Last weekend the Edinburgh Book Festival came to Cumbernauld with the Reimagination event. They had a pop up library and book shop and cinema and a whole bunch of book related and Cumbernauld focused events.
They also had a dark tent. A blacked out tent with light sensitive boards that you could draw on with tiny torches. We were a bit hesitant, but curiosity won out and we stepped forward. We had to don UV sunglasses, were given a short demo and then left to play.
As the torches shone on the boards, the boards soaked up the light and immediately started to release it. It reminded me initially of Slow Glass which was “invented” in a series of short stories by Bob Shaw. Then I just started to enjoy sketching!
It’s stuck with me though, this idea of light slowly being released. Light… Energy… A form of power.
There are several stories of power remaining in the bones of holy men or in clothing they’ve worn.
“Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.” 2 Kings 13:21 NIV
“Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” Acts 19:11-12 (NKJV)
“She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.'” Luke 8:44-46 (NIV)
When I read passages like this, I wonder how much I am missing out on. What would it take for me to be so full of God’s power that people could be healed by just touching my clothes?
I imagine that a person who remains close to God, who is filled with God’s Holy Spirit, who is obedient to God and receives his power from on high becomes like a container filled with that power. A container that is not meant to keep it locked up, but is meant to leak, to gradually give that power away – to help others, to heal, to cast out demons, to set people free from sin and bondage.
Oh that I and the entire church of God would seek to be such people of power!
