Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon
series titled, This is the Way, where we look
at what it means to follow in the way of Jesus,
and what are some of the practical tips and practices
that can help us as we become more and more like
Jesus. Today we are also welcomed by a guest
speaker, Reverend Sandra Seaborn, who is the
Vice President of Programs at Yonge Street Mission
and an ordained Anglican priest. And Sandra is
going to be sharing with us more about what it
means to be children of the light. Light that
shines into the dark places of our lives and
empowers us to live as people of the light in
a dark world. Today's reading is from 1 John
chapter 1 verses 5 to 10. This is the message
we have heard from him and declare to you. God
is light. In him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live
out the truth. But if we walk in the light, As
he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies
us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify
us. from all unrighteousness. If we claim we
have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar,
and his word is not in us. The word of the Lord.
I am so glad to be with you this morning. Last
time I was here, there was a brief power outage.
And I think it was at this service. So today,
in my pocket, I usually leave it over there,
but I brought my phone just in case, because,
you know, they do double as flashlights. Anybody
else have their phone with them? Let's see a
show of hands. Okay, so if it goes out again,
we're good, right? Because we can just all have
our flashlights. And if we do, it'll look a little
bit like this, which is really nice. Right? If
we have a room full of lights like this, if you've
maybe ever even been in a stadium or maybe in
a sports arena, sometimes people are asked to
actually turn their phones on like this because
it creates a good vibe, kind of a sense of connection.
Usually it's accompanied by like cheering or
music. So I wanted to start here because today,
if you heard what Karen was reading, there was
a word that stuck in that that we're going to
really look at today, and that is light. So where
lights in a concert hall or a stadium are really
decorative or temporary, the topic of today,
living in the light, is really a permanent invitation.
It's an invitation to a restored or a healed
life. And light and darkness is a motif that
is essential in our scriptures all the way back
into Genesis. In fact, if you go all the way
to the beginning of our holy scriptures, this
is how it starts. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was
formless, empty. Darkness was over the surface
of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering
over the waters. Verse 3 in our Bibles. And God
said, let there be light. And there was light.
God saw that the light was good and he separated
the light from the darkness. See, light brings
structure. and substance. It contains chaos,
even from the first day. And if we go fast forward
into our New Testament, the beginning of the
Gospel of John echoes this same motif with these
words about light. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning, and through
him all things were made. Without him nothing
was made that was made. In him was life, and
that life was the light of all humankind. The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it. Amen. I mean, with everything
that is going on in our world today, with the
many wars, the corruption, the suffering, the
poverty, it helps me to ground myself in what
I think of as these eternal and cosmic truths.
God is light, and God light brings life. And
so as we look at this sermon series, we've been
focusing on, which is this is the way, we're
delving into three aspects of what does it mean
as followers of Jesus to live in the light of
God. And the three words I'm going to leave with
you today are that this kind of light, this God
light, it reveals, it restores, and it radiates.
That passage from 1 John is going to show us
how the light of God reveals who we are, and
it also shows us who God is. It's also a light
that brings salvation and restoration and healing,
and then it's a light that sends us into the
world so that we can radiate the same light for
those around us. So reveal. What does God...
reveal in his light? Well, in my home, when the
sun shines at this time of the year in the late
afternoon, what I notice first are the dirty
windows because I've had melting eaves all over
them. And I noticed the dust bunnies in the corners.
And I'm like, oh, I mean, I love the sun, but
I'm like, oh, what about in my life though? Like
when God's light shines, what does it reveal?
Well, a few years ago, when I was working at
St. Paul's Anglican Church, and that's where
I met Pastor Rob, I had a hockey injury. I play
ice hockey with women my age in a rec league,
and I made the mistake one time of putting my
foot in the way of somebody shooting, and most
of the time that's not a problem because they're
people my age. It just happened the woman shooting
was a police officer, so it was a bit of a harder
shot, and it was very painful. And so I had to
go get my foot x -rayed. This is not mine, but
I did get my foot x -rayed because we needed
to see what we couldn't see from the outside.
