so. In my family, at CHRISTMAS time, my wife and I often used to light an old-fashioned OIL LAMP that Kay inherited from her grandparents, one of those with the wide wick that can’t be either too high or too low. I remember that, in order to extinguish that lamp, I had to turn DOWN the wick. WHY? Of course, this is OLD HAT to those of you who know elementary CHEMISTRY. You learned it in kindergarten! But the average person, NOT thinking in scientific terms, might wonder why lowering the flame CLOSER to the flammable OIL below EXTINGUISHES it. Why doesn’t just the OPPOSITE happen? Why doesn’t ALL the oil suddenly EXPLODE as the flame draws near it?
The ANSWER, of course, is that LOWERING the wick cuts off the OXYGEN supply -- that gas without which NO flame, and, in fact, no LIFE can exist! Now it’s no coincidence that in both Old Testament and New, the word “spirit” (think “Holy Spirit”) is the very same as that for “wind” or “breath” -- ”OXYGEN,” if you will! For us Christians, to SHINE our light to the world is to BREATHE, to LIVE! WITHOUT such a witness, we WITHER and DIE! But when we bravely lift our lamps for Christ, even though our flames be flickering and feeble, the WIND, the OXYGEN of the Holy Spirit FEEDS those flames and FANS them and works true MIRACLES with them!
May it ever be so in this congregation here, in our denomination, and in the worldwide Church! To let your light shine for Christ doesn’t mean you have to be a great speaker or preacher or musician. It simply means to LIVE your Christian profession -- SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. It means, WHEREVER you encounter DARKNESS -- yes, even in the very worst of circumstances -- to BRIGHTEN it; in God’s strength, to CHASE IT AWAY! --And to REPLACE it with Christ’s liberating WARMTH and BRIGHTNESS!
PRAYERS:
Great God, you have given us Jesus, light of the world. But we so often prefer the darkness, hiding our LAMPS when they should be BEAMING your message of grace and love to a community and a world in need and in gloom. In our fear we have been slow to speak and to live your good news of peace and love to ALL people.
Send on us now the great wind of your Holy Spirit, to fan our frail flame, so that, reconciled and renewed, we may in your power proclaim your Word to your hurting sons and daughters, and reflect your glory, shining in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Hear now our prayers for your Church, and for this congregation, that we may know and enjoy your peace, unity, and purity;
And for PEACE on earth, especially here in our nation;
And for those who suffer PAIN in spirit, mind, or body, particularly those who bow here, in this place of worship;
And for the SICK and SUFFERING.
Finally, keep us ever aware of that bond that ties us to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us and who now see you, face to face, in heaven;
For we make these and ALL our petitions in and for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.
I STOOD there in my pajamas, frantically pushing buttons and turning levers, but I couldn’t get the sound to STOP! One switch DID manage to bring a few seconds of peace. But as I turned to leave her room, the alarm-radio, like some monster in a horror movie, CAME ALIVE again! --FINALLY, I thought just to unplug it from the wall socket! Blissful silence!
As I returned to bed, I wondered, “Who in the world would INVENT an alarm clock so hard to SHUT OFF?” But then I concluded, “Why not? --Alarm clocks EXIST to be heard. They EXIST to awaken folks to the light of day!”
And, friends, so do Christians! In fact, God CREATED, REDEEMED you and me, through Christ, SO THAT we can bring God’s LIGHT to this world! Isn’t that exactly what Jesus says in our Gospel for today, from Matthew, chapter 5? Just LISTEN:
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, 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."
Now notice Jesus doesn’t BEG us and ask, “Please BE a light for others!” He cries, “Christians, you ARE the light!” How often we pastors and elders and teachers in the church have mistakenly pleaded with our people, “Go out now and become lights to others!” But if we’re Christians, we’re ALREADY beaming some sort of signal to our community and to the world -- for good or for ill. You and I have no CHOICE but to do so. And if we’re not shining with God’s loving good news, then we’ve never really known the light at all! Tragically, never really EXPERIENCED Christ!”
You see, there’s no such thing as a closet Christian. No one can follow Jesus in secret -- for either the secrecy will destroy the discipleship or the discipleship, the secrecy! Jesus here uses a WONDERFUL image to prove his point. Please take out your printed BULLETIN for this service and look at the PICTURE at the top. There you'll see a drawing of two little oil lamps like those that the people of ancient Palestine USED. In fact, when the early CHRISTIANS met to worship UNDERGROUND, in the dark catacombs of ROME, they lit mini-lamps just LIKE these. And JESUS, growing up in NAZARETH, in Galilee, would have know these illuminators as every-day objects. OLIVE OIL was the FUEL for the lamp. You're pour the oil in the opening at the top. And through the little hole would poke out a wick, which you lit. You kept your lamp burning much of the time -- often day AND night.
You see, houses in Palestine were quite dark -- with only one or two small windows to let in sunshine or moonbeam. (I almost said, “moonSHINE,” a word that has a different connotation!) So you’d light one of these lamps -- if you were rich, you’d light MANY of them -- and the flame would shed radiance and cheer!
This brings us to the question of WHERE our Christian light is to shine. Listen AGAIN to Jesus: "No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house."
Every home in Palestine had at least one lamp stand: a tall but narrow table. In fact, Jesus’ earthly father Joseph, being a carpenter, would probably have crafted MANY such stands and sold them to the villagers. Perhaps Jesus, as a boy and young man, crafted them himself. What was the purpose of a lamp stand? You set your burning lamp on it. And the higher the lamp stand, the larger the area that the light would cover! The flame on the tallest of stands would illuminate the darkest recesses of the small rooms of ancient houses.
