The Pastor's Pen
This Little Light Of Mine Can Really Burn!
As the doorbell rang and rang on All Hallows Eve,
with all kinds of children and adults in costume, some
chanting the typical, “Trick or Treat,” and others just
holding out their bag, in silence, paying homage to
the gluttony of sugar, a spooky little heirloom of
cauldron tea lights hanging from a miniature old dead
tree, burned on our pony wall just inside the front
door. The candelabra is cute and eerie (my son and
I found it at Pottery Barn, how scary can that be)
and family after family, would peer into our doorway,
and see the light flickering and the shadows it cast
on the wall.
Our daughter was welcoming her friends for a party,
and I was putting the dishes away, our boys were
putting last touches onto their costumes, when I
heard my wife holler for me, with a tone that
sounded like she had seen a ghost, or at least a
bug. I finished drying my hands, when her voice,
now filled with anxiety, began to scream for me, and
as I came around the corner in haste, I saw her
trying to blow out one of the cauldrons, which had
somehow turned into a flaming vat of fire, and as she
blew on it, it erupted like a volcano. She said, “It’s
on fire, and I can’t blow it out.” So, I came to her
aid and I also blew on the candle thinking that more
wind from my larger frame would put it out, to which
our cute and spooky tea light responded with
ferocity and it was now starting to really scare all of
us.
Sitting in the emergency room’s triage station, with
my left hand in a bowl of water, the nurse asked me
to rate the pain from one to ten, I registered a nine.
She was thoughtful and compassionate listening to
me tell me what happened. I told her that after I
opened the front door and asked those children who
were watching this interesting pyrotechnics show at
our home to stand near the street, I carried the
flaming tea light to the grass, where I could douse it
with water, and be done with it; but as I placed the
candle carefully on the lawn, the flaming votive spit
wax on me. Bandaged and frustrated that I had
missed our kid’s first trick or treating in 18 years, I
thought about candles and lights and how volatile
wax and oils can be.
Jesus says in Matthew 5, You’re here to be light,
bringing out the God-colors in the world, God is not a
secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as
public as a city on a hill. If I make you light bearers,
you don’t think I ‘m going to hide you under a
bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.
Now that I’ve put you there on a hill top, on a light
stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with
your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt
people to open up with God, this generous Father in
heaven. How flammable are we with God’s flame?
Are we too often trying to find a bushel or a bucket
of water that will be kept by the front door of our
faith, just in case the fire gets out of control? Let’s
not be a people who are too cautious with these
little lights of ours. We should be standing with our
faith lights at the front doors to our homes, lighting
up the dark, and allowing for people to see God’s
colors in their life. Our faith, especially in our homes,
should burn bright with God’s love, and when our
door bells ring, and we are greeted with all of the
characters this world brings to us, with all of their
bags looking for something wonderful, we should be
willing to share with them the sweet news of Jesus,
and with grace give away the truth of God who takes
away their fears and offers them mercy, love and
joy. When guests visit us on Sunday, they should
feel the warmth of Love’s salvation radiating from our
faces and souls, as our faith burns deep within us,
and we ignite a passion to be followers of Christ.
May God’s light shine, burn and erupt and having to
be carried outside!
In Christ's Grace,
Pastor
Tom
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