Today's Lectionary TextMatthew 5:14-16You are the light of the world. A city on top of a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand, and it shines on all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven. Today's DevotionalI love lighthouses. This love started as a teenager when my father took our family every summer for a week’s vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of my favorite memories is playing in the surf and sand in the shadow of the Cape Hatteras Light. Actually, the Outer Banks coast has six lighthouses: Cape Lookout, Cedar Island, Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island and Currituck. Each is strategically located 40 miles from one another. Why? Because the nighttime beams from these lighthouses extend 20 miles along the coast. Ships and boats travelling at night along the coast and the dangerous waters of the Atlantic Shoals are never without a light to guide them. An ancient form of GPS long before GPS. Jesus says “we are the light of the world.” Like a lighthouse we are called to individually and together as a faith community to be a guiding light to humanity making its journey though sometimes dark, dangerous and rough times. An appropriate challenge for our times we are currently living in. In the midst of the darkness of me-first entitlement, the danger that come from disrespect and even hate towards the other, and our current culture of growing incivility – Jesus calls us to be a light of and for the world. We have opportunity to be a light of guidance and good news regarding another way to travel through life. The way of Jesus. For me that means to let my inner light of faith, hope and love as a disciple of Jesus shine continuously and broadly in the corner of the world in which I live. Like an Outer Banks light, letting my light shine for at least 20 miles through my smile, words, actions and prayers. So how about you? Join the lighthouse effect of letting your light shine in this year of 2020. -- Rev. Rick Saylor, retired pastor
Prayer for ReflectionO God of all enlightenment. Give us your light of faith, hope and love to make our way through these difficult days of 2020. And then give us the courage and opportunity to let our inner light shine to others in the world through what we say and do. Let it be so. Amen.
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