Light of the world

I’ve spent the morning as I have spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks, looking for and reading resources  about the place of the child in the church.  It’s for an essay I’m writing but it’s also my pet subject, being a youth pastor and all.  As I was electronically ‘leafing’ through an issue of Theology Today I came across this:

Lightbearer

Harold McCurdy  

The acolyte,
A little girl in white,
Stands tiptoe in her sandals
To reach the candles. 

The flames flare,
Lengthen, grow steady there,
In silence celebrating
The Word we are awaiting, 

 And the Word already bright
In the small acolyte
Who, tiptoe in her sandals,
 Lighted the candles.

  

The more I read it the more it seeps into my heart as I reflect on the idea that not only do I minister to the child because it’s my job, but that somehow the child ministers the Word to me.