LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS - Tearfund · 2018. 2. 21. · A LIGHT SERVICE LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS. In the Sermon on the mount, Jesus called us to shine brightly.

YOUR GUIDE TO HOLDING A LIGHT SERVICE

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS

In the Sermon on the mount, Jesus called us to shine brightly. The purpose of the church is to flood the world with the light of God’s love.

One billion people around the world are living in literal darkness. One in seven people don’t have any access to electricity.

Having access to electricity shouldn’t be a luxury – it helps people like Isabelle, whose story you’ll hear, step into a better life. It means women can give birth safely at night, children can study in the evening and farmers can pump water to grow food for their families.

The quickest and cheapest way to improve access to electricity for people living in poverty is through energy like solar power, which is local, clean and renewable. This will bring light to dark places, without damaging God’s creation and contributing to climate change.

INTRODUCTION

Photos: Matthew Joseph/Tearfund (main), Tearfund Partner (top), Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund (bottom)

The church is the greatest force for good. Christ has no body now on earth but ours; no hands but ours; no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. We need to be at the forefront of campaigning for justice and challenging the systems that allow inequality to exist.

Access to electricity is a right that everyone should have, yet a billion people are forced to go without, through circumstances beyond their control. The Light Service is an opportunity to worship and pray together to break the bonds of poverty, hear of lives transformed and reflect on what we can do in our own lives too.

The service is an opportunity to bring light to darkness for people living in poverty; to see people’s potential unlocked while not contributing to climate change. The service gives churches the opportunity to take action – calling on the World Bank to invest in local, clean and renewable energy.

WHY SHOULD YOU HOLD A LIGHT SERVICE?

Will your church join together with others and hold a Light Service in solidarity with people around the world who don’t have electricity?

It’s an amazing, unique opportunity to show your solidarity with people living in poverty by conducting a slot or a full service with minimum use of electricity. Your congregation will get the chance to think about people living without the things we take for granted, and be encouraged at how lives can be transformed by access to local, clean and renewable energy. We’ll provide plenty of ideas, inspiration and resources in this document.

The service is an important way to show solidarity with people in poverty, to raise awareness about the potential of clean energy and to take action – bringing light into darkness. So one of the key elements is an opportunity to hand out the action cards which call on the World Bank to invest in local, clean and renewable energy – to reduce poverty. You could adapt these resources for a shorter ten-minute slot – using just one or more of the suggested prayers alongside asking people to fill in action cards.

The Light Service is meant to be symbolic: you may need to use some electricity. And you may need to include amplification for people who have hearing difficulties.

WHAT IS A LIGHT SERVICE?

Photo: Richard Hansen/Tearfund

WHY SHOULD THE CHURCH CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?

We’re encouraging churches to hold this service on two key occasions. The first is June/July 2018, to coincide with long summer days and also the time of the Speak Up week of action on climate change with MPs. The second is late November, ahead of the United Nations annual talks on climate change. However, feel free to hold a service or slot whenever suits your church best.

We’ve included a template press release for the local paper and a letter to invite the local MP. Publicising your Light Service highlights the way that the church is speaking out about the impact of climate change on people in poverty, and shows that it cares about the need to invest in clean, renewable energy.

Climate change is real. It’s not a vague, distant threat – it’s a present reality. And the people who will suffer the most from climate change – the people who are suffering the most – are those living in poverty.

WHEN SHOULD YOU HOLD YOUR LIGHT SERVICE?

Although it is primarily rich countries who are responsible for climate change, it is the poorest who are bearing the brunt of its effects. This is a gross injustice, and as God’s people on earth we must continue speaking out and acting against it.

Photo: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund

Use solar lanterns, wind-up torches, or candlelight to symbolise our solidarity with those who don’t have access to electricity and our commitment to work for a cleaner, fairer future for all.

