Where Jesus is always the Light
I’ve been following the Twitter coverage of the 2009 Leadership Institute, put on by Church of the Resurrection. Tonight, Mike Holly shared a question from Adam Hamilton’s sermon: “in one sentence, what would you most want people from your community to say about your church?”
- St Oswald’s Pastoral Centre, Yorkshire UK
My 4-year-old son Ben was looking over my shoulder as I read this question, and asked me what was going on. So I asked him what people would want to know about his church. He responded, “Where Jesus is always the light!”
Mike and I were suitably impressed: he connected it immediately with the “City on a hill that cannot be hidden.”
And so I began thinking about Ben’s deeply theological description of church…
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus was always visible in our churches?
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus always illuminated our lives and communities?
I’m guest preaching while a friend & colleague’s on vacation, reflecting on I Samuel 3:1-10. I’m struck by the fact that “the Word of the Lord was rare in those days,” and that it took Eli–high priest of Israel!–3 tries to recognize God’s voice. (He was asleep, so I could understand some grogginess…but 3 tries?!) Unfortunately, “The Eli Effect” isn’t confined to the Tent of God in Shiloh; it affects many of our own congregations and services of worship today.
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus was always audible?
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus always evoked a response in our young people?
I doubt that the problem is that God isn’t speaking to us, or isn’t present when we worship, serve, pray, and live out relationships. The problem is how willing or able we are to attend to the still, small voice amidst the noise; how much we obscure or make visible the Light.
I take great hope in the knowledge that we’re talking about how to listen for God…that people of all ages are responding to God’s holy, loving, persistent call…and that Ben is a better theologian at 4 than most of the folks who sit on my bookshelf.
For Samuel, “the lamp of God had not yet gone out…” (3:3); may we listen to God’s call while the lamp is still lit!
Nice…