Christmas time and candles seem to go together. In these strange days when Ukraine is plunging into the darkness of war, precipitating energy poverty throughout Europe, the light and heat of a candle is a symbol of hope.
But is this warming little light merely: a sentimental idea, an ornamental pleasantry, or a sacramental ritual? It is only God's truthful Word that will change dark hearts.
In the Bible, light is the metaphor for truth. God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all. God's Word brings light to every believer's journey through life, and Jesus Himself is the Light who has come into the world.
In the mid 19thC, these words were penned by Susan Warner:
Jesus bids us shine, with a clear, pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.
The poem/hymn follows Jesus' instruction to shine out an authentically truthful and God-glorifying life; and Paul teaches that as believers hold out the Word of life in a dark world, they are shining like stars in the universe.
That is why BeaconLight is called BeaconLight. As the BeaconLight team write and publish God's truth in printed pages and through the Internet, or lead transformative courses or mentor leaders ... the truth is deposited so that it can be obeyed and shared.
If each of us ... 'you in your small corner and I in mine' ... will dare to light a beacon of hope by proclaiming the truth of Jesus - then the recent statistics showing a significant decline in Christian adherence and a massive increase in people saying they have no religion might be altered. If church leaders cannot proclaim Jesus in the public square, why should anybody else want to follow Him?
Organisations cannot change the world, but people can and do. Movements have no self-generating power, but people can inflame others for good or evil. God uses His one-offs to be change-makers. Likewise BeaconLight has no power to change the world but that is why we place God's truth in the hands of God's people ... each in their small corner ... all over the world.
Prison and military chaplains are the gate keepers of Gospel truth, as are pastors and missionaries, and all of us in our homes and communities, offices, hospitals, farms and churches. However good the material we send out, each recipient, in their small corner, has to choose to put the truth into practice - shine and share it out. That is how the work of God will be done.
The hymn continues:
Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around
Many kinds of darkness in this world abound -
Sin, and want, and sorrow: we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.
Many in the West feel that they cannot do anything to change the global darkness of our day. But that is a demonic lie, possibly nurtured by our fear of rejection.
However, our friends who live under persecution know that only the Light of Christ will drive away the darkness, and so they willingly risk everything because they know that His light is the only hope for their communities. Only a few will be mega communicators - most will simply live for Jesus in their small corner, and have the courage to tell others that He is the only Way.
Whatever our age or stage, please be a BeaconLighter sharing that truth you have received. Show your friend the CrossCheck video, give a copy of Inner Struggles to a needy person, tell a colleague how to get Word@Work, encourage the work in prisons by using the daily prison prayer diary. It may not be much, but every little beam of light will melt some of the darkness.
The hymn concludes:
Jesus bids us shine, as we work for Him,
Bringing those that wander from the paths of sin;
He will ever help us, if we shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.
And Happy Christmas, thank you for being a part of BeaconLight ... you in your small corner and I in mine.