Let Your Light Shine
15 September 2026
Matthew 5:15-16
15 Jesus taught, saying, "No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Parent in heaven."
Now, let's see, what have I got here in this basket?
[open the basket, it's full of chargers and wires for chargers for different electronic devices. Have a walk around the room]
What's all this? [kids will say, wires, some might say, wires to charge up things]
Yes. That's a lot of wires. To be honest, some of them, I don't know what they're supposed to charge. But I know for sure that sometimes our phones, computers, toys, games need to be recharged, otherwise they don't work anymore.
When I get home at night, I sometimes ask one of our kids to "plug in the car" — it always sounds funny to me. Plug in the car.
My dad never asked me to plug in the car. But today, some cars run on batteries. And they need to be plugged in.
If you don't plug them in, what happens?
[kids answer]
That's right. If I don't charge the car, computer, or smartphone, if I don't charge them, when I push the "on" button, nothing happens. No light, no sound, no nothing.
Jesus says, "Let your light shine!" Do you think sometimes maybe we can let our happy human light run down? And maybe we don't know how to charge our happy human light back up? What if I told you that we humans need to find not just any charger but a charger for us, for human beings?
It makes sense. My smartphone needs a particular kind of charger. Our electric car won't work with my computer charger.
What else needs a charge? Think about bees. Believe it or not, bees need chargers, too. Yesterday, on my run near Hurst Green, I saw this beautiful bank of wild flowers, the colour of violet, and so I took a picture.
And just as I took the picture, you know what zipped into that flower? A honey bee! It dove into that flower and didn't pay any attention to me at all. It was getting the nectar and pollen from that flower.
What's really amazing about bees is that they don't go just for any old flower. They're picky eaters. And so when they're out flying, they look for colours that they connect with lots of nectar and lots of pollen. They go directly to these flowers and don't pay any attention to the others.
Because they know, through thousands and thousands of years of evolution, that this flower will give them the vitamins, minerals, and energy they need to keep flying and to help their bee colony back home.
Maybe we're a bit like bees. We need the nourishment that comes from some kinds of flowers. My smartphone charger works for my smartphone, but it's useless for me. What will work for me? Who or what keeps our light shining?
Here's a clue. It's my wife's birthday today. I nearly forgot this morning, which would have been bad. But when I remembered, I ran up to our room where she was having her coffee and gave her a hug and a kiss, "Happy birthday!" And it was still dark. But you know what? I could tell she was smiling.
Jesus says, "Let your light shine." I don't know, but maybe we all need a warm hug now and again to keep our light charged.
Last night, I said to my youngest daughter — she's 13 years old — I said, "Iris, would you like to do the dishes with me or would you like to make mum a birthday card?"
Which do you think she chose? The birthday card — and I did the dishes. And she made the most beautiful birthday card I've ever seen. It was so bright with colours and swirls and happy things, and, "Best mum in the Universe" — Iris looked as bright as a bee in its little flower . . .
"Let your light shine."
And you know, now that I think of it, when you were singing in here a few moments ago, your eyes were so bright, your voices so clear, you were so together — you were just like that bee, deep in that flower, getting all the nectar and pollen you needed and then, it was so amazing, you filled this whole room with even more joy and happiness. I mean, thank goodness we have lights in here [point up to the lights in the ceiling] but, if we didn't have lights, if we didn't have the right charger in this basket, somehow I think we've found the right charger for us.
Let your light shine!
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