Living in the Light | This is the Way | Trinity Sermons

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

1 John 1:5–10

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

Isaiah 58:5

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.