This Little Light of Mine

Lately I’ve been inspired by these images of nerve cells and how these images parallel our lives in community with one another. The way that this image speaks to me is very difficult to explain with words, but I will do my best. Here is how it works.

1. Each ball of light stands for a Christ follower. The reason that the ball is illuminated is because that person knows Jesus, hence the light.

2. Each person is connected to other people. Each of those spindles stands for a relationship. We have the opportunity to share our light with others, or share our darkness with others, whichever we choose. We usually share out of what we have.

3. Each person’s strongest connection is to Christ. Christ has a connection with everyone, regardless of if they choose to follow him or not. By choosing to be open to that connection, he can make our light shine brighter.

4. We choose what we allow in. Anyone can try to share any numberofthings, but it is our choice whether or not to receive it. Someone can try to share light with you and if you receive it, you may shine brighter. Someone can try to share darkness with you and if you choose to receive it, you may shine more dimly. You get to choose what you let in.

5. God has the trump card. God works all things together for the good of those who love him. Basically, he can overwrite by turning darkness into light whenever and wherever he wants. We do, however, serve a very gracious God who gives us the choice.
If I picture this image in terms of my community, I can say that a number of things are true.

1. I will shine brighter when more people are sharing their

light with me. I will shine more dimly when people who don’t have a light surround me. I need to

remember that when the Lord sends me into dark places that I need to rely on my community for support, and also to remember that I always have access to Christ, through prayer and scriptures, which will always brighten my light.

2. Satan will try to confuse me. I can choose what I want to let in. There are ple

nty of days when I get confused and welcome in the wrong thing and before I know it I’m shinning pretty dimly. I can guard against that by staying connected to Christ and other believers who pour into me.

3. Satan will try to get in the way of our connections with each other. Satan doesn’t like the way that we spur each other on, so he will interrupt through miscommunication, pride, and whatever strategy he can to break the connection we have to each other

and more light.

4. The more believers who are connected, the brighter everyone is shining. When I’m in community with believers who are constantly tapping into their access to Christ (the light of the world) I’m going to benefit because they will be sending more light my way. If I have more light coming in, I have more to share.

5. Everyone’s job is important. Each person’s relationships with Christ and with each other ultimately impact me because they ultimately impact how much light is being shared. Some people may have the role of building up the body. Some people may be on the fringes and connected with a number of non-believers and people with dim lights to share. Regardless, when any one light goes out or dims, the entire picture is impacted. The more all of us are staying connected to Christ, the more the entire community benefits.

Hopefully you are still with me after the extended metaphor. The reason I shared that is because I realized some things after this last weekend of service. It made a huge difference walking into dark places while being surrounded by a community of believers. There is no way that I could walk into the places in which we served entirely on my own for two reasons: 1) I am a product of my community and so much of who I am has been formed by their nurturance and 2) My light alone is not strong enough to pour into vast darkness. I found myself walking out of our service weekend being thankful, yet again, for my fellow believers who continue to inspire me.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time thinking about the idea of community among churches. I’ve recently come across a number of other people who have a similar vision, which is so exciting! My hope is that just as we look at the way each individual contributes toward the whole body, we can also look at how each church contributes toward the whole body. Each church, just like an individual, has a unique set of gifts and fills a unique and important role. Just like an individual, it is important for a church to be connected to the larger body of believers so that others can be praying and supporting each church.

Some friends and I in Philly plan to start a newsletter in order to support this vision. The newsletter would go to members of congregations across Philadelphia. Each newsletter would highlight a church, a God story, a ministry or two, and a section of the city. Hopefully the newsletter would allow people to see what other churches are doing and what other churches are celebrating. Hopefully it would inspire us to all pray for one another, be aware of the ministries that other churches are doing well, and connect believers to churches that would be the best fit for them.

Original ideas like this usually change and adapt, so we will see how it goes. Please pray over this idea that God would continue to be clear about his direction. Pray for the churches that we will be approaching that they would be receptive. Pray that all of this would be used to glorify God.

Love in Dry Places

My biggest and most important prayer over the next few days is that I want to see from God's perspective.

These last few weeks have been difficult and a number of big things have happened. I've been struggling with sickness, I traveled to Los Angeles to visit with a dear friend, the Lenten season started on Wednesday, and 40 people are coming into town to partner together in a weekend full of service projects for the second time since I've moved in. I realized that most of those things don't sound difficult at all, but they have been prominent in that my relationship with God has been brought to the forefront of my mind.

In having the opportunity to look closely at my relationship with God, one very important thing became apparent: My perspective is perverted. I don't come close to seeing myself the way that God sees me. I also don't see my friends and family the way that God sees them, or my community the way that God sees it, or my priorities, and the list could go on and on. Every distortion impacts other distortions until we are caught up in one big frightening and confused mess. One thing is clear to me; God's perspective is always clear, always true, and always good. Man do I want his vision!

Three things stood out to me recently that speak directly to the dichotomy between the Lord's perspective and my own.

1. I've been very sick recently. In renegotiating what it means to engage life as a chronically sick person I've become extraordinarily discouraged. The only way to fight the discouragement is to remind myself that my value comes from God alone. My life may never follow the timeline of my peers. My life may never get on track with the trajectory of good job, family, house, comfy retirement, grandkids, but even in the days when I am curled on my couch unable to meet my obligations I have just as much value as I do when I am meeting goals and achieving success. I have incredible value in the eyes of the Lord even when I am worthless in the eyes of the world.

Another reminder that drove this home is that this weekend I am serving in Philadelphia with a number of dear friends as well as people I have never met. The idea of serving in Philly has caught on and spread and nearly 40 people will be out serving for two days. This entire trip was planned in 2 months and for most of that time I was either sick or swamped with schoolwork. I had a wonderful partner helping with the planning, but even with her help it is so easy to see that God handed this trip to us. The planning was so easy, the logistics fell easily into place and all of that was possible even though I spent most of that time negotiating illness.

2. While I was in L.A. I had the opportunity to spend a lazy morning on the beach. Nothing moves me to praise God more than his creation. What stuck out to me that was incredible that I was moving more in line with God's will on that beach than I ever would have been in the Penn library. I was more in line with God's will when I was stopping to rest and praise God than I ever would have been if I had been striving toward any goal of worldly success. I know that my God values hard work and discipline, but it pales in comparison to what we were made for which is to worship and glorify God.

3. On the plane ride from L.A. to Denver, the scenery was remarkable. The view goes from clear Blue Ocean, to lush, green, sunny valley, to snow-capped mountains, to dry and empty desert. What was clear to me on that plane was that the Lord values the desert just as much as the green and sunny valley. In fact, he values desert so much that he sent his chosen people to wander in a desert for 40 years. While I might chalk that up as a waste of time, that is not the Lord's perspective. He sees value and beauty in what seems to me like a dry, empty, valueless space.

As I go into this weekend with others who are serving alongside me, my prayer is for God's perspective toward myself, others, my community, and my life. I pray that each of us would strive to assume that perspective this weekend. It is also my prayer that as we walk into neighborhoods and homes that we would be aware of the deserts of Philadelphia, but see those deserts with the eyes of the Lord.