Light
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins

Let us dwell together in peace; and let us not be instruments of our own or others’ oppression. And now, may God’s word be spoken, may only God’s word be heard. Amen.

One of the sheroes of my spirituality is Nona Brooks. She was a teacher of the omnipresence of God. She had grown up in the Presbyterian Church, but had a dramatic healing experience that changed her life and through her, many other lives.
This is how she told her story:

“I…was in very poor physical condition, being able to eat only very soft, especially prepared food. For more than a year I had been praying almost constantly, ‘God give me light’…

One day her whole being was completely flooded with a great light.
She said, “It filled me! It surrounded me! I was conscious of nothing but that intense…light!…I discovered that I had been instantly and completely healed. Tho’…I truly believe that the months and months of praying that I might receive light had been a preparation for the healing…”

Give me light.
What a simple prayer.
What a dramatic result.

Nona’s experience of light made her a beacon to others. She shared her healing experience and her belief that healing was possible for everyone and her encouragement proved to be a light in the darkness for many.
Nona heard about healing possibilities from a Mrs. Bingham who had experienced her own healing.
Nona was taking a class from Mrs. Bingham with 7 others when she experienced her dramatic breakthrough.
She went on to teach classes, lead churches, write books, speak at conferences, ordain other people to the healing ministry.
She kept the light shining, and encouraged others to do the same.

Joel Goldsmith wrote, “Everyone is here on earth but for one purpose…to show forth the glory of God…”
We greatly admire those who live into that purpose.
Jesus, for example.
He let divine glory shine through him. He gave so much hope, so much love, so much affirmation, so much empowerment, that people experienced dramatic healing in their lives.

Have you ever met someone who loved so generously, who cared so deeply, whose every word was saturated with goodwill and optimism that just being near them made you feel better?

I think people experienced that with the Buddha.
With Paramahansa Yogananda.
With Jesus.
Maybe with Amma, the hugging saint whose ministry really is to hug people all over the world.

I encountered that kind of empowering, healing love from a woman named Kay.
Rev. Kay wasn’t easy to define.
She had been Roman Catholic. She loved numerology, and angels, and Reiki.
She was an ordained Religious Science minister but she also taught A Course in Miracles and Urantia.
She had a jazz band in her worship service.
And she wasn’t afraid to grow, change, evolve.

Her marriage ended in her 50s, so she started working as a promoter in the entertainment industry. And then, she went to ministerial school.
At 60, she started her own church.
And she pastored that church for 32 years before retiring. Retirement lasted a year before she graduated to the next life experience.

She was so loving. Every person who approached her walked away thinking they were her favorite person in the world.
She never said anything mean about or to anyone, even when they were unkind.

Once someone crashed one of her religious education classes and accused her of leading people to hell. He said, “You’re doing the devil’s work!”
She answered, “Oh Darling, I’m just teaching love. If I’ve converted the devil to a message of love, I’ll put that on my resume.”

I called her after receiving a troubling diagnosis. I knew if anyone could help me go to peace instead of to pieces, it would be Rev. Kay.
I told her about my disappointing news.
Her immediate response was, “Oh Darling, that’s just information.”

And I’ve treated it as if it were just information ever since…And, I’m still here.

What a great light in my life Kay Hunter was. And sometimes, I’ll say or do something that I can see deeply touches someone else, I know that I’m passing on something I learned from her, and I smile.

Sometimes just doing what you do and doing it with love can prove to be a bright light in the world. There was a group of gay men who liked to sing evangelical music back in the 90s. They traveled all over Arkansas and Oklahoma and Texas going to churches of all sizes just singing for Queers who loved Jesus. One night they were giving a concert at a church and a frail looking person went up to one of them after the show and thanked him. He said to the performer, “Because of your show, I didn’t have AIDS for a couple of hours.”

Someone was transported past their own pain and fear for a couple of hours because a group of men, some of whom also were HIV+, decided to share their talent to uplift others. What a great light they were at time when light was needed.

The reading from Isaiah that we heard this morning begins,
“God declares: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him…”

There is some debate about whether the writer was referring to himself, to his community at large, or to a future messianic figure. But in any case, we see a picture of a light bearer, someone who serves, who is held by God, who is God’s delight, and who carries God’s spirit, and whose faithfulness brings hope, healing and justice to a world in need.

Nona Brooks fits that description.
Buddha and Yogananda fit that description.
Jesus certainly fits that description.
Amma fits that description.
Sweet Rev. Kay definitely fit that description.

And we can, too. In fact, I bet each of you has at some time let your light shine so brightly that it changed someone else’s life. You may not know you did it, but someone owes you a big thank you just because you dared to be you in a world that desperately needed you to be you.

We celebrate Light today. And that includes the Light in you. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: YOU are the light of the world. And this is the good news. Amen.

I give thanks for the healing light of God.
God, give me light.
Let me be light in the world.
Amen.