I needed to see if this foot was broken. And
it turned out it was. More recently, my mother
was seeing double. And so she would sometimes
be able to look at a page and everything would
move. And so the doctor sent her to get an MRI.
This is a picture of a brain MRI. Because they
needed to see into her brain to find the problem.
See, we have created machines that help us to
see what our eyes cannot see. These machines
reveal information that is true but invisible
to us without... this extra layer of seeing.
It shows broken parts of our body so that doctors
can have better diagnoses and create better treatment
plans and care plans. And spiritually, what God's
light does is it reveals our spiritual brokenness.
We call that spiritual brokenness sin. Sometimes,
though, it can be hard to see it. Just like I
couldn't see if my foot was broken and we couldn't
see if there was anything in my mom's brain without
an extra layer of support, we need God's light
to be able to see the sin. Now at Easter time,
we prepare for it in the season of Lent. This
is the time that traditionally the church has
put a little bit of extra focus on this self
-reflection. Because this season of Lent is this
time that we prepare ourselves for the great
victory over sin, where even death is defeated.
But to do that, we need to stop and look at ourselves
with the help of God's Spirit. So, if you're
here this morning, and as soon as I said the
word sin, you thought of a long list of ways
that you fall short. And I know there's some
of you this morning where that's what the voice
is in your head. Then the top here of this slide
is for you. Show not shame. See, when God's light
reveals spiritual brokenness to us, it is not
about shame. Because each one of us has been
adopted into God's family. We are adopted children.
We have inherited that. Through the gift of Jesus,
our identity is secure in Christ. So when God
reveals brokenness to us, it is not about shame.
And here I'm leaning into Brene Brown's parsing
or understanding of shame, which is identity.
So she says, shame focuses on self -recrimination
and identity. I am bad. That is not what God's
light is doing. Because as adopted children of
God, what the light is doing is showing us things
that are not aligned with God's self, which is
more like I did something bad, not I am bad.
And that distinction is crucially important.
Because when that light is revealed to us, there
are things that we can do with God's help to
address that spiritual brokenness. In other words,
the light reveals spiritual brokenness so that
we can be healed and transformed more into the
likeness of Jesus so that our behaviors match
our identity. Our identity is in Christ. Now,
if you are here this morning and I said this
word sin, and that's not the voice in your head,
then it's the stuff underneath that might be
more helpful to you on this slide. Because it's
easy for some of us, instead of thinking of how
bad we are, to think about someone else's faults.
Maybe you turned out and you're like, yeah, my
sister. Or, oh my gosh, my spouse. Or that person
at work. Well, then this list might be helpful
to you. Because sin or brokenness is often categorized
in the ways you see on the screen. This is sort
of an informal way of doing it. More formally,
we call them sins. We usually bucket them in
these ways. Sins of omission. That's stuff we
didn't do. Things left undone. Things of commission.
That's the stuff that we did do that we shouldn't
have done. And then the third big bucket is usually
imputed sin, which is a result of the fall. And
I've broken that down in two buckets. Harms done
to us and the impact of living in a broken world.
The harms we bump into because we live in a world
that is not aligned with God's ways. And it is
yet to be fully redeemed as it will be. when
we get to heaven, and when heaven comes here
on earth. So let's give an example of how this
might play out in real life. Cell phone usage.
This is not my screen, but, like, if you're not
sure, and you have a cell phone, and you're on
the screen, you just look at your usage, and
it will be sobering, it's likely to be a sobering
picture. How does this play out? Sin of omission.
What we didn't do because we were scrolling.
Skins of commission, the stuff we chose to look
at when we were scrolling. Harms done to us,
the images that pop up uninvited or ads or suggested
next videos. And the brokenness of the world.
