Advent 21

The Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 21, 2008

Isaiah 42:1-12 

I, the LORD, have called you with righteous purpose and taken you by the hand; I have formed you, and appointed you to be a light to all peoples, a beacon for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, to bring captives out of prison, out of the dungeons where they lie in darkness. 

Two years ago I taught—tutored, really-- math at a local ski academy.  The young man across the hall from me, a fellow math teacher, became my best friend at the school.  He told me that he was an atheist. We still keep in touch by e-mail, and when, a year ago, the Advent booklet I had written for my parish was accepted for national publication, I sent him an ecstatic message.  “Send me a copy!  I want to read it,” he wrote back; and I did.  A few months later, at his wedding, we had a chance to talk briefly. 

“Cynthia,” Jeremy said, his hand on my forearm, “I had always believed my values were secular values.  I was blown away to read your meditations, to see that what I had thought were my values, were Christian values.” 

How sad.  Jesus was so clear that His followers were called to love their enemies, to care for the poor and weak; yet so many Christians prefer to use Old Testament laws and stories to justify their support of war and laws that favor the rich, that people like Jeremy think good values are unchristian. 

Isaiah’s words are for the reader, for you and me.  We are called to be light, we are called to open eyes of the blind and lead the captives out of darkness.  Not just Christ is called to do this; we are also called.  It is a difficult calling, but a holy one. If we reject that calling, then people like Jeremy will be correct to believe that peace, justice, and care for the earth are secular values.  Eventually Christians will be seen as the cause of darkness.  As Darkness. 

Let us, this day and every day, join the Child who is coming; let us reclaim our holy calling.  Let us be Light.