Festival of Light

Today - 31st October 2024 - is a festival of light! British and Americans would typically recognise the date as Halloween, but in India and the Hindu population this year it also happens to be Diwali - a festival of lights.

Like all things in life, we can choose what we celebrate, what we pass on, what we amplify. We can choose to pass on that which is wholesome and uplifting, or that which tears down, is dark, or troublesome. For example one of the global crises that we have today concerns  social media posts - some of which are dark or just plain false yet nevertheless get shared, re-shared and amplified ... because people choose to celebrate, pass on, and thus amplify them.

Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable ... think on such things".

The Diwali festival celebrates a sense of victory of light over darkness. For the Hindu community it is an opportunity for great celebration - sweet food, lights, fireworks and partying in general. People wish each other a happy Diwali along with prosperity into the future much like western New Year greetings.

The celebration of light and overcoming of darkness of course resonates in the Christian faith: Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12), and the light has come into the world and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:4). That is worth celebrating! For those taking part in Halloween activities, we want to lovingly point them to the light. For those enjoying their Diwali celebrations, we celebrate Light too - His Name is Jesus!

From Mentor to Soul Friend

I felt particularly blessed recently! I had the opportunity to catch up with someone who I had seen grow from childhood through youth to now being a young adult. We covered typical ground of hearing how their studies are progressing, involvement at a local church, outreach initiatives on campus etc., all of which made for a mutually encouraging conversation.

Into the conversation I asked the question: 'So what do you feel God has been on your case about recently?'. That got them thinking, but without too much of a pause they were able to discuss a passage of Scripture that had grabbed their attention and had led to some internal wrestling. Their ability to engage in the question was a positive fruit of the mentoring relationship that we had over the years. I offer the question as a 'Soul Friend' question - one that we can use one-to-one or in a triplet to touch base on where we are at in our discipleship. The mentoring relationship wasn't simply to produce a nice person, but to contribute to someone's discipleship journey such that they continue in active following of Jesus in their own right into their future.

Then came a wonderful surprise switch-around! The person then asked me: 'So what do you feel God has been on our case about recently?'. In asking me the very same question, it was my turn to be honest about my discipleship, whether I was being attentive to the voice of the Spirit, trying to wrestle, learn and develop. I talked about a scripture passage that had caused me to think again on a key faith concept, and we discussed that briefly.

I was mega-chuffed, because in asking the question back to me we now had equality and reciprocal exchange! The relationship had matured from the senior/junior mentoring dynamic to two people being Soul Friends able to prompt one another to think about their faith and walk with Jesus as equals. This is surely the outcome we desire of faith-mentoring relationships, providing the safe yet stimulating environment where a person rises to be our equal and journeys beyond the orbit of ourselves into the calling that God has for them.

To be able to see the fruit of that process is a wonderful blessing.

Quiet Confidence in Sovereignty

If we are wrestling in the spiritual realms, praying for significant shifts in how things are, do you feel the need to make lots of noise or pray lots of words? When you hear others doing this, do you ever wonder if there is some kind of meter measuring the volume or quantity of prayer - as if hitting some special total will be what it takes to unlock victory. Or do you think it requires some kind of show of strength, as if you and your peers can fix things if you get your efforts strong and directed enough?

Joshua was shown a different way when it came to overcoming Jericho - a fortress city with reinforced walls. God's instructions to Joshua are instructive: for six days have the army simply march around the city. Do it with the ark in the procession, with seven priests carrying trumpets. The trumpets sound, but compared to typical war-cries of an army it is to be a relatively quiet six days

On the seventh day they are to repeat, though this time make seven circuits. Only after this 7th iteration on the seventh day is everyone to shout. The walls will collapse - then you go in!

It seems to me that Joshua was being taught to be quietly confident in God's sovereignty. They were to loop round for 6 days with ark plus some announcing priests to proclaim relatively quietly and yet actively: 'we are here - God is sovereign'. All they had to do was be confident in God - it didn't require big noise or extraordinary fanfare to prove it, for God is sovereign regardless. The circuits on the seventh day repeated this, still with a relatively quiet yet clear confidence. Then they could go into full volume mode, but the walls will simply crumble before their eyes anyway - for God is sovereign and He has determined for them to come down.

As we prayer walk our neighbourhoods, or pray in other ways wrestling in the spiritual realms for the shift that is needed, let is learn a quiet confidence. May we know that the outcome is not factored on the noise we can make, or the quantity of our prayers, but that it all rests on His sovereignty. We can walk round, relatively quietly yet actively knowing His sovereignty, and look for that sovereignty to be brought to bear on the area/situation in our prayer focus.

We don't have to make a great noise until the moment that God finally tells us too - and by then the walls of opposition are crumbling away anyway.

Death has not held her

Recently I have been blessed to get to know a remarkable lady. This week she will celebrate her 90th birthday, and though using a 'walker' still gets out and about from her own home.

Yet what makes her more remarkable is her story. For some time ago (I think nearly 30 years back ... when she was a mere 60 years old), she became seriously unwell and in hospital. Other patients on the ward have told her that one day the monitors ceased to give any reading. Her memory is of being in a tunnel with a bright light at the end, with voices calling her forward - but also the voice of a relative calling her back. Medically she was revived, but deep down she knew that she had 'more to do' back here in this life.

Extraordinarily she recalls how her father had a similar experience. He had told her of how he apparently died, had a vision, and a sense of being called back. Such things seem to run in her family!

Her story, however, traces back even further to baby-hood tragedy. Her mother's first pregnancy resulted in the still-birth of a brother. She was conceived and born, but within six months her mother became seriously ill and passed away, leaving a distraught father with a baby girl. The grandfather took them in, but sadly she was unwell too - at just 6 months old. The doctors told the grandfather that they did not expect her to live: tragedy was about to compound. Yet relatives have since told her that the grandfather did not accept the doctor's prognosis, and proclaimed: "She will live!". Of course she survived, and is now hitting the age of 90!

This lady has some kind of clear faith: believing in God and she prays every night, thankful for her life. Yet Christologically it is not orthodox - her recounting of both her and her father's death-bed visions do not assert Jesus as Lord. Interestingly both her grandfather and her father originally claimed to be atheists, but the grandfather changed his tune after the survival of his baby granddaughter, and apparently the father was seen by other relatives to be praying.

Whatever the exact theological standpoint declared through her telling of her story, it is clear that death has crouched near on more than one occasion but has not held her! It also seems to me that the Spirit of God has been curiously at work in this family through multiple generations, albeit without explicit profession of Christ from them (so far, at least!).

It is my privilege to get to know this lady, and freely talk about the resurrected Jesus with her. I can talk with her about faith in Christ, and I have much to learn from her incredible still-unfolding story.