Thought for the Day - Sunday 24 May

Thought for the Day – Sunday 24^th May

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,
Oh 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 O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

This was one of the first poems I learnt at my elocution lessons as a child it is by Robert Louis Stevenson and is called ‘The Lamplighter’ and I remember just loving it for its imagery! Robert Louis Stevenston was quite sickly as a child and was often indoors and isolated from others, actually spending most of his days with just his nanny for company in the nursery. The highlight of his day it is said was always when the lamplighter, or ‘Leerie’ to use the Scottish name, came along his street carrying his lantern and his ladder as he went about his task of lighting the gas lamps at dusk. It was even more of a highlight for Robert and he thought himself very lucky because he had a gas lamp right outside his front door and so he always saw the whole process up close. No doubt over time he would have come to recognise the ‘Leerie’ and as is says in the poem he always hoped the ‘Leerie’ would see him in the window watching and would nod to him. If your nanny was the only company you had and you were very frail perhaps just seeing that ‘Leerie’ and being recognised by him and acknowledged by him would have meant a lot to the young Robert Louis Stevenston.

I do like the imagery in this poem and I do feel it is very theological too!

Actually, it is said that the young Robert on one occasion on seeing the ‘Leerie’ coming down the street to light the lamps actually shouted out to his nanny – ‘Look, there’s a man coming down the street punching holes in the darkness!’

Isn’t that what we are called to do as Christians?

Aren’t we called to be like that ‘Leerie’ and ‘punch holes in the darkness’ of God’s world and bring light into God’s world?

Surely, as followers of Jesus, that is our mission! We try to live out a life of love, we try to create a sense of community where all feel welcome; we try to serve those communities we create to the best of our abilities - using the talents God has given to us by grace, and we do all this with the aim of sharing with others the promise of what community will be like in heaven. However, we do this by bringing light and love to the world here and now and we try to effectively show here on earth what the community of heaven will be like.

We are to ‘punch holes in the darkness’ by showing love as Jesus did, by acting with mercy and compassion as Jesus did, by working for justice as Jesus did and by speaking of hope as Jesus did.

And, although we may find that daunting to be so Christ-like and to keep on trying to ‘punch those holes in the darkness’ and bring heaven here on earth, we have the assurance that in all we do to try and make that happen that we are under the care and protection of God.

How can we be so assured?

Well, because as it says here in our passage for today, before Jesus left this earth to return to his Father in heaven he prayed for us in all that he commissioned us to do - he himself put us into the hands of God, into the care and protection of God.

‘After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.’ (John 17: 1-11)

So, let’s not be afraid to go out there and ‘punch holes in the darkness’ and bring lots of light to the world for we know God is with us in all we do as we seek to bring heaven here to earth!

As I said earlier, I love the imagery of ‘The Lamplighter’ poem and one of the reasons I do is because when you think about the light the ‘Leerie’ brought to the world at that time it would not have been a sudden light like the light we experience today when all the street lights go on together at an automated time but rather as the young Robert watched the ‘Leerie’ going along the street the light in his street would have gradually increased as each subsequent lamp was lit.

So it is for us, as individuals we each ‘punch those holes in the darkness’ and each time we do the light will increase and the more holes we punch the closer to bringing heaven to earth here and now we will be.   

Prayer

Loving Lord,

You prayed to your Father that we might be one as you were one with Him. Despite our resistance to being one with all around us bringing your world into unity, despite our wishing sometimes to separate ourselves from you and go our own way seeking independence and control, we ask that you would draw us to you, draw us back once more into a true relationship with you and true community with one another. May we then in common love and obedience to you truly be united as one community, in fellowship with the Spirit, that the world may see in us a glimpse of you and a glimpse of heaven here on earth and believe that you are indeed Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen