The post-Christmas Epiphany season, governed by the date of Easter, has stretched to March 5 (Ash Wednesday) this year, one Sunday short of the longest it can be.
Sundays at St Mark's, we've used this extra time to go "off lectionary" and consider more fully what it means to be children of the Light-- brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, who is The Light, as the first paragraph of John's Gospel so eloquently declares.
What we've been discovering is that while acknowledging that we need to be Light is boilerplate among active Christians, wanting to be Light is almost another matter. In so many ways, liturgy and Word call us to be Light-- the question, though, is whether we actually desire that.
To be Light, we're discovering, is hard work. It's more than giving an hour or so on Sunday mornings back to the Lord. It's becoming Christ in our time and place-- voices proclaiming a living God, bread broken for others, servants to each other and the world God made and loves so much.
Being a nice person, we are coming to admit, is pretty easy. Getting down to work in the mission field isn't. But that's what being Light is all about.
At St Mark's, it's being revealed to us that mission in the Name of the Holy One is ultimately a ministry of healing, both for the fallen world and for us who are disciples of Christ, Light in darkness, Lord and Saviour of the world.
Being Light in that way is a very significant undertaking for a little congregation like ours. Pray for us, as we do for you.
Sundays at St Mark's, we've used this extra time to go "off lectionary" and consider more fully what it means to be children of the Light-- brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, who is The Light, as the first paragraph of John's Gospel so eloquently declares.
What we've been discovering is that while acknowledging that we need to be Light is boilerplate among active Christians, wanting to be Light is almost another matter. In so many ways, liturgy and Word call us to be Light-- the question, though, is whether we actually desire that.
To be Light, we're discovering, is hard work. It's more than giving an hour or so on Sunday mornings back to the Lord. It's becoming Christ in our time and place-- voices proclaiming a living God, bread broken for others, servants to each other and the world God made and loves so much.
Being a nice person, we are coming to admit, is pretty easy. Getting down to work in the mission field isn't. But that's what being Light is all about.
At St Mark's, it's being revealed to us that mission in the Name of the Holy One is ultimately a ministry of healing, both for the fallen world and for us who are disciples of Christ, Light in darkness, Lord and Saviour of the world.
Being Light in that way is a very significant undertaking for a little congregation like ours. Pray for us, as we do for you.
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