Let your light shine
It is said that in 1926, Lee DeForest , said “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility”. It is also reported that Decca music said of a group of lads from Liverpool, “We don’t like their sound and guitar music is on the way out.” Clearly they got both those wrong.
The problem with this weeks lectionary reading from Daniel, Hebrews and Mark is the minute people hear them, they start talking about end-times. Fair enough, it is important to think about what will happen to us all in our end times, we need to be ready for that. But what also often happens is a prediction of when the end times will be, or trying to read the ‘signs of the times’, and that, I think, is not helpful.
For if the truth be told, none of us know when our time might come. So what is important is to make sure we are always ready to meet with God.
How do we prepare for that?
Hebrews tells us that we can come near to God with a sincere heart and sure faith. By ourselves we can do nothing to make ourselves fit to come into God’s presence – but Jesus does. He made the sacrifice. He purifies from sin. He opens a way for even us, guilty as we are, to be able to get to God – a living way, not a condemning way. A way that means we have a life and a purpose. We can hold to that – because God keeps his promises.
Renewed in God’s living way, we are called to help one another. To show love, to do good, to encourage one another.
In that way then, we might be able to go some way towards meeting the criteria that Daniel sets out.
For Daniel, the bright shining stars are not those who win a tv competition, not those who have made lots of films, or even those who have made lots of money. No – those who will shine with brightness are the wise leaders, and those who have taught many people to do what is right will shine like the stars forever – they are the eternal kingdom values. Wisdom, integrity, kindness, justice, love and right living are what God worries about.
So lets not waste our time worrying about and trying to predict the when, but get on with living in the way that God calls us to, and by the power of Jesus empowers us to. That when the day comes, all might have seen God’s light.
Pam's Perambulation 