CAMINANDO WITH JESUS: Being Lamplighters

CAMINANDO WITH JESUS is a series of reflections on the Sunday Gospel by clergy and laity from across the Diocese.

Sign up to receive CAMINANDO WITH JESUS in your inbox each Wednesday.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

- Matthew 5:13-20

Robert Louis Stevenson grew up in Scotland at a time when towns and villages had someone going up and down the streets at nightfall lighting the street lamps. Among his poems is one entitled The Lamplighter. He writes, in part:

“My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

“Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,
O Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you.” [1]

It’s reported that growing up Stevenson would say of an evening, while looking out one of their windows, “Look, Mother, there is a man who punches holes in the darkness.” [2]

Instead of Leerie, his lantern and his ladder, many of us have switches on walls, motion sensor lights, even computers control lights. Unless a storm knocks out our electricity, we most often have light in the shadows of our lives, day or night.

But even if we have artificial light sources, we know what it is to experience the shadows of night in our souls – shadows we feel even when the sun’s light sends us racing for our sunglasses. We humans know what it’s like to live in the midst of shadows. Every one of us at some time or another feels as if our spirits are shrouded in fog to the point we scarcely know our way forward. We wonder if, or how, our pathways will be illuminated so that we know where to turn.

Good news can be found in scripture punctuated with images of Light, punching holes in our overcast days as well as the lightless hours of our spiritual nights. Scripture can reassure us we’re not alone in the dusks of life – that there is One on whom we truly can rely to know and understand us intimately.

Jesus is sitting on a hillside talking with a great crowd of people – kin as well as strangers. One of Jesus’ underlying messages is we are known by the One Who Creates All That Is, and, because God loves all of creation, we all can know ourselves to be loved by God.

Jesus advises those first listeners – and us – to “let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to God…” [3] We can wonder if Jesus is thinking our light emanates from the brightness of God’s love and lovingkindness.

Which leads us to ask a question: What would it be like to think of God as one who punches holes in the shadows of our lives? What if we think of God as our "Leerie," with lantern bright enough to pierce any gloom and ladder long enough to reach all of us?

If we can believe this, or at least try to wrap our minds and hearts around these questions – these images – what responsibility might we have to assist God in this work?

For as surely as we know our own needs, there are places and peoples of the earth for whom the shadows loom large indeed. For some – dare we say many – there is no one to partner with God bringing light into their shadows, showing forth a light of compassion and care, sharing a light that accompanies being present with another human being, shining a light of hope into their hearts, and witnessing to the light of God’s love longing to enter the recesses of their hearts. Some of those places and peoples are closer by than we may want to admit.

What of them?

The truth is, with the variety of gifts we possess, God calls each of us to be a lamplighter: to bring light into the shadows we encounter along the way. To walk alongside those with no lantern, offering ours to show the way. To use our hearts, minds and voices as spiritual ladders to reach those in need of a way out of the lightless hours of their nights. To take to heart God asking each of us to carry a message of hope and promise on all the streets we travel. To keep in mind the image of light pointing us towards the hope and love which dwell in the very heart of God.

How wonderful whenever it’s said of us, "Look! Look! Here come the people who punch holes in the lightless places of life!"

[1] Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses (The World’s Popular Classics, Books, Inc.: no date) p. 44.

[2] Synthesis: Resource for Preaching in the Episcopal Tradition, citation reads ‘Copied,’ probable date of issue 2007.

[3] Mt. 5:16, NRSV adapted

The Rev. Lorraine Ljunggren is the interim rector of St. Stephen's, Oxford.