Some churches will have switched to renewable energy tariffs through the Big Church Switch, and some will have solar panels or other renewable energy generation. For these churches, the service is an opportunity to explain and celebrate this and talk about how people can switch their homes too through Big Clean Switch (although energy switching is not currently possible in NI).

As part of your worship and meditation, invite your whole church family to take part in creating a cross of light to symbolise the bright hope of a clean energy future (details on the next page).

If you’re feeling crafty, you could plan extra family-friendly activities such as making paper lanterns, suncatchers, candle holders, stained-glass art with tissue paper and more.

Plan your service to suit your community and location. We’ve provided ideas and resources below, but have left it for you to decide what to include and in what order.

LIGHT SERVICE IDEAS

Use liturgy (provided below) to speak out loud together, or set up stations for reflective worship around the church, rather than using the PA system for a sermon.

Go on a prayer walk – using (wind-up) torches if it’s dark – or hold an outside service in the churchyard or local park.

Whatever you do, please encourage your congregation to sign and hand in action cards calling on the World Bank to invest in local, clean and renewable energy, shifting the balance of their funding away from fossil fuels. Please return these to Tearfund following your service.

Provide juice or water rather than boiling the kettle.

Use acoustic music or unaccompanied singing for a powerful off-grid worship experience.

This is a great opportunity to share our new Act film with your church – which will require the use of electricity.

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Photo: Richard Hansen/Tearfund (above left)

This creative, family-friendly activity will help your church focus on Jesus, bringer of light, and on our theme of bringing light to the darkness.

Source two branches or pieces of wood to take to

your Light Service, one piece should be shorter than the other so they can form a cross. You will also need some rope or twine (depending on the length and thickness of the wood), and a few rolls of foil. Tear the foil into different sized strips and pieces before your service.

1 Invite your whole church family to gather round the cross, take pieces of foil and wrap them round the cross. Depending on the size of your group, people might need to take turns. Keep going until the cross is covered in foil. By the end, the cross should be fully shining, reflecting the light of the torches/candles around it.

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You may want to have some music playing during this activity.

This activity could lead perfectly into the liturgy set out below.

Alternatively, finish with a Bible reading or a prayer.

Keep your cross inside your church as a reminder that your church stands in solidarity with people living in poverty, and has a role to play in bringing Jesus’ light to the darkness.

FAMILY ACTIVITY: CROSS OF LIGHT

In your service, invite a couple of adults to use the

rope or twine to bind the wood together to make a cross.

2WHAT YOU’LL NEED Wood or stick x2 (one long, one short)

Rope or twine Roll of foil x2

Photo: Tom Price/Tearfund

LITURGY FOR YOUR LIGHT SERVICE

OPENING PRAYER

Minister: Dear God,You are the God of light, the God of love, the God of all goodness. Today we think of those people around the world who have no light; people who are suffering under the darkness of injustice, oppression and poverty. Help us Lord, as your church, to spread your light around the world.In Jesus’ name, Amen.

READING 1 – Luke 4:16-21

CONFESSION

A time to turn together from the darkness of sin towards the unconquerable, incomparable light of God’s grace.

Minister: God of mercy, we confess to you the darkness of selfishness: when we put our own desires before the needs of others.All: Lord, fill us with light

Minister: God of love, we confess to you the darkness of greed: for not taking care of the beautiful creation you have given us.All: Lord, fill us with light

Minister: God of peace, we confess to you the darkness of comfort: of being blinded to injustice around the world by our own prosperity.All: Lord, fill us with light

Minister: God of grace, we confess to you the darkness of materialism: for placing more value on things than on people.All: Lord, fill us with light

All: Almighty God, we ask for your forgiveness. Bathe us in the light of your love, and help us to reflect that light onto others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

READING 2 – Matthew 5:14-16

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

Minister: Dear God,We cannot thank you enough for the light you have given us. We open our hearts in gratitude because you sent your only Son: he overcame the darkness of the grave to become the light of the world.

