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Sharing the Light

My old station wagon, with its cassette player as our only source of music on road trips, has among its collection of tapes a much loved compilation of Gospel music by various African American artists. One of my favourite tracks is a choir singing/shouting/stomping a piece whose refrain goes, “I said I wasn’t gonna testify, but I just couldn’t keep it to myself, what the Lord has done for me.” It rocks!
This Sunday’s readings have the same theme. Jesus in whom the light of God shines out to transform our world, a process prefigured in Isaiah’s prophecies, is made known to our world through the testimony of others, which is to say you and me. Does this mean we have to engage our neighbours in theological discussions? Not unless they and we are up for it. More simply, it is just a matter of speaking up about what we have seen and heard in our own lives as we live consciously in God’s presence. That is what Paul and his first converts did in Corinth, and what John the Baptist did out in the desert. And that is all God asks of us today. Not a heavy obligation but an irrepressible urge. “I couldn’t keep it to myself” … take it away, all you gospel singers.
You can find my recorded (spoken not sung) comments here…
Howard Pilgrim

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