The way that those who have designed these phones
and the algorithms around all the apps on the
phone use our biology, the natural release of
dopamine to keep us addicted to the very screens,
the algorithms themselves. are designed to make
money, keep our eyes locked. Cell phones, overuse,
can be an example of all of the ways that it
is easy to be spiritually broken in this world.
But there is hope, right? Because God's life
always reveals to restore. God's light always
reveals to restore. And the Bible reading from
today sets this out very clearly. In the message
translation, it says this. If we claim we're
free from sin, we're only fooling ourselves.
A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the
other hand, if we admit our sins, simply come
clean about them, Jesus won't let us down. He'll
be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and
purge all our wrongdoing. God will be true to
God's self. Isn't that beautiful? That's what
faithfulness is. And then what does it mean that
God is true to God's self? Like, what is God's
nature that God is being true to? It is justice.
You see it there. He is faithful and just. What
is justness or rightness? The Greek word there
is derived from dika or dike, meaning equitable
in character or in act, and by implication, holy
and innocent. Each Sunday, each mini -resurrection
day, we tell this story again and again. We remember
at the communion table how the blood of Jesus
has set us free, how Jesus loved us so much that
he laid down his life and paid the penalty for
our debts, purifying us of our sins and casting
out fear with love, removing punishment, bringing
new life where death and the devil had sway before.
Now, if all that sounds a little too religious,
I want to reflect a little bit in science terms
how light restores or heals. And here I'm going
to read some science because I'm not a scientist,
but when your skin is exposed to sunlight, specifically
ultraviolet rays, there's a form of cholesterol
called D - 7 -DHC, where the skin cells are converted
into the pre -vitamin, anybody know which one
it is? D, that's right, D3, right? And probably,
if you've been to your doctor, they probably
tell you, because we live in Canada, you should
all take D3 all winter. Like, all of us should
be taking D3, because there's just not enough
sunlight in our life to do this reaction to us.
And this D3, what does it help us do? It helps
us absorb calcium and phosphorus. It helps keep
us strong bones and regulates our immune system.
Sunlight also stimulates the production of serotonin,
which is a mood -regulating hormone. More recently,
this here is an AI picture I created online because
I couldn't find one I quite liked. Infrared light
has started being used therapeutically. It's
called photobiomodulation, and it used to be
called laser therapy, but it is a non -thermal,
low -level... Light that's used to stimulate
cellular function, enhance repair, reduce pain
and inflammation. And what does it do? It taps
mitochondria. It increases ATP production, accelerates
tissue healing. I mean, I could just go on and
on, right? Light heals. Sunlight, infrared light.
I mean, the medical sites I checked did note
that both these ways of using light are generally
safe and non -invasive, as long as you do the
dosage, right? I'm not suggesting here we don't
wear sunscreen. But God's light heals our soul,
and we see it in the natural world as well. Light
heals, and God's being restores and heals us.
And in a sense, I think that may be what we experience
when we come to church. Because as we're in church
together, we experience the presence of God.
And it's like as we sit here and worship together,
it's almost like we're absorbing sunshine or
sitting in that infrared sauna because the experience
of worship can physically, not just spiritually,
make you feel better. God being God's self is
a God of restoration. Light reveals, light restores,
and light radiates. Now, I wonder if any of you
remember these in windows. I don't know if it
was out here, came all the way out here, but
in my neighborhood, we saw these a lot in COVID.
So these little hearts are about 12 inches tall.
They were made by a company in Mississauga. And
you could buy them and people would put them
in their windows to kind of as a sign of solidarity
and support during COVID for essential workers.
They originally came in white, but now you can
come in every color and every different color
goes, the money goes to a different charity.
And here's what their website says. And no, I
have no connection to them or suggest you're
buying them or anything, but this is what their
website says about them. Our company was founded
on creating a force of compassion through COVID
-19, a difficult time that challenged us all.
