Pilgrim Soldier

On Saturday night Zoe and I settled down to watch a documentary on BBC Prime about the Bell Rock Lighthouse. This is a lighthouse that was built between 1807 and 1811 on a rock 11 miles off the Scottish coast. The biggest problem is that the rock is only above the surface at low tide and for around 4 hours during the day! Over the centuries it must have claimed tens of thousands of lives!

The story of the building is inspiring by itself due to the incredible task of building a 115 foot (35m) tower on a rock that’s submerged for most of the day!

But then I got an image of the famous diagram from William Booth’s In Darkest England. There in the middle of the sea of sin and the symptoms of poverty, amidst shipwrecks and drowning people is the ‘lighthouse’ of The Salvation Army built upon a rock. The analogy is obvious!

However, what really got to me when I looked at the picture again is the fact that whilst the Church (The Salvation Army in this particular image) is the light that warns people of the dangers, all it can do is warn people and give them temporary safety. The only people who are actually being saved are those who reach for the helping hand of the Salvationists (or any other Christian in reality).

The lesson? Without the faithful work of individuals the Church becomes at best a symbol of hope, but at worst nothing more than an empty edifice devoid of life. The Salvation Army itself hasn’t saved a single soul. It is only the Holy Spirit working through individuals that brings people to a point where they can experience the salvation on offer to us all.