On the other hand, if a lamps flame ever went out, it would be fairly hard for you to rekindle it. Matches were unknown. So, whenever you LEFT your home, you didn’t extinguish your lamp. Instead, for safety’s sake, you it OFF its stand; then you placed it on your dirt or stone floor. And you COVERED it with a clay bushel basket or bowl, which had a few holes in it. And the lamp would CONTINUE to burn, with no danger of setting anything afire, until you returned home. But, of course, the lamp cast almost no light while under the bushel, except, perhaps, a soft glow onto the floor, so that, when you re-entered your room, you wouldn’t stumble in the darkness.
Now, friends, where does God want us Christians to let our lamps shine? -- Many folks, I’m sure, would answer, “In the church, of course!” WRONG! To be sure, you and I do come to church for light. That’s where we bring our lamps all together to share the light with one another and to RECEIVE God’s continuing light through the Word, the Sacraments, Christian learning and fellowship. But God doesn’t mean for us to EXTINGUISH our lights when we depart! I’ve met some church folks who see the church as a kind of snug shelter from the cold, cruel world. To them it’s a kind of womb where Christians can hover around their cozy flame -- and stay warm and be consoled and flattered and cheered, while the world goes to HELL!
Now, if YOU believe that, then you’re hiding your lamp under a bushel. And that’s a TERRIBLY DANGEROUS thing to do! The church then becomes totally irrelevant! Fred Craddock, formerly New Testament professor at Emory University, in Atlanta, asks: “What could be more useless or meaningless than. . .hidden lamps?”
It’s dangerous, too, because a lamp under a too-tightly CLOSED bushel can quickly die! The air inside soon can grow all foul and poisonous. And after awhile all OXYGEN vanishes, and the flame tragically DISAPPEARS in choking smoke!
Bur, friends, UP on that LAMPSTAND! --That’s a DIFFERENT STORY! Even though the lamp there isn’t protected, even though it’s subject to being knocked over, shattered, the flame burns BRILLIANTLY, BEAUTIFULLY! It drives away all secret, gloomy shadows and nourishes itself on every refreshing breeze and draft that comes along!
Friends, that’s the way Christ wants you and me to shine! Sure, it’s scary for us Christians to be so visible -- to our whole community and the world! We’re TEMPTED to HOVER OVER and GUARD, COVER our tiny flame, lest harsh gales and unexpected gusts make it WOBBLE and FLICKER and cast terrifying SHADOWS on the walls. But how EXCITING it is for an individual Christian or for a whole congregation, in the courage and strength of the Savior, to CLIMB UP on, and to REMAIN on, the LAMPSTAND! We may get scared at times, but there’s never a DULL MOMENT for us!
WHY? – Well let me share with you a true story. It would happen each year before I began my call to full-time interim ministry, moving all over the country in a U-Haul truck that contained only the basic things we might need for a year or so. In my family, at CHRISTMAS time, my wife and I often used to light an old-fashioned OIL LAMP that Kay inherited from her grandparents, one of those with the wide wick that can’t be either too high or too low. I remember that, in order to extinguish that lamp, I had to turn DOWN the wick. WHY? Of course, this is OLD HAT to those of you who know elementary CHEMISTRY. You learned it in kindergarten! But the average person, NOT thinking in scientific terms, might wonder why lowering the flame CLOSER to the flammable OIL below EXTINGUISHES it. Why doesn’t just the OPPOSITE happen? Why doesn’t ALL the oil suddenly EXPLODE as the flame draws near it?
The ANSWER, of course, is that LOWERING the wick cuts off the OXYGEN supply -- that gas without which NO flame, and, in fact, no LIFE can exist! Now it’s no coincidence that in both Old Testament and New, the word “spirit” (think “Holy Spirit”) is the very same as that for “wind” or “breath” -- ”OXYGEN,” if you will! For us Christians, to SHINE our light to the world is to BREATHE, to LIVE! WITHOUT such a witness, we WITHER and DIE! But when we bravely lift our lamps for Christ, even though our flames be flickering and feeble, the WIND, the OXYGEN of the Holy Spirit FEEDS those flames and FANS them and works true MIRACLES with them!
May it ever be so in this congregation here, in our denomination, and in the worldwide Church! To let your light shine for Christ doesn’t mean you have to be a great speaker or preacher or musician. It simply means to LIVE your Christian profession -- SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. It means, WHEREVER you encounter DARKNESS -- yes, even in the very worst of circumstances -- to BRIGHTEN it; in God’s strength, to CHASE IT AWAY! --And to REPLACE it with Christ’s liberating WARMTH and BRIGHTNESS!
PRAYERS:
Great God, you have given us Jesus, light of the world. But we so often prefer the darkness, hiding our LAMPS when they should be BEAMING your message of grace and love to a community and a world in need and in gloom. In our fear we have been slow to speak and to live your good news of peace and love to ALL people.
Send on us now the great wind of your Holy Spirit, to fan our frail flame, so that, reconciled and renewed, we may in your power proclaim your Word to your hurting sons and daughters, and reflect your glory, shining in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Hear now our prayers for your Church, and for this congregation, that we may know and enjoy your peace, unity, and purity;
And for PEACE on earth, especially here in our nation;
And for those who suffer PAIN in spirit, mind, or body, particularly those who bow here, in this place of worship;
And for the SICK and SUFFERING.
Finally, keep us ever aware of that bond that ties us to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before us and who now see you, face to face, in heaven;
For we make these and ALL our petitions in and for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.