A sermon delivered at the Liberal Catholic Church of Saint Francis, Gordon, New South Wales, Australia, on 17 June 2007, being the Second Sunday after Trinity - Published in Communion [The Magazine of The Liberal Catholic Church in Australasia], Vol 26, No 1, Feast of the Annunciation, 2008 - Copyright Ian Ellis-Jones 2008 - All Rights Reserved.

1. GOD AS LIGHT
A sermon delivered at the Liberal Catholic Church of Saint Francis,
Gordon, New South Wales, Australia,
on 17 June 2007, being the Second Sunday after Trinity
by The Rev. Dr Ian Ellis-Jones
“…God is light and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn 1:5 RSV)
Today is the Second Sunday after Trinity, with the intent “God as Light”.
In The Celestial Hierarchy Pseudo-Dionysius refers to God as the "light which is
the source of all light" and writes:
Of course God himself is really the source of illumination for those who are
illuminated for he is truly and really Light itself. He is the Cause of being and
seeing.
In The Divine Names the same writer has this to say about God (whom he refers
to as “the Good”) as Light:
… [T]he sun by its existence gives light to whatever is able to partake of its light, in
its own way. So it is with the Good. It sends the rays of its undivided goodness to
everything with the capacity to receive it. These rays are responsible for all
intelligible and intelligent beings, for every power and every activity …
The psalmist wrote, "with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light"
(Ps 36: 9). So, light - and we are not talking here about a visible light - is the very
foundation of our being, the Ground of being Itself, unlike the Zoroastrian concept
of God wherein God is seen to be in contradistinction to the reality of life itself .
The Judeo-Christian scriptures tell us that we live and move and have our being
in that mystical light, and it is by means of that light that we exist and can come
to know the true purpose and meaning of life, which is to radiate light to all
around us.

2. 2
In our Act of Faith we affirm that “God is Love and Power and Truth and Light
…”, but what do we actually mean by “light”. Well, we need to keep in mind that
light is an absolute, not an attribute. We are talking about something that is
substantive in its own right. John tells us that God is light and all through the
Bible the word light is used to signify things such as truth, purity, wisdom,
knowledge, joy and prosperity, just as darkness, being the absence of light, is
used to signify their opposites. We are told that God is light, not “the” light or “a”
light but light itself. This light is the source of all light. Thus, St James writes:
Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of
Lights, in Whom there is no variableness, or shadow of turning (Ja I: 17).
Note how James refers to God as the “Father of Lights”, that is, the source of all
light. He also makes something of a comparison between God, which never
moves, and the Sun which, from our earthly viewpoint, appears to do so. St Paul,
too, sees God as the Father of Lights, for he instructs us to "walk as children of
light" (Eph 5:8). Yes, God is light, and to the extent to which we individually
accept the reality of that truth, the greater will be the intensity and brightness of
that light in us.
It is the light of God that enables us to see the darkness of our “manifold
imperfections” and “shortcomings”. In a sense, since God is light, and God is
omnipresent, there is no darkness at all. However, as we say in our Confiteor,
“yet often we forget the glory of our heritage and wander from the path which
leads to righteousness”. That is why we pray that we may be “filled with the
brightness of the everlasting light”. It is God’s light in revelation that convinces us
that we are not living and acting as we were meant to be and as, in truth, we are,
namely, “children of light”. The prophet Isaiah says as much:
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the
land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined (Is 9:2).

3. 3
We dwell in “the land of the shadow of death” when we fail to recognize that God
is our very Being, the very Livingness of Life itself, the one Presence and Power
in whom we live and move and have our being. We imagine ourselves to be
separate from God, and so we find that there is darkness all around us. Once we
come to understand that darkness is not a reality in itself, but only the apparent
absence of light, the darkness is dispelled. Darkness only has the power that we
give it by and in our thoughts. We must see, and speak, the light of truth
whenever we find ourselves in an experience that appears untoward or
unacceptable.
Now, here is a paradox. We are to seek the light but, as we are told in The Cloud
of Unknowing, we must “learn to be at home” in darkness. Why darkness?
Because the things of the world are no longer visible, so we can’t see them. If we
are to feel and see God it must be within this darkness.
Jesus was, of course, very familiar with the writings of the prophets. He was
undoubtedly aware that the prophet Isaiah had described God as light. Jesus is
reported to have said:
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will
have the light of life (Jn 8:12).
Of course, Jesus was not claiming to be God in any exclusive sense or unique
way. Something that evangelical Christians altogether ignore is that whatever
Jesus claimed for himself, he also claimed for those who were his followers.
Thus, not only did he say that he was the light of the world, he also said, “ye are
the light of the world” (Mt 5:14, emphasis added). We are instructed as follows:
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven (Mt 5:16).
Jesus, as light and way, is our elder brother. He is the Way-Shower and, in a
very special sense, the Way-Maker when we take up our cross daily, and follow
him (cf Lk 9:23). He does not do “it” for us. We must take up our cross … daily.

