Shining in the Light?

Not real - but still cool

I found this image on Pinterest, and liked it.  It's not actually real - it's photoshopped.  The island is real - it's in Thailand, but it has no castle on the top.  Read about it here.  But, when I wrote this post, I saw this picture, and they seemed linked to me.

I was listening to an interview on a photography podcast.  The photographer being interviewed conducts photography seminars for "Christians."  He said he does this because there are people - Christian people - who want to be part of a seminar to learn about photography, but they want to be with people who are like them.  After he explained what he does, the interviewer said, "You told me that you would say things in the interview that I wouldn't like, but I find this fascinating."

I'm glad she liked it, but I found that I didn't.

Are we called to isolation?  The gentleman was right.  It would be nice to spend a weekend learning about photography with people who believe the same as you do.  I suppose there is nothing wrong with it at all, and if that is a choice someone makes for a weekend, then that's fine.  I wonder, though, if it is a choice we make everyday.  All the time.  Do we only surround ourselves with people who believe as we do?

We are called to shine, and it is certainly nice to shine together and to feel the love shining from someone else.  I don't think that's why we are called to shine, though.  We are called to shine in the darkness.  We are not called to isolation, but to the world.

Are our churches isolated sanctuaries of people who believe as we do?  Do we venture out at all?

And what would happen if someone else came in?  Would that person feel included?  Wanted? Would that person be wanted even if he or she was different than everyone else?

Do we go out, face the world, venture forth from our isolation to shine a light in the dark world, or do we only shine in the light, because it's better, easier, safer?