Shine like stars

Although most of my work involves children & toddler groups, schools work, meetings and the like, sometimes I have the opportunity doing services.

It doesn't always feel like an opportunity. All jobs in the church are important, but this one frequently puts fear inside me. Share something about God in a moment when all are listening, all are watching and some may not like what they hear or even notice the challenge. It doesn't help that at the end of the talk one Sunday I ended up falling off the pulpit when my mike was still up.

So, what is God challenging the people of my church at the moment?

At the moment myself and the minister are covering different things from the book of Matthew, stories, talks, Jesus' parables and more.

From this I decided to go for the passage on light (Matthew 5:14-16) and I tried to find out as much as I could.

In doing so I found the book by Brother Andrew called Light Force. It is a fascinating book that talks of his work in Lebanon during the war and then his work with those in Israel and Palestine. It talks of his work with Open Doors, an important organisation. He is a man who I had heard of and even seen at a Soul Survivor event but had never really read about.

But what a man. An inspiration to all - in his work, his faith, his hope. A man who sees that a calling doesn't stop with age, the calling is repeated in different forms, in different places again and again. A man who works with Christians, who visits Muslims, who takes bibles to terrorists.

I hope the service will encourage all to not hide their light, to be inspired by the light of others, to shine like stars in the universe. Even if I am the only one encouraged then it's great.

However dull our lights may sometimes seem we can remember that all over the world there are individual lights shining and hopefully the earth is glowing with the love and hope of Jesus.

If you haven't read the book then try and find the time. It may inspire you and help your light to glow a little brighter.