“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Everywhere I go, I’m going to let it shine. Jesus gave it to me, I’m going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” In 1935, song recorder Horace Clarence Boyer, heard and recorded on paper this simple, yet strong piece of African American music. Many of us grew up learning this song as a children’s hymn, with actions and with extra verses about not letting the light blow out, but this song was not always a children’s hymn. Though the song probably does not go earlier than 1865, when slavery was abolished, and into the fields of labor on southern plantations, it certainly comes from the heart of someone who has found themselves less than free.
It is no surprise that it was one of the primary songs of the civil rights movement, because its simple message conveys a strong reality: “I’ve got a light, you cannot keep me from shining it, nor can you take it away because it was not given by you, but it was given by Jesus. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, and there is nothing that you can do about it! You can keep me from eating at the same counter as you, but you cannot blow out the light of God. You can keep me from using the same bathroom as you, but Jesus’ light will shine in right through the cracks in the stall doors. You can pretend that I am your slave. Perhaps, I am a slave, but I am not a slave to you; I am a slave of the one who set me free, Jesus Christ my Lord!”
It is because of this reason that I find it interesting that we teach this thing to children. Who else in our society feels more like slaves than they do? Wash the dishes, mow the lawn, clean your room. The last thing parents want to hear when giving their childen chores are their vocal chords piping up with an African American freedom spiritual! Or, maybe we do. We are a nation of freedom after-all. Maybe, we secretly want our children to rebel…a little. Maybe, we want them to know in their hearts that they have a light and no one is going to put it out. Maybe there is a little secret sense of pride when they rebel and set out on their own, eating celery but not carrots. We parents cannot let it go too far mind you. But, they are free, and they need to know that no one: not you or me, or their teachers, or their future employers, or the government, or even their own parents are going to put out the light of Christ, because they are free. In the same way that Paul declares to us in Galatians, we want them to know in their hearts that in Christ they have been set free. They are not slaves, nor will they become slaves; in Christ they are free.
Of course, we joked about wanting our children to have only a “little” sense of freedom; but not too much. Paul toys with us in the same way also. Yes, you have been made free by Christ, but do not think that your freedom means you can do whatever you want!
…do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
As many multi-million dollar lottery winners will tell you, freedom from whatever held you in slavery before (employers, bill collectors, overbearing parents, out of control expenses) will not make you free from yourself. As many of these winners will remind you, freedom from every financial burden only allows you the opportunity to over-indulge and ruin yourself.
So, freedom from everything is not the point either. Because, when you are free from everything else, you still are slave to yourself. You still are slave to your passions and vices, and who will free you from that kind of slavery?
This is the wisdom that is found in African American Spirituals like “This Little Light of Mine.” This little light of mine was given to me by Jesus. It is not “my” light after-all. Nor do I sit there and just shine it all over myself. “Everywhere I go, I’m going to let it shine.” Look at my light. I am not slave to you, or to other people’s dictations or expectations of me, or to the law, I am not owned by any of you; I have my own light. But, it was given to me by someone else. I am a slave to the one who gave it to me, Jesus Christ. Not only that, but I choose to be a slave to you, sharing the light, loving you the same way that I love myself. My light allows me the freedom to “love my neighbor as myself.” I am free, I am free, to love you, and not only you but everyone I meet everywhere I go.
We are free to live in the love of Christ and the love of everyone around us. We are free to live in a bath of Jesus’ light as his light shines on us from every direction from every person. We are free to be a slave of love rather than a slave of oppression or self-indulgence. We are free!
And, so we sing spirituals like “This Little Light of Mine,” to remind us that we are free. It may not seem so when we look at our lives, but, that does not make it any less true. We are always free to love one another. “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Everywhere I go, I’m going to let it shine. Jesus gave it to me, I’m going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”
All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment