The Bushel problem

Christianity that does not shine hampers mission of the church

The identity of “light” carries with it connotations of hope, innovation, solution, elevation and new knowledge. This is the load of meaning that Jesus had when He told His followers “You are the light of the world.” The light status of Christians is supposed to be an outright asset in the community.

According to Jesus, light belongs on top of hills and on top of tables. He makes a matter of fact statement that would help us in understanding the light shortage: “...people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl.” But what was for Jesus something to obviously not expect is to many an open option to take - light it and cover it!

Christianity has curved out a hazardous brand of dual citizenship achieved by this “light and cover” option. “Clever” Christians have found better places for the light – under tables, in far-fledged rooms that no one uses and in the deep private where no leaking ray has a chance. This involves importing a lot of bowls to cover the light. Bowls are the key assets for darkness when it comes to fighting light. Christians under cover are not temporarily out of service – they are permanently opaque. You need not persecute the Christians, just cover them up!

The bowl hides the light from being seen from the outside but also hides the light from seeing the outside. The consequence is a high Christian density with a disproportionate amount of light going round. The dilemma is that this dual citizenship has proved very popular.

Some Christians are in the super bowl league - went undercover never to reemerge! They are light-tight. They triumphantly sealed all the gaps such that light detectors return a dark negative. Such Christians are technically part of darkness.

While Isaiah would be happy that “those in darkness have seen a great light,” a scan of the prevalent brand of Christianity shows big bowls! Covered Christianity hampers the mission of the church and is a disservice to the community.

Open fields of life

As long as a great multitude of Christians lives undercover, the church will keep quoting heroes of the past. The present will not present persons’ worth of the faith hall of fame. Outstanding women and men of faith are not made undercover. They are made in the open fields of life. History is not rewritten under bushels. Saints are not made in under bowls but are made on top of hills and on top of tables – even the tables on kings.

Why do many Christians work so hard to be invisible? Those who hide the light are misinformed or insensitive about the status of the world. Deception has grown to unsustainable proportions. The world has so much darkness and is choking under it. The world is short of breath and light is the world’s oxygen.

There is need to knock off the bowls and bushels!

Kenyans expect a lot from the church. You cannot blame the people for this over-the-top expectation. A scan through the Bible is full of dramatic stories of liberation, episodes of jaw-dropping wisdom and accounts replete with the benevolent power of God. The church and its Christians are the Bible on the “ground.” They are God’s agents in the contemporary world. So as Pharaoh does his magic, the church is expected to outmatch the drama from the dark. The script is such that light must win in the end.

The existence of a Christian population is never in question. What is ever questioned is the disproportionate impact of its light. Darkness seems to be building its thickness in this country with a free pass. People always expect the church and its Christians to “do something.” But the experience has been that they only intermittently rise to the occasion, which leaves the general public underwhelmed and even looking elsewhere for hope and action.

The church has to find a remedy for the “bushelites” in its pews. Light under a bushel is afraid. Light under a bushel is ignorant. Light under a bushel is hijacked. How do we knock the bushels off? Christians need to be reminded that suffering is part of the script. People need conversions that are beyond convenience.

Faith will often demand boldness. A faith that takes flight at the earliest confrontation badly needs reinforcement. Light will always make darkness uncomfortable. Conforming is not an option. Darkness may overwhelm the light but cannot put it out. Light can be thin but will always be piercing.

A church that is on a battlefield, yet its pews and the hands of its leaders have no stains of blood needs to check its light status. A church located on a red street yet has no prostitute in its membership needs to check its light status. A church located in a drinking capital yet has no tipsy visitor needs to check its light status. A church in a country that is fighting corruption yet has no scratches, wounds and cuts to show needs to ask itself whether it is in the fight!

Christians do not only have a moral duty to let their light shine, they have a divine responsibility. Light should not be treated as a privilege that the community has no right over and therefore should be content with the dim rays. Christians must shine. According to the Lord of the church, they must shine!

The light belongs to the community and they must give it! Otherwise, they risk their light status being withdrawn. Hidden light loses its lighting status and amounts to darkness. Being lightless makes it useless.

That said, those who understand the beauty and power of light are not moved by compulsion. They are moved by love - a deep love for the people. When light shines out of love, love shines through. And we need love – beams of it!