Shine like Stars

It's beginning to seem like a distant memory but a couple of weekends ago we were in Blackpool for the Baptist Assembly. The theme, taken from Philippians 2, but also picked up on from places like Daniel 12, was "Like Stars in the Universe" - the idea that as followers of Jesus our lives should stand out from all that is going on around us. 

The themes of light and dark run throughout the Bible and so there was no shortage of material for speakers to pick from. For now I'll leave you with just two thoughts.

Darkness is the absence of light - you can't turn darkness on or off. So for something to be dark you remove all sources of light. Jesus tells his disciples that we are the light of the world (e.g. Matthew 5:14). Therefore wherever we are, as disciples of Jesus, can't be totally dark - it is less dark because we are there.


A powerful image that one of the speakers mentioned was that of punching holes in the darkness. It is an image that comes from Robert Louis Stevenson, the author perhaps most famous for Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Stevenson had 'a thing' for gas lamps and wrote the following poem, The Lamplighter.

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. 

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! 

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!

It is also told that one evening when a young Stevenson was called for a meal he said he couldn't come because he was 'watching a man punch holes in the darkness'. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but Stevenson certainly described the lamp lighter as one punching holes in the nights is one of his essays written in favour of gas lamps and speaking out against the new electric lights.

Whatever the true source it is a powerful image of the follower of Jesus, as people who punch holes in the darkness and therefore allow the light to shine through.