Share the Light
We are all born with a light in us. How will you share that light with the world this year?
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[00:00:00] In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, Amen. Amen.
A word for the grown ups. And I think we grown ups are in a special place today. Because you've come here, it's on one of those days that begins one way and becomes something else. We had that same thing in Advent 4, if you remember. We heard about Mary and the Incarnation, and then, by the end of the day, Christ was born.
That's what happened. So we are all gathered as people of faith, and we're in a space where we can look forward, and we can reflect upon the year past. This is a different way of looking [00:01:00] at things. This is not about maybe what some of us will do tonight, celebrate New Year's Eve, watch the ball go down, though that's life, too.
But this is a different way of being. And we have, in order to help us with that, we have the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John, an interesting, interesting gospel, with its mystic elements, its binary elements, its poetry, its invitation to move beyond the law and things that are rigid, and to move firmly into the world of grace and peace.
The Gospel of John has a [00:02:00] lot of things to recommend it, and I need to touch on those. The word, different way of looking at Jesus, different way, I talked about it once before. This is a different lens on Jesus. Different from the birth and the Christ child that we hear about in Luke. Some people prefer it.
We engage the Logos, the Logos in the Gospel of John. And that is God and a principle of divine reason and creative order that is identified with the incarnate Jesus. This logos, and we heard it, dwells with God, according to John, eternally [00:03:00] and personally. And then, came among us, in darkness, as a social being, the one we read about in the scriptures, walking about.
His nature unfolds as he confronts the social relations that are here. and the structures of the world that do not confirm God's plan. I mean, if we really thought about it, we could think about a lot going on in this day that I don't believe confirm or carry out God's plan for peace and concord.
It's a different emphasis. The word of God as a generative action to all of us. There are plenty of things to talk about in this gospel, too. Remember, in this gospel, Jesus [00:04:00] was integral to the formation of the earth and all its creatures. Though transcendent, Jesus is also acquainted with every dimension of creation. John, in this gospel, presents Jesus as the source of revelation and grace for humankind.
The true light, the true light, which enlightens everyone. And that light, as we read in the Collect, is the light that we're called to reflect. We're called to reflect that light.So leaving aside the whole world, the secular world of resolutions and so forth, let's look at things a different way. Because you [00:05:00] all, every single one, comes with light when you're created. And then you make promises around that light in baptism. Promises to love your neighbor, to love God, to do good things, to watch Jesus doing things, feeding the hungry, confronting prejudice, and so forth.
So what I'm going to invite you to do this day is to think about your light. Your individual light. Your gifts. Your gifts. The way you've used them last year, in 2023, and the way you feel called to use them this year. It's an open question. And I'm reading the room, and I don't know, maybe I'll ask you to [00:06:00] take a vote.
But at the first service, I asked the brave people in the congregation to dialogue with me about that.Fortunately, I had some people in the front row who knows that we do this thing on Wednesdays. We dialogue with the priest, with the gospel, with the liturgy, and we talk back and forth. So I don't know. Are there some people who'd like to do that with me?
I see Harry. You want to do that, don't you, Harry? Okay, well you go first, Harry. And tell us if you can. How do you feel called to go forward in the light in 2024? With things you've done before, or new things, what do you think? What do you feel? Well, I aspire to the light, but [00:07:00] I hope I can get there with it. Any particular path you're going to take?“I don’t really know. It’ll have to reveal itself.”
“It'll have to reveal itself.” Good enough. Fair enough in this group. Yeah. We had a good lead from the children, didn't we? They were going to use light to be kind to other people.
To be kind to other people. And I heard, uh, an interesting one from one of our, uh, former senior wardens this morning, and that was that, um, he said that someone had said to him that you are the only light people will ever see. They'll ever see.
Because they know you come to church here, you know, go to St. Peter's, so forth and so on. So, what makes you [00:08:00] different? What makes you different? Is it the way you speak to people? My dear mother used to say, "Susan, it's the way you, where you put your feet." They want to see where you put your feet.
You do those things that Jesus calls us to do. Or, as somebody said, they think that they share the light because they're a good listener. I think that's good. It's not always about, you know, doing. Sometimes you're a good listener for somebody else who has something to share. Or, has experienced something that needs support. So you can do that, too.
I see you, too. You're in the front world. How about you? How are you going to share the light this year? You're already doing a lot of things. It's just that you're off duty today, [00:09:00] I know.
I'm happy to begin this year, helping with the Interfaith Shelter. And I invite those who've never done it to bring their light to this shelter.
Does everybody know about the shelter? I don't think everybody does.
Can you say what it is?
Our church has been blessed for about 40 years to be one of the houses of worship that takes care of people who are not chronically homeless, but have fallen on to hard times. For two weeks, we open up ourselves and our parish hall, and we feed them and clothe them and house them, and offer them a safe place to be.And if you've never done it, it is a beautiful, beautiful experience. And they give more to us, I think, than we give them. And it starts next week.
