LASER - the church model

i can't believe it's been so long since i've wrote something so profound. This has been stuck in my heart since high school(SAM, Taylors 2002) when i first learnt about LASERs . Then, God spoke to my heart about what He wanted a church to be, and how it was connected to what I was studying. Maybe that's why i chose engineering, because i thought God would teach me to understand concepts and relate them to His word.

Anyway, we shall use the basic laser structure to demonstrate.

A laser consists of a tube of gas. Let's take the Helium Neon laser , with a 5:1 ratio. this means that for every 10% of Neon there is 50% Helium. Both gases are enclosed in a tube. When the energy source boots up, the 2kV potential strips electrons off the conductor, which collide and excite the Helium. An excited Helium electron(in a metastable phase), when colliding with the ground state Neon , will propel the Neon to a 3S state. This state is where the emission of a photon (which is required for laser) happens.

anyway, basically the Energy Source is the Holy Spirit, and the electrons are the congregation. In order for the laser to be emitted, there needs to be a "population inversion" where there is a greater number of emissions taking place , ie. Church members "shining their light". Also, 98% of the laser light produced is actually reflected back into the tube. This means that for a church to start reaching out to others, it must first start by reaching out to itself, shining their light inwards and building up relationships and encouragement.

properties of a LASER light
1) COHERENT
Different parts of the laser beam are related to each other in phase. These phase relationships are maintained over long enough time so that interference effects may be seen or recorded photographically. This coherence property is what makes holograms possible.

We base our model on the fact that the "light" produced is in fact the light spoken of in Matthew 5:14-16. The light produced by the church, the actions and works of faith in Jesus are related to each other. And these phase relationships are maintained over time, so long that in fact they are made visible to normal eyes! Shining our light to one another isn't a "just one time" affair, it takes time and effort. Until testimony after testimony comes in of how the relationship has built up and strengthened both parties. Until even other people can see and say what a good relationship-in-Christ these two brothers/sisters have!


2) COLLIMATED ie, directional.
Because of bouncing back between mirrored ends of a laser cavity, those paths which sustain amplification must pass between the mirrors many times and be very nearly perpendicular to the mirrors. As a result, laser beams are very narrow and do not spread very much.

This is simply awesome! In order for the light of the church to be penetrative into this dark world , what do we do? plunge directly into the unknown? No! we start by building each other up!

Look. The light gets amplified because it has been bouncing inside the tube for many many times before being actually burst into the outside world. When it does, it has reached a magnitude maybe 10s of 1000s of times greater than it originally was. A lot of congregations, maybe even small groups, not just churches, want to see results and start impacting their surroundings immediately. I don't recall the apostles receiving the Holy Spirit immediately when Jesus left the earth. It took 50 days till that happened. I guess what this means is that to be effective in the ministry, each and every member of the congregation must start by first demonstrating their love to one another before bursting out into the world, so that by the time they start shining their light outside it sort of comes as second nature. Note though, that 2% of leakage occurs. there is a constant output into the harsh world outside, and this output slowly gets bigger in force.


3) MONOCHROMATIC. This means that all the light is of a single colour, or more precisely, of a single WAVELENGTH. I can't stress how important this is, it is not a good idea to be on a different wavelength or frequency than your leaders and elders. It is they who steer the church in the right direction, so even if you want to diversify, if the pastor says no/wait , you should be submissive and not argue.

-yitJuan-