I love lighthouses. Over the years I have collected a number of different lighthouse items. More than the lighthouse themselves, I appreciate what they represent. Hope. Hope to the sailor lost at sea. Hope to the lost struggling to find a safe harbor. Hope for the aimless looking for direction.

Hope. Perhaps more than anything, the world we live in needs to know that there is hope. People around us are struggling in seemingly hopeless circumstances. Families are shattered by divorce. Companies are shutting down, leaving people without income. Children are looking for direction and boundaries and finding none. Communities are searching for answers while at the same time turning from God. If only there were some beacon that could guide people to a place of hope.

To the church that has been strategically placed in a community of people seeking light the ancient words of Jesus echo in Scripture:

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ “Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. [Matthew 5:14-16 (NASB77)]

It’s us! Me and you! We are the bearers of the light that the world is longing for. In a world of people struggling in darkness, are we going to place a shade over the light we carry and conceal it, or go to a world in need and reveal it. Jesus told His followers that they were the lifht of the world, and he asked them to let that light shine, but He doesn’t force us. We must see the need and respond. We must decide to be the lighthouse in our community. We must shine the light of hope in Wallingford and allow that beam to spread through the region and the world.

“Trim your feeble lamp my brother

some poor seaman tempest tossed

trying now to make the harbor

in the darkness may be lost.”

-From “Let the Lower Lights be Burning” by Philip P. Bliss

My prayer is that our church will be the lighthouse the community needs to lead them into the grace, mercy, and love of God found in Jesus Christ.

Go Light Your World, Church! 

Pastor Dave