In the year 2000, the churches of Bournemouth were donated (by a local businessman) a 15ft high gas burning torch (like the Olympic Torch) in the Town Centre as a memorial marking the birth of Jesus Christ. Around the bottom was inscribed - Jesus, the Light of the World.
It was really cool and burnt a gas flame all day and all night. However gas prices shot up and it ended up costing over £15,000 a year to run and the local environmentalists got a little concerned at the CO2 emissions.
In 2008 I helped to change the eternal flame for an environmentally friendly alternative called THE LIGHT OF HOPE. It comprised of the latest LED electrical technology with a Globe which sat on top of the existing structure and rotated through all the colours of the rainbow changing about every 5 seconds.
The prophetic symbol of Hope remained in the town centre and as far as I'm concerned, shone out and reminded people that Jesus died for them. Quite a reminder for the nightclubbers and late night revellers of the town.
However, it was stolen earlier this week when Two men removed the illuminated globe from its 15ft tall pole in the square at 2.40am. Bournemouth Council CCTV staff spotted the men removing it and called the Police but it is gone for now!
We hope that the Police find them and can get the £1,000 globe back so we can repair the light and put Jesus back where He belongs. Either way, watch this space, the light will be back even if we need to buy another light.
If you have money to spare, wouldn't it be better spent elsewhere (towards those poverty stricken people mentioned in your last post or to Children in Need, for example)? I'm pretty sure God would rather the money was spent doing good for people less fortunate than yourself than on a glorified lightbulb! I live in Dorset but haven't seen the light personally, however, pretty as I'm sure it was, I'm sure a lot of people passed it without a second glance. Just my thoughts, for what it's worth :) S.
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