From the very beginning, we made it our mission
to lift up the community that we build our lives
around. That's why a portion of every glowing
heart... Neon light will always go to supporting
a charitable cause. Together, we can create light
to guide us even through darkest times. That's
quite the corporate vision. Light for dark times
and togetherness. How do we do that? Well, practically
speaking, if we get back down to the basics of
it, there's a couple of different ways that we
see light. An object can emit light like a light
bulb. or a flashlight or a flame. An object can
reflect or refract light, and really anything
we see is doing this because objects, like every
single object even in this room is doing this,
but it's often easier to think of the reflection
in like a mirror or a moon, or as you can see
in this photo, kind of how the glass reflects
the light bulb. And an object can also let light
through, like the glass in the front of this
light being transparent. This porch light is
doing all three of those. The bulb is emitting
the light, the reflection, the transparency.
It's all working together to radiate. And as
children of light, when the Spirit fills us,
we're supposed to be like this porch light. We
are reflecting God's light, but we are also having
absorbed God's presence, emitting it, letting
it. be shown. And it's the reason I chose a porch
light is because the purpose of being God's light
is actually for those around us, right? A porch
light is not put on for the people in the house.
It's put on for the people who are yet to come
in. It's put on for the people who are still
on their way. Radiating light is for the community.
It is for others. Now where we Living in 2026
may be shaped as people living in a Heidi individualistic
time. Living in the light is not a private, personal,
or solitary individual act. And 1 John is very
clear about that. As you read through, not just
the passage that we read, but if you read through
to the end of the book, you're going to see that
this theme comes up over and over again. Your
actions, particularly in relationship to other
people, That shows your beliefs. God saves you.
God transforms you. You are different, and then
you are different in how you show up for other
people. You shine for and with people in your
community, both your religious community, which
the scripture calls fellowship, and your neighbors
in need. Walking in the light, radiating light,
means loving people as God has loved them. Love
is light activated. I like to think of God's
light as love light. And so I wonder this morning,
who are the people in need in your sphere of
influence that you can stand or sit or be with
and offer this love light? Isaiah 58 verses 5
and 6 beautifully connects this practice of God's
love. and this fellowship with this, with the
practice that you're going to be introduced to.
And this is a bit of a spoiler alert. So this
week's practice in your spiritual practices is
fasting. So, but Isaiah 58 connects our theme
of the day, light and care of neighbor with this
practice really well. So I'm going to read you
a little bit of it. It says, is this not the
kind of fasting that I have chosen to loose the
chains of injustice and untie the cords of the
yoke? to set the oppressed free and to break
every yoke? Is it not to share your food with
the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter? And when you see the naked, to clothe
them and not to turn away from your own flesh
and blood. And then here comes the specific connection
to light that both restores and radiates. So
the scripture says, then your light will break
forth like the dawn and your healing will quickly
appear. and your righteousness will go before
you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear
guard. The organization that I work for, Young
Street Mission, downtown Toronto, we are always
looking for volunteers to share this God's love
light. 130 years of partnership with churches.
That's what YSM does. It offers bread and hope.
It tries to be God's love light for the people
who are impacted by poverty, helping them to
survive and to thrive. And we could use your
love light, but sales pitch aside, there are
many opportunities that I saw in the activities
here, outreach efforts of this church, your own
neighborhood where you live, that could also
use God's love light. This love light that we
share with neighbors, it comes from God. He is
the source of the love light, the ultimate eternal
flame. And radiating this love light that shines
in and through us, is where living in the light
ends. Now, Bruce Coburn sings it this way. This
is an old one, but here's how he puts it in his
song. Oh, love that fires the sun, keep me burning.
Lord of the star fields, sower of life. Heaven
and earth are full of your light. Voice of the
nova, smile of the dew. All of our yearning,
Friends, the experience of living in the light
is meant to travel with us. It reveals who we
are and who God is. It restores us to right relationship
with God and our neighbor so that we can radiate
to others. Amen. Thank you for listening to this
week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon
was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville in
Mississauga, Ontario on March 22, 2026.