Valerie, may [00:10:00] I add what we need, actually? We're not in post. We always have two people each night that, uh, can help. Um, and then we have cook teams. So if your passion is for cooking, there's a sign up outside on the patio. So please, if you can either host or cook, sign up. I hope you don't mind that. That's how, that's our need.
It all comes under the general heading of dialogue. That's fine. Alright, Sandra, people don't know about what happens with your ministry. And I think you should share that. That's a lot of light. Stephen. And turn around so they can see. [00:11:00]
Stephen Ministers are members of St. Peter’s lay group who have trained in walking with another person as they define what “walk” should be. Not how we define it, but how they define it. And so we’re present with them in a prayerful way, in a present way. And that’s what we’re about.
And, uh, it's in the bulletin. Right? How to get in touch with you or Mother Page?
I think so, yes. If not, it's online. Right. Okay, and I see Mark out there. And Mark, what lens will we use on Jesus going forward? Can you tell us?
Um, so I really like the Eastern Orthodox, um, approach to the unification of God, or sanctification, um, and, so I think when you talk about light, there’s a light within each of us.Yes.
A divine spark.
Absolutely. Mm hmm.
So [00:12:00] our journey toward uniting our spark with God I think is a focus.
A focus going forward. Are we going to do a particular gospel, um, or not?
For the forum?
Yes.
Yeah, so, um, we start the forum on the 14th with the Journey with Mark.
Oh, so that's another lens on Jesus, yes.And we'll carry that through, through the year - through most of the year, there's some ways we, just like we broke for advent, we’ll break for lent, and we’ll have a special series for ____ as well.
Yep. Mm hmm. Blessings. Showers of blessings. What's happening there? That's a big light to the world, isn't it? I think.
Well I think, I don’t really want to make a commercial for Showers of Blessings.
It's not a commercial. You're sharing the light. You gotta - Yeah.[00:13:00]
If you don’t know, we’re in our seventh year of providing mobile showers to people who are unsheltered. We do that at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Encinitas. And this is an interfaith, even no faith, uh, volunteers. We have about 150 volunteers from different faith communities, and one of the, one of the wonderful things about it is being able to interact with people from different faith communities. And no one trying to convert anyone to anything. Just there to do God's work, and take care of people. It has grown over these seven years into something that I could never imagine where St. Andrew's Church has a meal ministry. They divide each meal, they breakfast breakfast at 10 o'clock [00:14:00] in the morning, and, um, we also have contracted with true care, which is a mobile dental and medical clinic who are now there to provide services twice a month. And there's just a lot of good fellowship. last week, not yesterday, but the week before is a sort of a Christmas celebration, and each of the people that came had signed up to ask for a gift that they wanted. And it could be up to X amount of dollars, I can't remember what it was. And the parishioners at St. Andrew's got together and they all purchased them and made wrapped presents. And, uh, we even had one of our guests, who was unsheltered, come in a Santa Claus suit. And, uh, they all handed out these presents. It was wonderful. We had 71 guests. So, if you'd like to [00:15:00] participate, you can talk to me, uh, or you can just appear any Saturday morning between the hours of 8am and 12 noon. Okay. St. Andrews. St. Andrews. At St. Andrews. In Encinitas. In Encinitas. In Encinitas. Yes. 890 Ballora Drive. Okay. Zip code is 927.
And it wasn't a commercial. No.It was not a commercial. It was a PSA.
Okay, let's have, what's happening here. Um, no escaping the back of the church here. Okay. Okay. Okay. I see some special ministries. Um, one of them I really, uh, like. And Jim, what about seniors? Are they doing anything?
Yes, but, um, seniors, … I don’t recall all the events, but uh, … I’m privy to what’s going on, but I just don’t remember them all. Keep track of seniors events because there's some great things coming, like we’re going to a museum in town,[00:16:00]
Yes.
We have music programs. We have all kinds of singers, and I think it’s spectacular what’s out there...
Yeah. Thank you. Alright, do I have any other volunteers and then I'll share with you, which I'm, I'm trying to get up the courage to share and, uh, it's a way I want to share the light and I have been trying to do it for ten years and I haven't got it done, but I'm going to ask you to walk with me. This is what I want to do.
Many of you know that my late husband had MS. [00:17:00] And he lived most of his life in a wheelchair, electric. It didn't slow him down. We all know that. It didn't slow him down. And what I, and we had to work together. We had to adapt as a family and many people do around various things. We adapt as a family. And we go forward.
So what I've been wanting to do, and I have shelf and shelf and shelf after shelf of notes, but the book is not written. So in 2024, that's what I want to do. I want to share that part of my life. He was a light. And I want to share something about how a family adapts. Because I think there'll be people interested in that book if I get it written.
So here's my [00:18:00] model. We had a director of music here, Ruben Valenzuela, right? He needed to finish his PhD thesis. There was a person in this congregation who called him every single day until he got it done. So, we kind of went together as a community on that. So, for those of you who have the courage, I'm up to prompts.
What are you doing about that? How much time did you spend on it? Please walk with me, so that I can share that part of the light. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
