Be the light

Symbols

We are delighted that will be christened in our service shortly. When Caroline baptizes Jacob she will use three powerful symbols – oil, water and light.

Caroline will make the sign of the cross on Jacob’s forehead with special oil. This is an invisible badge which says that God has chosen Jacob and that Jacob belongs to God.

Caroline will pour water over Jacob’s head. This is the essential symbol and action in baptism. Water is the source of life. The water of baptism symbolizes passing through the waters of birth to begin a new life in Christ.

And at the end of the service Caroline will give Jacob a lighted candle. Or at least, for reasons of safety, she will give his parents or godparents a lighted candle on his behalf. The light of the candle is a symbol of Christ as the Light of God working in the world.
I would like to say a few words about light and what it will mean for Jacob and for all of us who are baptized.

Graffiti

I don’t normally take much notice of street art or graffiti (unless it happens to be by Banksy!). But two pieces really struck a chord with me recently.

The first one was in the churchyard a couple of years ago. Someone had drawn a picture of a hedgehog in coloured chalk on a paving stone. The hedgehog was peering out through an illusory gap in the flagstone. I wanted to put a photo of it on Facebook and twitter but the churchwardens at the time weren’t too keen. They thought it might encourage a spate of pavement art!  I have a photo of the picture which I am happy to show you as long as you promise not to start a copycat craze and cover our beautifully restored churchyard with chalk drawings!

The second one appeared more recently. I spotted it on a paving stone on Vanbrugh Park. It stopped me dead in my tracks when I first saw it. It simply says in neat lower-case writing ‘be the light’. ‘Be the light’.

Light

Light is an important symbol for Christians. In the Bible light is used as a way of talking about God’s presence and how God works in the world. Light features a lot in the readings and prayers for Epiphany, the season we are in now. Epiphany celebrates Jesus bringing the light of God to the whole world. It starts with the wise men following the light of a star and the imagery of light continues in our reading from Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah -  ‘the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’.

Light is important. To state the obvious, it lets us see things.  It can show us the way when we might otherwise be lost and it can show us things that we otherwise might not see.  It can enlighten us.

But in the physical world, the world of nature, light doesn’t just make things visible, it is a force that actually changes things. Sunlight provides the energy that allows all living things to live and grow and reproduce. Light doesn’t just enlighten, it changes things.

And our reading from Matthew’s Gospel tells us that the light of God also changes things. Matthew tells us that the light that people had longed or and hoped for for hundreds of years has now come, personified in this man, Jesus of Nazareth. And the light of God shines out from Jesus onto Simon Peter and Andrew and onto James and John. They see this light and as it shines on them it changes things. It has an effect.  These fishermen do something. They leave their boats and nets and follow Jesus. They follow Jesus and join in his work of bringing his light to the world, announcing the coming of God’s kingdom, and bringing healing and hope to those who need it most.

Like the disciples we now stand in the light of God’s love, the light that is revealed in Jesus the Christ. The light that we need in a world where the darkness is only too real. The light that we need as we remember the liberation of Auschwitz 75 years ago tomorrow, the light we need as we see thousands of refugees today struggling to escape persecution and poverty, the light we need as we try to secure the future of our planet, and the light we need as we support friends and relatives bowed down by illness or anxiety.

Be the light

When Caroline gives Jacob the lighted candle, she gives it as a symbol of this light, the light of God’s love, given to us in Jesus. And she will pray that Jacob walks in this light of Christ all the days of his life. And we will say to Jacob ‘Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father’.

Jacob’s parents, Godparents, family and friends are called to let the light of Christ shine on him.  And Jacob as he grows, is called, like all of us, not to keep the light to himself but to let that light shine out in the world, to use the light to change things for the better.

Our role is not just to ‘see the light’ but in the words of that sensitive graffiti artist to ‘be the light’.

Not just to ‘see the light’ but to ‘be the light’.  Amen