Reflection for Sunday – January 25, 2026

Sue HowardSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Isaiah 8:23-9:3; 1 Corinthians 1: 10-13,17; Matthew 4: 12-23 
Preacher: Susan Howard

I’ve noticed recently that shining a light for others is not always a gentile act. It’s not always peaceful and loving like lighting a candle or shining a flashlight. Sometimes it’s like a principal standing in front of her school with a baseball bat yelling at ICE agents to leave her students alone. Sometimes it’s neighbors gathering around a house in their neighborhood to keep ICE agents from taking a worker off the roof he was working on. These light-bearers are brave souls who are standing against imperial forces that threaten our lawful and democratic way of life. These acts are becoming more common place. Neighbors helping neighbors, strangers helping strangers, people of all religions and beliefs stepping up to shine the light of goodness and righteousness.

I’m especially enthralled by the Buddhist Monks who are walking for peace from Texas to DC, aiming to walk about 2,300 miles through 10 states.  They have thousands of on-line followers and people from every city and town they pass are joining them along the way. Two of them are from the Wat Pa Lao Temple in Henrietta! They are accompanied by Aloka their adopted dog. Aloka’s name means “light.” How appropriate for today’s readings.

And of course, there is the light brought to us by our modern-dayprophet Martin Luther King Jr. who we celebrated this week. He wrote:  “The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk position, prestige, and even life for the welfare of others.”

There are others who are called to action in other ways, writing lawmakers in congress, praying for the peace and security of those being targeted, taking food to people too afraid to go out, or financially supporting the many agencies who provide care and support for immigrants and refugees. Whatever your method, whatever your gift, and whatever your means, your light is burning brightly.

The Call that was extended to Peter, Andrew, James and John was a Call so mysteriously powerful, a light so strong, that they were impelled to move outside of themselves. That Call is for us too! We can be impelled to step out from behind the complacency and comfort of our known world to embrace another way of living and loving.

What is so interesting about this Call is that you do not need to look for it, it just happens. There might be a knock on your door, and unexpected phone call, a chance meeting on the sidewalk or driveway and there it is…the moment you are Called to do something unexpected. In my experience, more often than not these God moments happen close to home, at work, school, in our own neighborhoods and Churches. The Call, the giving, the caring, the light, it cannot be diminished no matter how many times it is shared. We are each enriched by the Other.

I live in the city, we live in houses very close to each other, we live with people from all over the world, eking out a living, hard workers or out of work, multi-generational families, people with mental illnesses, drug using, dealing and just plain living the life we’ve been dealt. Perhaps you would be afraid to come here to this strange and foreign place. It’s really not much different from any city, suburb or rural area in America, in the whole world—a melting pot of humanity, not so different from Zebulun and Naphtali.

They were mostly transplants to the area, brought there by forces out of their control. That area was considered an outpost, a godforsaken place, but it is in just this kind of place where Jesus begins his ministry. This is where His Call comes alive!  Jesus shines God’s light into the gloom of humanity.  It changes things. It unites us despite our differences. It brings peace and security. It lifts people up. That light is bigger than anything we can imagine. And it shines for us all!

You might want to think about this…What have you done to be a light for someone this week? Who has been a light for you? Let them know their light was noticed and pray in thanksgiving for God’s light in your life.

Sue Howard
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