They Know What We've Neglected.

by Ajay Pollarine
(Butler, PA, United States of America)

Text: Matt 5:14-16

Angel (Written By Joss Whedon) Season 3, Episode 20
Angel (A vampire with a soul) and his friends are attacked by things that are a product of his attempts to use dark forces to rescue his kidnapped and lost son Connor, at the end of the episode, in the midst of impending doom Cordelia, a mortal who is given visions by "The Powers That Be" suddenly glows with a brilliant and powerful cleansing light to banish the monsters and save her friends lives.

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"Turn On the Light" Song by Bad Religion from the album Against the Grain.

I had a friend who kept a candle in his pocket,
he used to touch it when the wind was blowing high,
I guess it made him feel like he could
buck the system and when it flickered out we laid him down to die,
turn on the light, turn on a million blinding brilliant white
incendiary lights, a beacon in the night, I'll burn relentlessly until
my juice runs dry, I'll construct a rock of tempered beams and
trusses and equip it with a million tiny suns, I'll install upon the
roof on my compartment and place tinfoil on my floor and on my walls
then I'll turn on the light... and I'll burn like a roman *******
candle, like a chasm in the night, for a minuscule duration, ecstatic
immolation, incorrigible delight

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Both of these sources are from the LOST, from men and women who are apart of the world, they are without Christ and they are filled only with their own works and own hearts. They are part of the people we as Christians are supposed to reach out to.

And both of these examples show us something that we as a people, as those "in the Know" (the way I like to put it) have ignored.

They know they are in the dark, they may only be doing it subconsciously but they are fully aware of the danger of being in the darkness of the world.

They are lost and in the valley, wishing for light to shine in a way that shows them the way, saves them from the dangers that lurk in that darkness.

The Lost have it right, they have a need for the light, and in their attempts to show that, however misguided, they create songs, shows, movies, books, and many other things which subconsciously reveal their desperate need for the Light.

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says "14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

How sad is it that the Lost are able to recognize their need for Light to save them, but we as a people who are filled with that light seem to have ignored it.

We've allowed ourselves to reverse the roles of the Christian and the Lost, they see their need for it, and we hole up in churches giving all thanks and glory to God in our buildings.

Now please, don't get me wrong, and make no mistake, it is good to give thanks and praise to God.

But I urge, I strongly plead that we all take a good look at the Lost's world and watch, we've been so busy doing all the praising and thanking God for saving US that it feels as if, when we watch or hear these types of things, that we've neglected to be what our Savior told us we were.

So where do we go from here? What are we as the Light of the World supposed to do?

We need to get out there, we need to show the lost that the Light they are searching for, the city they want to be citizens of, is amongst us, amongst Christ.

It is time for us, as a people, to get off of our laurels and go out, blazing brightly like these examples, burning like roman candles signaling to the people of the world that we know they are in darkness, and we can show them the light that is shining inside of us, light that can save the day like in that show, light that can buck the system of the Law that holds them in damnation.

Project 86, a Christian Band that I often listen to, said it best in a song they put out on their album Rival Factions:
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Night falls
Like a vulture
On it's prey
Wicked culture
Black Pitch
And getting darker
It's time to spark ourselves in this hour

When they hide
In the shadows of night
Light em up
Light em up
In the dark
Let's ignite
We're the ones
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The Chorus is the most appropriate battle cry I can think of to us all as citizens of the city on the hill.

"Light em up, Light em up, in the dark let's ignite WE'RE THE ONES!

Because that is exactly what we need to do, we need to ignite the light we have, stop hiding it in the shadows of cathedrals and hymns and begin to be the beacon the world desperately needs.