Thank you for the light of your love, which illuminates our hearts. Thank you for the light of your wisdom, which guides us towards a better path. Thank you for the light of your grace, which gives us the gift of an eternity with you. We thank you for people around the world who are working to bring your light to dark places.

Father, we praise you for your light. All: Amen.

Photos: Marcus Perkins/Tearfund (top), Geoff Crawford/Tearfund (bottom)

The village of Madzangina, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), used to be a place of darkness. The village is extremely remote, without any roads and on the far side of a river with no bridge. Access to healthcare for the community was very difficult.

Isabelle was just 18 when she gave birth to her son. It was the middle of the night when she went into labour. The journey to the hospital would have been a terrifying three-hour journey on a motorcycle in the dark.

Fortunately, thanks to the work of the local church, the community decided to build its own health facility, and now has a small clinic run by two male

nurses. Electricity is supplied to a light above the delivery bed, which is charged by a small solar panel on the roof.

Isabelle recalls her experience: ‘I was hurting and my abdomen was aching. I got here at four in the evening; the nurse checked me and said it was almost my time, so I waited. The baby arrived at four in the morning.’

Isabelle now has a healthy baby boy, all thanks to a simple solar panel and the support of her community.

This is just one of many ways access to electricity can restore lives and unlock potential around the world.

STORY: NEW LIGHT FOR ISABELLE

A story of how the church is working around the world to bring light to people living in the darkness of poverty.

Photo: Hannah Maule-ffinch/Tearfund

INTERCESSIONSWe cry out, joining with people around the world living in the darkness of poverty and oppression.

Minister: God of justice, we pray for places suffering from drought. Please make the rains fall where they’re needed.All: Lord, we beg you for your light.

Minister: God of justice, we pray for the one billion people around the world who have no access to electricity. Please bless their work and the work of those striving to improve their lives.All: Lord, we beg you for your light.

Minister: God of justice, we pray for the hundreds of millions of people going to bed hungry every night. Please strengthen them and bring an end to their hunger.All: Lord, we beg you for your light.

Minister: God of justice, we cry out on behalf of your creation. Please open humanity’s eyes to the threat of pollution and climate change, and help us all to care for this world.All: Lord, we beg you for your light.

Minister: God of justice, we cry out for places around the world devastated by conflict. Please let your peace reign over all the earth.All: Lord, we beg you for your light.

All: God of justice, we lift up these prayers to you in Jesus’ name. By your Spirit, according to your will, let your Kingdom come.

Amen.

EXTRA BIBLE VERSES TO DRAW ON IF NEEDED:

‘Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’ (James 1:27)

‘And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’ (Micah 6:8)

‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the immigrant or the poor.’ (Zechariah 7:9-10)

‘Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.’ (Proverbs 31:8-9)

Photo: Robby Doland

HERE ARE OUR TOP SUGGESTIONS:

CUT A CAR JOURNEY A WEEK

Pick one trip usually driven, and walk, cycle or get public

transport instead. Unless your car’s electric already!

CARSHARE ONCE A WEEK

Pick a regular journey that you usually drive and

instead co-ordinate lifts with another driver.

TAKE ONE LESS FLIGHT PER YEAR

If you’re a regular flyer, maybe you could cut down by one flight

a year.

CUT FLIGHTS TO EUROPE

Why not take the train or ferry instead of flying?

It’s easy, scenic and less polluting.

Two of the biggest sources of dirty energy we may use in our own lives come from how we travel. Put your faith into action by pledging to make a change this year.

Decision makers care what you think. How far will you go to shift the balance away from polluting fossil fuels to show decision makers that they should too?

MAKE IT PART OF YOUR LIFESTYLE...

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Registered Charity No. 265464 (England & Wales) Registered Charity No. SC037624 (Scotland) Photos: Tom Price/Tearfund (front cover), Neil Palmer/CIAT/CCAFS (above) 31845-(0118)