Light Your Lamps

He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’ He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’ With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples. Mark 4:21-34

These days, some of us feel as if our hopes are flickering out and our fears are taking over. There are good reasons for this. The constant flow of hate speech rattles us to our bones. The disregard for all human life unnerves us. And the suffering we see around us brings us low. Yet no matter how limited our range and how small our light might be, we are called to light our lamps daily, to shine in the darkness, and invite people to live with love and mercy. We may feel small and insignificant, smaller even than a mustard seed, yet our Savior invites us to shine, as our little bits of light, the shimmerings in the darkness, together can bring new life for all.

Wondrous Creator, source of all light

you gave us the sun to shine on all

hung the stars and planets to light our nights

and called us to never hide our brightness.

We watch as violence takes center stage

and greed and hate speech gets so loud

we want to hide away and cover ourselves

yet you call us all to let our light shine.

Help us to be courageous in these times

let us live with mercy and tenderness

let us never return anger with more anger

instead may we plant the seeds of hope today. Amen.