‘The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world’ (John 1:9)
Sometimes you only see the significance of an event years later.
It was the turn of the Millennium and I was heading into church for the last service of 1999, when I saw a picture frame leaning against the door of the church. Inside was a ten pound note, and a hand written message. It read:
Dear Vic,
I am returning this picture frame, which housed the forthcoming sermons for the church.
I borrowed it in 1973 when I was a juvenile, and it has housed a picture of Noddy Holder ever since.
As the Millennium approaches I feel it is time to return it to it’s rightful place in Life, St Andrew’s.
Yours, Borrower.
True Light’s Essential Values
It was only this last month that I realised the significance of that event. According to the author Tom Holland in his book Dominion, and reinforced by an article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali describing her recent conversion from atheism, our Western society and its essential values spring from Christianity. These values form the ‘frame’ of our lives and we espouse them regularly when we talk of Freedom, Kindness, Progress and Equality – a point Glen Scrivener also makes in The Air We Breathe.
As the church picture frame housed the sermon series from the bible, so our societal frame is built around the story of Jesus. The Christian worldview is so different to any other that it shocked the Roman world in the 1st century. It protected the weak, cared for the sick, had sacrifice at its heart and refused to abuse power. It truly was God’s gift to the world.
However, when the story of Jesus is removed, and Noddy Holder, or indeed any type of idol is put in His place, the values may remain but the reason for them has gone. The moral energy that gave them life is missing.
A Frame Without a Picture
This makes our Western value system, the one we take for granted as being universal, vulnerable to other less benign philosophies – such as aggressive nationalism or violent religious zeal. Without the knowledge of Christ, our sense of what is right, just and worth treasuring begins to fade, and we are unable to resist the conviction of those embracing other ways of understanding the world. When we do speak of values, it turns into a moralism without the seasoning of the grace of God. A frame without a picture.
Jesus spoke into this moralism with His ending to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. We end up building a house without foundations when we do not treasure the very words of Christ.
Confidence in the Light
The need for Christ to return to the heart of society has never been greater. He lights up the frame, makes sense of our values, and reforms and empowers us by His wisdom and beauty. The call to the Church is to recover her confidence in Christ. He is the gift we are called to offer to all the societies of the world. The true light that gives light to everyone has come: the beating heart of Christ alone belongs at the very centre of our lives and cultures.
Steve was born of Welsh parents, and was in HR before being ordained into the Church of England. He has led churches in Norwich, Vancouver BC, Bebington Wirral and Holy Trinity Platt in Manchester. Recently retired, he now focuses on speaking and continuing to write music. He has been involved musically with Spring Harvest and the Keswick convention, and now sits on the Evangelical Alliance board.
He is married to Rachel and has three adult children. Finally he still retains a deep [and somewhat hopeful] passion for Welsh rugby.
Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash