Advent 3 (B) + Don't let the light go out! + 12.14.14

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M. Campbell-Langdell+
                                                                                                                                                                           All Santos, Oxnard
(Is. 61:1-4, 8-11; Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55); 1 Thess. 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28)
Around this time of year one year when I was in middle school, our music teacher had my class sing a Jewish song, commonly sung by Peter, Paul and Mary.  The refrain goes like this:
“Don't let the light go out.
It's lasted for so many years.
Don't let the light go out.
Let it shine through our love and our tears.”[1]
This year, a friend pointed out that the eight days of Hanukah coincide with the Posadas, the nine days beginning December 16th that lead up to Christmas. Hanukah is the Jewish religious festival that commemorates both the Maccabean victory that restored the temple and Jewish identity to the Jews and the miracle that the oil of the temple lasted for eight days in the middle of a siege. This feast remembers God’s hope and goodness that the light was not extinguished.
Here in 1st Thessalonians we are counseled not to quench the spirit, and this word, me sbennute, translates as “do not quench” or “do not extinguish.” It is the same word used in Matthew’s story of the bridesmaids, wherein the foolish bridesmaids are telling the wise bridesmaids that their light will be extinguished.[2] One gets a sense here that we are not talking about literal flame but the flame of light in our hearts that must be maintained in prayer. Note that the foolish bridesmaids do not say “our light is extinguished,” to the wise bridesmaids, but that it is in danger of doing so.  Paul counsels the Thessalonians and us here to “not let the light go out.”
The first verse of the “Light One Candle” song of the Maccabean children says:
“Light one candle for the Maccabee children.
Give thanks that their light didn't die.
Light one candle for the pain they endured
when their right to exist was denied.
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
justice and freedom demand.
Light one candle for the wisdom to know
when the peacemaker ' s time is at hand.[3]”
And we know that our own peacemaker’s time is at hand. What can we do to fan the flames, to light the candle in our hearts?
Ironically, despite the cheer of the season, sometimes the flame of our hearts dims in this time of busy-ness and preparation.
Isaiah tells us that it is in remembering the demands of justice and freedom.
In Isaiah we see themes of a jubilee year, a year of restoration. We remember that the light of all people is extinguished if any of God’s people is without hope. We are reminded to care for the poor and the oppressed.
“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor (Isaiah 61:1-2a).”
So how do we fan and not quench our inner flame? We pray, of course, lighting the candle within. But then we go out into the world. And we do justice.
In the Gospel of John today we learn that John the Baptist’s role is to testify to the light. And he is the model of a proto-disciple, or the first one who leads to Jesus and begins to show us how to follow Jesus.  John 1:6-8 says: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”
You, men and women sent from God into this world, how are you testifying to the light? Because John shows us that to follow Jesus is to testify to the light.
I took a class in seminary, called Contemplation and Action, the premise was that we need both reflection time and time actively serving others in order to live a life aflame with the Spirit’s fire. Which makes me think of the Virgin Mary.
Because Mary not only testified to the light, but allowed the light to enter the world—what a gracious God we have who will not push but will ask us to welcome the light! Mary, whose Magnificat we hear today and who we celebrate with our rose hue, reminds us to testify to the light and to welcome the light into our own world.
In her Magnificat we see a reflection of Isaiah’s words—
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10)”
becomes
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
    for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
    the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name (Luke 1:46b-49).”
We too, can rejoice in the Lord, if we find ways to testify to the Light.
What can you do in the days before Christmas comes to serve another? Perhaps it is to serve at Bread of Life this afternoon, despite the present shopping you still need to do. Perhaps it is to buy some extra food to give to the pantry when you are shopping for Christmas dinner. Or to pick up some extra small presents when shopping for children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews, small gifts that we can give out to the children of our church on Christmas morning, some of whom will not abound in gifts under the tree.
How will you get quiet enough to allow a new bright light to add to your own this Christmastide, the birth of hope in the world?
So…
“Don't let the light go out.
It's lasted for so many years.
Don't let the light go out.
Let it shine through our love and our tears.”[4]


[2] William Brosend, “Theological Perspective: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24,” Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 1.
[3] “Light One Candle,” ibid.

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