Sunday, October 31

Something happened this Sunday morning that made us think of Abass Hassan Mohammed. James met Abass in a refugee camp in Kenya in 2004. Abass had fled Somalia with his family in 1992 and had survived in one of the poorest and most violent refugee camps in Africa for more than a decade. But Abass had accomplished something even more remarkable: his final high school exam results ranked him first in his province and eighth in Kenya. With the help and encouragement of strangers and friends, he won a scholarship to study at Princeton University.

Abass’s incredible journey was made possible, in large part, by light. Recognizing the importance of education, his parents spent what little money they had on kerosene, so that Abass could study after sunset. Providing light for their son was a significant sacrifice for them to make in a camp where refugees barely receive enough food to survive.

How often do we take light for granted?

Light was the central theme of Reformation Sunday at St. Andrew’s this morning. In our reading of Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus tells us that we are “the light of the world.” In the message from the Rev. Dr. Emidio Campi, we learned that a central image of the early Reformation was uncovering the light, which is the word of God. We were challenged to let this light be free and to shine in the world through our actions. As we sang in the children’s hymn:

Jesus bids us shine, then for all around;
Many kinds of darkness in this world abound:
Sin and want and sorrow; so we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.

We heard of one opportunity to let our light shine at the start of the service when we learned more about the decision by St. Andrew’s to sponsor the S* family for resettlement to Canada. The S* are an Iraqi Christian family. They have lived as refugees in Syria for many years due to the violence and persecution of Christians in their homeland.

When introducing us to this ministry of our congregation, Peter L. reminded us of Matthew 25:31-46, where we hear that God calls us to feed the hungry, refresh the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and show solidarity with the imprisoned.

This call for action is as important today as it was 500 years ago at the start of the Reformation. Indeed, a central message of this morning’s sermon was what God did through Reformation. “We don’t remember Reformation to celebrate tradition but to celebrate God’s action,” said Rev. Dr. Campi. “The Reformers were illuminated by God’s living word.”

If God accomplished all this through the Reformers so long ago, what can God accomplish through us today if we let our light shine?

– Laurie Mackenzie and James Milner