You in your small corner

Thanks to Margaret Killingray (LICC) for this:

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. The wealth of nations shall come to you. Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you. Isaiah 60:1-10 (extracts)

When my neighbour's third child was born, the three year old, watching his new sister in the bath, asked in a puzzled voice, 'But, what's Maisie for?' We all laughed, but it is, actually, a serious philosophical question. What are we for? Purpose gives shape to life; purpose drives us and gives us fulfilment. Even limited purposes can divert us from everyday anxieties - organizing a holiday, packing and planning, for example. Serious loss of purpose can often lead to listlessness and depression, whether it's job loss, children leaving home, or even the end of a purpose that has been a hard grind, the award of a degree, or the achievement of a planned expansion of operations. What are we for?

Isaiah's wake-up call challenges Israel to be what they were meant to be. And this challenge, this call to take up God's purpose is a big biblical theme, often using this metaphor of light, shining in the darkness, bringing the dawn. 'You are the light of the world, the city built on a hill that cannot be hidden, a light shining before others', Jesus told his disciples. We have this purpose, those who belong to the Lord, as individuals, in our families and friendship groups, in our neighbourhoods and at work, but above all, in our fellowships. Peter in his first letter applied all the great Old Testament titles of promise and purpose - a priestly kingdom, a holy nation - to the new Christian fellowships. What Israel was called to be then, we together - the body of Christ - are called to be now.

So even when our limited purposes fail us, the children leave, retirement has come, achievement is not what we thought it would be, then more than ever, our greater purpose, to shine for our Lord in every circumstance, should bear us up and carry us through.

How many of you remember singing, 'Jesus bids us shine with a pure, clear light, like a little candle burning in the night. In this world of darkness, so let us shine, you in your small corner and I in mine'? That's what Maisie's for!