There were just half a dozen of them. Two married couples – Gary and Ruth along with John and Rachel and a young man called David and an elderly woman called Geraldine.
They had professed to follow Jesus and were at various stages of their walk with Him. They had a love for Him and had varying experiences in church. Rachel was the relational connection between most of them. She looked to Geraldine as her spiritual mother. Her enthusiasm for Jesus got her sharing with David and he came to develop his own relationship with God thanks to her influence. Ruth and Rachel knew each other for years from their time together at university. It was at Ruth’s marriage that Rachel first met Gary and also came across John who was assisting in the ceremony discreetly. Rachel was used to spotting those who didn’t draw attention to themselves but made the difference. She struck up a conversation with John that led eventually to them becoming husband and wife.
Now with Rachel and John enjoying the blessing of twins and Gary and Ruth seeing three of their four children enter into their teenage years, the two couples became more involved in each other’s circles when Rachel and John moved in the area. From initial conversations on the phone, there came dinner dates at a recommended Italian restaurant and then another commended Chinese restaurant and then they enjoyed times at each others’ homes. The dynamic between the four of them over time became very strong. They recognised each other for the gifts, skills and personalities they contributed to the relationship. Their conversations would often revolve around issues of faith, family, mission and the purpose of the church. Gary had a passion for teaching and loved John’s heart for serving. Rachel loved sharing the gospel whenever she could and found a good support in Ruth who was talented in administration.
Rachel’s connection with Geraldine was vital as the elder lady would often encourage the younger woman to devote herself to time of prayer and fasting to seek God’s guidance. Geraldine’s unassuming nature often saw her overlooked at the church, but in Rachel she felt valued. Eventually Ruth joined the two to spend time in prayer together and it struck them that they should involve the men. John was eager to grow in his prayer life and Gary saw how he could be of help in giving scriptural insight and basis for the prayer as well as submitting himself to learn from the others especially as they discerned what he often didn’t pick up.
When David came on the scene, Gary and John were eager to support him as well Rachel in the initial steps of learning about Jesus. David found someone he could connect to for different reasons in the two men. When they let him know of the prayer group, he gradually became involved especially after the first couple of setbacks in his walk.
Here were the six of them, bound together by relationship, their love of Jesus and their commitment to prayer. That commitment to praying together developed the relationships and also gave them a heart for their local community. John in particular would look for opportunities to see how they could be a blessing to their neighbourhood. Whether it was in summer barbecues or in occasional dinners for families in the area. He would recommend Gary for one-to-one tutoring to support young people struggling in education. Gary would apply himself wholeheartedly to whoever the learner was and the tutoring would be a prayer point for the group. So over time the good word spread and more work came his way. Meanwhile the efforts in the community whether with the children, the meals or efforts to help people with things like tidying up the back yards made an impression on others and gave opportunities for the good news to be shared.
As the six of them grew together and influenced the observing children, so their hunger for Jesus also grew. It was this juncture that something extraordinary took place in their prayer gatherings. Gary had been focusing on what it was to be the light of the world. How that was because Jesus was the light of the world. How that was something that they were and didn’t have to ‘try’ to be. How that was something that came about because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. how that had an impact on the world in darkness around them. How that was something that wasn’t to be shrouded under the bushel of routine and staying in a holy huddle. How that was to affect attitudes, aims and aspirations. He had spent weeks sharing and facilitating conversation on it and it challenged the group and led them to pray all the more earnestly.
In this particular gathering, though, as the prayers pressed on five of them noticed something strange going on in Gary’s hands. The palms of them were glowing with no reason or source to suggest it came from anything in the natural. He was totally oblivious to it, until he noticed that he couldn’t hear the others praying and opened his eyes to see what they saw. At first he was perplexed, but it was the sound word of wisdom from Geraldine that directed him to understand that being the light of the world was as much what he applied his hands to do as it was what he shared and taught. With that Gary turned to David who had been complaining about splitting headaches for quite some time. Gary placed his hands on David’s head and asked God to heal him. Although nothing happened at that time, David returned the following week saying that he experienced a clarity of mind he had never experienced in his life. The six of them gave God glory for what God had done in their midst and were not content to just believe it was a one-off expereince. Neither did they believe it was just about the phenomena of the light hands.
It was a signal for the six of them to believe and take God at His word in terms of what it was to be the light of the world. How each of them and their gifts, skills, expereinces, passions and insights could build each other on how they could be the Light Movement. Serving, sharing the gospel, making disciples who grounded themselves in prayer, the word and fellowship. The six of them devoted themselves further to prayer and had more testimonies of God’s work among them and beyond them.
The zeal with which Rachel was keen to share the gospel went up another level and her enthusiasm inspired the others to likewise share. That resulted in others coming to ask more questions about this Jesus they shared. The passion with which Geraldine dedicated herself to prayer went up another level and that motivated the others to likewise be so much more concerned about their ongoing prayer life and ongoing communication with the Father leading them to pray believing.
John’s commitment to serving went up another level as he connected with others to see how he could help those on the margins of society. That motivated the group to support him however they could and also give more to ministries that reached out to the poor, the lonely, the ostracised. Gary’s approach to teaching the word and seeing it applied went up another level as he invested particularly in David to be equipped in the word and confident in his dependence on Christ. It gave Gary a desire to see what gospel connections he could make in his one-to-one tutoring and that gave a platform for the others to share the love and light of Jesus through their own gifts and abilities.
Ruth saw how this was developing and the wisdom of God helped her to shape and craft systems and functions in which these could all flow and function smoothly. She would help with developing online portals for the helps being offered. She distributed the giving to the agreed outlets. She managed the finances in a way that ensured that people who needed to be blessed would be abundantly. With greater compassion developed because of the teaching and the areas of need made plain by Gary and John, she made the most of every opportunity to support wherever she could and it was her ideas that got Gary to start writing books and developing an audio library of his teachings.
The greatest beneficiary of all this, however, was David. He was never made to feel small because the others were more advanced in their relationship with Jesus. Indeed, he was made to feel like his contributions mattered. As they invested in him in various ways, he grew and learnt and endeavoured to pour it out to the children of Gary and Ruth as well as John and Rachel. The way he connected with them was unique and special. The two couples appreciated that a lot and could trust him with them. It was his example and his leadership that supported them as they also responded to the gospel by repenting of their sin and placing faith in Jesus expressing their commitment in baptism. Their journeys to get their were very different, but the common thread was the presence, encouragement, friendship and love of David. He credited all he did to the presence, encouragement, friendship and love of Geraldine, John, Rachel, Gary and Ruth.
So there developed a movement of the light …
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 