Environmental Stewardship Commission (MEESC)

This morning we conclude our 4 week celebration of God’s creation with a celebration of light.

We began our service with a prayer for light, and with the passing of a flame from one person to the next.

• There is something magical in the passing of a flame.

• Yet is has passed on something.
• Because if heat alone is applied a candle will melt into a pool of wax without ever catching fire.
• Yet a far smaller amount of heat in the form of a flame applied to the wick will set it alight.

The warmth of the sun is carried to us in the form of photons, the basic units of light.

• Only when it hits the ground and the atmosphere is some of the energy stepped down into heat.
• Light keeps us warm.

• Plants, by a miraculous process called photosynthesis, capture light’s energy and bind it into chemical structures we call food.
• Plants and their seeds bless all the higher life forms with their gift of captured sun energy.
• And, most obviously, light allows us to see.

• It struck me that if God is Love, as the Epistles tell us;
• And Jesus is the light, and light allows us to see,
• Then Jesus is the light that allows us to see the love of God.
• Which, of course, is exactly what John is trying to tell us.

• It gives light to rich and poor alike. It makes no judgment. It shines on Asamma bin Laden, and on the soldiers who seek him out. It gives its gift of warmth and light freely to all.
• It is a perfect metaphor for the love of God, and for God’s son, who gave himself up to death on the cross “while we were yet sinners.”
• Jesus is the light that shows us the love of God.

• Is it particle, or is it wave?
• Depends how you measure it.
• Somehow it “knows” whether you are going to measure for a wave, or measure for a particle.
• There is no brain involved, at least that we know of.
• Yet it mysteriously adjusts itself to the experiment being made.
• God is even more mysterious than light, appearing in not 2 but many different forms at different times.

† God blesses us with the rich colors of the rainbow, stretching from red to blue.
† But above these are a much larger range of frequencies known as ultraviolet light, including x-rays
† Below are the infrared lights and below that radio waves.
† It’s important to remember that everything we know about God is only a small part of the spectrum.

• We have learned to detect other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, but the vast part of who and what God is remains invisible to us.
• This is not cause for despair. Jesus, the light, has shown us enough to know that God is loving, compassionate and kind.
• But it is a caution against any rigid orthodoxy that rules out other views of God.
• God is mostly still a mystery.

Light is very powerful.

• Some of the wavelengths that come from the sun can burn us badly. But amazingly the ozone layer in our atmosphere blocks most of those particular wavelengths.
• Not quite all though, as I can attest from many a painful summer night.
• It’s interesting that they are planning to irradiate the mail to kill any anthrax bacteria that may be on it.
• Evil disdains the light. It doesn’t like to be illuminated.
• Which is why a free press is so critical for remaining a free and just society.

• X rays can see right inside us. God can too – But not in order to judge or condemn.
• The light of Christ allows us to see God’s love within ourselves.
• The power of light fills us with energy for life.
• God’s love warms and enfolds us, and enables us to love others as well.
• As you go forth into the world today, let the light of Christ shine forth in you, to show God’s unconditional love to everyone you meet.

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