What is Your Candle?

People complain about the length of time that the Church of England takes to appoint a new vicar, but perhaps the delay is for the best in some ways.  No one likes change and, if there's a year between the departure of one priest and the installation of the next, it gives the people a chance to forget about the good points of - and maybe remember some of the bad bits about - the parson who has just left.  What's important is not the personality or habits of the incumbent (although it does help if they're easy to get on with), but their credentials and their spirituality.  We've just had a new vicar after just over a year without and she has been welcomed from day one! 

Two complementary factors last weekend highlighted this fundamental point for me.  On Saturday, our vicar was one of five from our church who, among hundreds of other entrants, took part in Muddy Mayhem, a 5 km obstacle race (with mud) in aid of the local hospice.  I noticed from one of the pictures I took that she was wearing her 'dog-collar'.  The next morning, over her normal robes, she was parading her finisher's medal from the event and used it to thank people for their support and promote the good work that the hospice does.  If you've dedicated your life - or just some part of it - to a cause or set of beliefs and have been given a badge as a sign of this, then you should be willing to wear it and make that allegiance known, rather than be ashamed of the fact.  

I recently read about the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings chapters 18 & 19.  Elijah had taken a terrific stand for God against the evil king Ahab and his even more evil wife Jezebel.  As a result Jezebel had made a sinister and very specific threat against his life.  Not surprisingly, we might think, Elijah fled.  He didn't just hide behind the hill in the next valley, either; sustained only by angels, he went 200 miles away to Mount Horeb, where Moses had been given the Ten Commandments centuries before.

There God said to him - twice - "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  He re-commissioned him, gave him instructions and identified others who would help him finish the job of defeating Ahab once and for all.  The implication was that, although exhausted, afraid and depressed, instead of running and hiding far away Elijah should have remained visible, stood his ground in the Lord's strength and completed the task he had been given.  

The Gospel tells us (Luke 11:29-36) how Jesus compared the teaching He was giving to His disciples to the mission of Jonah, who had been sent as a sign to Nineveh.  "No one lights a lamp," He said, "and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl.  Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." (v.33).  

If you have a badge or sign of belonging to an organisation of which you're not ashamed (and if you are ashamed of it, why do you still have its badge anyway?), you should be willing to wear it, making it visible to all who know you, and offering others the chance to comment on it or ask you about it.  

What's the candle you've been given?  Does it shine out?