ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 12, 2025
The Rev. Dr. William Barber preached this past Sunday, August 10, 2025, at First Baptist West in Charlotte, NC. He was basing his sermon on Jesus’ sermon that we call The Sermon on the Mount. Rev. Barber focused on the words, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14), and he reminded his listeners that the ‘you’ in this passage is not the singular you, but the plural. In the Ancient Greek, the original language of the New Testament, there is a you and a you all. Rev. Barber said,
When Jesus said you are the light of the world, he meant that we are the light together. Now I know that we like to sing “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” That is theologically okay, but problematic. Because if you are trying to shine your little light by yourself, you are not going to make it in this dark world.
Does anyone else feel the truth of those words? Rev. Barber was not suggesting our little light, the light of love and goodness and kindness, is unimportant. In fact, just the opposite. Yet the darkness consuming this world in the form of hatred, scapegoating, and greed, usually birthed out of insecurity, seeks to destroy those little lights. In fact, Jesus gathered around him a lot of people who were coming to understand what it meant to be light, but the moment it got tough, they were nowhere to be found. And though Jesus was a bright light, the darkness crushed him and ended his life on a cross. Now the resurrection is God’s way of saying that the power of darkness will not have the final word, but in those short forty days that he taught after his resurrection, it appears that he was seeking to galvanize his followers. And then on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit formed the church, seeking to bind individual lights into a powerful and all-enveloping brilliance. Yet when we separate ourselves from one another or buy into the fear that feeds our insecurities, we dramatically impact the capacity for the light to push back the darkness.
I am so proud of Cypress Creek Christian Church as we had both new members and excited visitors on Sunday, people who were seeking to connect themselves to a purpose that Jesus might of referred to as being the light that the darkness will not overcome. Our collective light is growing.
Holy and Inextinguishable Light, as you continue to shine through your church, help us to remain connected through love so that we do not dim what is hope and peace for this world. Amen.