4. 4
His cross was a personal one for him. He says to us, if you follow me, you will
never walk in darkness. Why is that? Because we are thinking of others. When
we are self-absorbed and self-centred, we are in a state of darkness. As soon as
we start to move from a sense of self to a sense of non-self, the darkness begins
to disappear, for light diffuses. It spreads abroad everywhere. It is continually
giving out, yet it is never exhausted. This is the nature of God, who “giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not" (Ja 1:5). In our Collect for today we pray that
our hearts may be “so irradiated” (that is, treated, and thereby cured, by
exposure to the light of God) that we may “ever shine as beacons amid the
stormy sea of life”. Yes, we are to shine as “beacons” of God’s light and love. A
beacon, according to the Macquarie Concise Dictionary, is “a guiding or warning
signal … a lighthouse” as well as “any person … that warns or guides”. We, too,
are to be way-showers and way-makers. We are to let our light so shine before
those around us that they may see our good works and thus come to know, love
and glorify God the Father “which is in heaven”, the latter being not only a state
of consciousness but also the very ground of being itself.
Our Epistle for today comes from the first chapter of the First Epistle of St John.
We are told that if we “walk in the light” we will have fellowship one with another.
It is the nature of light to give of itself to those around it. Not only that we are told
that if we say we are in the light but hate others, we are still in a state of
darkness. Thus, light and love are one and the same thing. That should not come
as any surprise, for we are told that “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16b).
Our Gospel reading for today is taken from the 12 th chapter of John’s gospel. We
are told that if Christ be lifted up from the earth, that is, truly magnified by us in
thought, word and deed, he will draw all men unto him (Jn 12:32). We know that
to be true, but all too often we fail to radiate out the love of Christ. Disturbingly,
we are reminded that the light will not always be with us:

5. 5
… Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness
come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. (Jn
12:35, 36)
So, while there is life in us, and we have the opportunity, we are to let our light so
shine that others may see our good works. Not that we should boast, for love
“seeketh not her own” (cf 1 Cor 13:5), and is solely concerned with the welfare of
others. That is the nature of light, and love. It perpetually offers itself, and ever
gives of itself to itself in manifestation, so that life, in all of its multiplicity of form,
is perpetuated. We are also told that Jesus said, “He that believeth on me,
believeth not on me, but on him that sent me” (Jn 12:44). Note, again, that Jesus
is not claiming to be God in any exclusive sense. He is saying that he is the way,
or at least one way, back to God. Jesus told us that in his Father's house were
“many mansions (dwelling places)” and that he would prepare “a place”, that is, a
mansion for us (see Jn 14:2). He never said that he would prepare "all" the
mansions in his Father's house. This is one of the great teachings of the Liberal
Catholic Church, perhaps its greatest. Yes, Jesus is the way to a mansion, but
there are other ways as well. Our Gospel reading says that Jesus is “a light into
the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness” (Jn
12:46, emphasis added). Note again, “a” light.
I once heard a Baptist minister say, not too far from this church, “If Christianity is
right, all other religions are wrong.” As any logician will tell you, that's not an
argument, it's a conditional statement. It doesn't state the premises necessary to
support its conclusion. It’s a fallacy. Anyway, the well-meaning pastor based his
assertion on a faulty understanding of Jesus’ supposed utterance, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me” (Jn 14:6). My
view is the same as that of the great Methodist preacher from London, Dr Leslie
Weatherhead, which is also the conclusion of the Jesus Seminar, namely, I don’t
believe Jesus ever said that. If he did, he was referring to his way of life, his
teaching, nothing more than that. So, remember:

6. 6
Not every one that says to me [Jesus], “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. (Mt 7:21)
Getting back to our theme, and intent, of God as Light, our life can be “brighter
than the noonday sun" (cf Job 11:17), and we can shine even in darkness.
Unlike, say, Buddhism, Christianity is not a religion of happiness. Jesus never
promised perfect health or freedom from pain, sickness and suffering. What we
are promised is the “overcoming” of pain, sickness and suffering. Yes, “this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 Jn 5:4, original emphasis).
Our Collect for today reminds us of the “stormy sea of life” and that we are
surrounded by “weary and tempest-driven souls”. Now, returning to the theme of
The Cloud of Unknowing, we are most likely to come to know God as light in that
darkness, that cloud, that remains between us and God.
That is the world in which we find ourselves placed, but there is, we are told, a
haven where we can find rest in the “eternal sunlight” of God’s holy Presence.
We are here to build a spiritual temple, a temple not made with hands, but
nevertheless eternal in the heavens. It is a temple of light, the Christ light, and,
as our Liturgy ever reminds us, there is a “great white throne, whence flow all
love and light and blessing through all the worlds which [God] hast made”. May
we never forget that each one of us is an altar on which sacrifice can and must
be offered. Let us offer up ourselves to others, and to life itself. Yes, let us
crucify our selfishness and egotism on the altar of light and love so that our
hearts may be irradiated by the glory of the Divine Love that we may ever shine
as beacons amid the stormy sea of life. Amen.
-oo0oo-