I’ve been reflecting a little more on the topic of brining our lives out into the open and into the light. Luke 8:16-18 says:
16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”
We want to encourage people that the best place to be is out and in the light where God’s Holy Spirit gets to work in their lives through God’s Word getting in deep (the parable of the Sower) and as part of the body/church family, in God’s kingdom where we one-another each other, challenging, encouraging, holding to account, rebuking, confessing, repenting, forgiving, restoring.
We see in the second half of Luke 8 how Jesus helps draw people and their lives out into the open, out into the light. It would be helpful to look at what Jesus does and see what we can learn for our own church contexts.[1]
- He brings peace and silences commotion
Spot the following examples in Luke 8. Jesus calms a storm on the lake, silencing the commotion of wind, waves and rain. This brings the disciples’ lack of faith out into the open. He calms the storm in a demon possessed man’s life. He stops the press and bustle of a crowd to focus on one woman and he kicks the noisy mourners out of Jairus’s house.
One thing we can do practically in our churches is gave space for quiet, stillness and silence. Often our church services are full of life and noise. That’s brilliant, we love the energy. This is true in charismatic churches like ours, we love loud, joyful worship with singing, dancing, prophecy and clapping. However, even more formal, conservative churches can follow a brisk, business like approach to Sundays with theology packed hymns, lots of commentary on readings and notices That kind of approach may fit certain cultures well. So, I’m not knocking either but we do need to then give intentional space for quiet and stillness.
Sometimes this simply means creating the space in a service. I love the Anglican liturgy which says “Silence is kept”. In the morning prayer liturgy, the service should being with silence and then the call and response follows:
“Oh Lord open our lips”
“And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.”
Another way in which we can create space for quiet and stillness in our gatherings is the use of meditation. Christian meditation is not about emptying your minds, we meditate on God’s Word. A helpful way can be to take a few lines of Scripture and read them slowly, repeating them with a different word emphasised each time followed by space for prayer.
A simple way in which we can help people is to look out for those who are on the fringes and look burdened. Simply going up to someone and saying “Would you like to meet up for a wak or coffee, to talk and pray” may be what is needed.
- He makes sure what needs to be known and only what needs to be known is kn own only by those who need to know
Encouraging people to bring things into the light is not an excuse for nosiness, gossip and rumour. In fact, those very things kill openness. Notice how Jesus removes people from the room where the girl is but keeps her family present. Those were the ones who needed to know. Notice too how he tells them not to tell anyone else. This happens a few times in the Gosples and often our assumption is that Jesus wanted secrecy initially to protect his ministry forom distraction. However, I wonder if he also does this for them. Why would Jesus not want the girls’ parent’s to tell others? What I think it does is make sure that the girl does not become the story. The incredible miracle would have become a millstone and she may have been seen as a kind of freak show, the girl who came back. It might have affected things like the possibility of marriage. So think about how Jesus downplays things with a euphemistic “she’s only sleeping”.
We can be in a rush to put people up front, to tell their stories for them. We see this with celebrity converts who are put on platforms and reported on with some delighting in a good news story and others being quick to attack and question. We can do this too at a local level, being quick to tell a person’s testimony for them or quick to judge.
A helpful thing here is to have good practice in terms of confidentiality. Confidentiality is not about secrecy but it is about making sure the right people know the right things. It also means that we will think carefully not just about what is said publicly but how it is said too. Respect people, allow them to tell their story and only share what needs to be shared with those who need to know.
- He ensures that they are clothed and so gives them dignity
Think of the demoniac who was completely unable to live amongst his community because he was out of control, destructive, driven out by the demons into the places of death. At the end of the story, he is clothed and in his right mind. I wonder two things here. First, by sending the demons into the pigs does Jesus effectively create a diversion so the ire of the town is no longer on the man but on Jesus? Secondly, does Jesus intentionally send the man back rather than letting him come with him so that he can be restored to dignity with his life in the community, out in the light again?
Here are some things to think through. First, we need to be alert to the enemy’s strategies for keeping people away from the healing light of God’s truth. This can be seen in the lies he tells that need replacing with truth through patience teaching and preaching over time but also must include alertness to the destructive power of demonisation.
We should not overlook the overtly practical things. Some people will need literally to be helped with clothing , food or housing. Others will need practical help through medical care and counselling to experience a reclothing of their minds. They’ll need help with drug and alcohol addictions too.
Clothing reminds us that we need our sin and shame covered over. Think about how God clothes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden so that they won’t stay hiding in the bushes. Think too of the language of being clothed in Christ’s righteousness. It is only form the place of forgiveness and justification that we can come out into the open and allow God’s light to work. This means encouraging honesty in church so that we don’t have respectable and unrespectable sins and struggles.
- He invites people into the open, into the light
The woman with the haemorrhage of blood could have slipped away back into the shadows but Jesus invites her forward. We need to think about how we build relationships with people and how we offer that invitation to openness in the light.
One way we do this is by simply offering opportunities to meet up one to one without agenda, no probing questions, just the offer of coffee or a walk and a readiness to listen. Another way is by giving people permission to share by frequently in preaching and communications letting them know that it is okay to let the mask drop, it is okay to come and talk about it. This means signposting people to who they can talk to as well. “You can talk with one of our pastoral or prayer team. They are ….”
In a Charismatic context, we might want to think too about the place of prophetic words and words and words of knowledge. These can really help to unlock what is going on. However, it is important that whether one to one or in a public meeting, we are careful about how we share those words giving space and not pressurising people to respond.
- He gives time
Whether it is the demonic man sent back to his town with space and time to live a new life or it is the young girl given time by the injunction on her parents going out to shout about their story to all and sundry, we see Jesus allowing people time to tell their own stories. We can feel under pressure to drag things out into the open but we do well to remember that Jesus says all will come into the light. This means we need to be patient and allow that to happen in His timing, not ours.
This means that we need to be ready for the long-haul process with people. We cannot demand either that they will share everything at once, nor that we will see all aspects of their lives changed at once.
Conclusion
The best place to be is in the light with whatever has been burdening us. We can help one another with this but ultimately it is God’s work in his time to bring us into that place and shine the light of his word on us.
[1] I’m grateful to our Life Group for help in drawing out these practical lessons.
Faithroots 