“This Little Light of Mine” is a song that we all know. Almost every Christian child is taught it as they grow up. I remember singing it as a child with the children’s chorus at my home church the Sunday before Easter. The song is simple to learn and the message is even simpler to understand. We have a little light of the Lord in us and we need to let it shine.
During the month of February, we're going to discuss the little light that we are given, a light inside of us that Luke describes as, “a light of revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32). It is that light of revelation which each of us holds in our heart. It shines in us like a candle in a dark room, illuminating our space and allowing us to move freely without the worry of stumbling. The light of the Lord shines for all to see.
This month’s sermon series is “Shine.” We will examine the light of the Lord inside of us, investigating what the Bible says about the call to light up the world and seeing how we are all called to hold our candle to illuminate the way for others. We will also discuss how the light inside us shines brightness into the emptiness, allowing God to fill our very souls with God’s grace. We will further examine how love shines through that light into our lives and into the lives of others.
Finally, our sermon series will end on Transfiguration Sunday, a day that we celebrate the moment in which Jesus was revealed to his disciples as the Son of God. Transfiguration Sunday is not nearly as well-known as many other important days in the church calendar, but it is a significant day. This day celebrates the moment in which Jesus was transfigured from his humanly form into a new form of radiant shining glory appearing on a mountaintop alongside Moses and Elijah to speak to his apostles Peter, James, and John.
He was then called the Son of God by a voice in the clouds. Reminiscent of the same voice calling out at his baptism. In that moment he became the light of God for all to see shine!
Transfiguration Sunday will be the capstone in our call to shine, to live out that line of a song that we learned so long ago: “This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine!”.
Peace,
Ben