In May this year we spent a week on the lovely island of Skye. We stayed in a cottage at the south end of Loch Sligachan. Across the water lies Sconcer from where, about every hour, the ferry begins its short journey up the Sound of Raasay, to the island that bears that name. During the day, with its backdrop of rugged mountain views, it was a good place to relax and reflect. A short way out from the beach, a shelf of rocks formed a natural platform, making a perfect basking place for the resident seal family. Imagine that, a house with its own seals.
At night in the dark, when the mountains disappear, and it's difficult to make out where the land ends and the sea begins, out there, somewhere in the blackness, a pinpoint of light begins to flash. Rocks are good for seals enjoying the sun, but not at all good for fishing boats. Just how many men, women and children across the world owe their lives to the lighthouse? How many ships, how many souls have been saved? At sea in full darkness where there are no land marks to show the way, how comforting those pinpoints of light must be.
It's so easy to use the humble lighthouse, when we attempt to describe our Lord Jesus, Jesus himself used the idea of light. In St John’s gospel we find the great ‘I am’ sayings. In one of these Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ Jesus, a beacon sent by God to show the way, a light to guide us through our darkness. Darkness, that we will all experience at some time in our lives.
We find the parable of the light under a bushel (basket) in Matthew 5 : 15, Mark 4 : 21, and twice in St. Luke’s gospel, chapters 8 : 16 and 11 : 33. On the face of it, it seems so obvious, who would put a light under a basket, it would be just plain silly, a waste of time and energy. Or is it? Dare I say at some point all of us can be guilty of such foolishness.
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) is my favourite of the Christian mystics, she wrote this poem. I find it so challenging.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks out his compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Each Sunday in church we stand to say our creed, the creed is a summary of what each of us believes. We say, We believe in God the Father, also in his Son Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, the communion of Saints and the resurrection to eternal life with God. And we believe what we say. The sad thing is that so many people today live their lives, never hearing the wonders of what we profess each week.
Are we not guilty then of hiding our light under a bushel? We are not likely to be stoned to death in Haxby or Wigginton, yet there is still a fear, a reluctance to share the light that we carry in our hearts. Some of us are better at sharing than others (I don’t include myself in that group).
Perhaps a mid-year resolution would be appropriate. Perhaps we could make up our minds not to shy from sharing our faith, or better still to go out of our way to show our light.
I believe that St. Teresa had it spot on, and we say these words each week
We are the body of Christ.
our prayer could be, with Christ’s help may we be the light of Christ also.
Tony Mills