Light And Life
LIGHT AND LIFE
John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me
will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.”
During my eighteen years at Baptist High School, I came to treasure the traditions which planted the school motto: “Light and Life,” deep in the hearts of students and staff members. For me, the most powerful of these traditions took place the night before graduation in mid-July each year. The Candle-light service, arranged and directed by the school’s Old Students Association (Alumni), featured the profound symbolism of a cross lit by candles carried into the chapel by the graduating class members. They each quoted a Bible verse featuring the word, light, as they placed their burning candle in the cross. Then, at the end of the program, the incoming seniors lit their own candle from one of the burning candles in the cross as they followed the outgoing seniors out of the chapel into the night. How beautifully the lighted candles being carried into the night represented the reality of Jesus and His guidance for both the outgoing and incoming seniors. He was, after all, the “light of their lives.”
From the first day the very young members of the JSS I Class arrived at Baptist High School from all over Nigeria each year, their teachers and their fellow students welcomed them into a school where the challenge always remained; as stated in the School Mission:
To serve and glorify God
through the provision
of Christian Education
in order to produce
Christ-dominated,
highly intellectual
and servant leaders
who can take the light
and life and hope
of Jesus Christ
to Nigeria, Africa
and the world.
In classes, in the dorms, on the playing fields, and certainly in the chapel, every student constantly heard the Gospel. Not only did they hear the Gospel, but they experienced it as they studied, as they played, as they read their Bibles, as they prayed, and even as they experienced boarding school ups-and-downs, and strong discipline. Students and teachers at Baptist High School were certainly not perfect, but their Lord Jesus Christ was and is today and forever. During their six years at the school students had the opportunity to grow in their relationship to Him until they were ready to go into all the world and take the Good News of Jesus, His light and life and hope throughout the world. They also made Christ-based friendships that would encourage them throughout all the years of their lives.
I wish you could hear Baptist High School students and teachers as they enthusiastically joined in singing the school song, Life and Light, written by the first principal and his wife, Bill and Audrey Cowley.
Light and Life
Light and life! Our motto always ringing;
Leading us through a life that’s filled with singing;
Light and life! God’s voice to us is calling;
Carry the light, life-giving light;
To those who need its glow.
Light of the sun! To warm all life on earth’s face;
Stirring all growth, to bring us gifts of God’s Grace;
Light of the sun! Of knowledge brightly burning;
Banishing fear; message so dear;
The truth to make men free.
Light of the Word! The gospel story preaching;
Both near and far and all God’s people reaching;
Light and life! God’s Voice to us is calling;
Carry the light; life-giving light;
To those who need its glow.
How many times we rejoiced along with those beautiful voices at Baptist High School while they sang this heart-stirring challenge to carry the light and life of Jesus into the world. This song so worked itself into the hearts of those who sang it together so often, that it has become a treasured part of many Baptist High School’s students’ and teachers’ weddings, and also funerals. In life and in death the same Jesus we sang about brought His light and His life to rejoice with us as families were founded in Him, and also to encourage us as we encountered times of grief.
In 2018, when Becky and I were blessed to visit Nigeria and many Baptist High School old students and teachers we had served with; the Candle Light service was a real highlight for us. As we fellowshipped with these we loved in Christ so much, those we had been privileged to teach, disciple and learn from—we praised God that this great school continues to uphold her mission. Countless lives have discovered the light of Jesus during their Baptist High School years. Many of us have been blessed to see His light grow ever brighter as we worshipped, prayed, studied and played together. The school’s heart verse explains how deeply committed to Jesus and to each other current and former Baptist High School students and teachers are:
Psalm 133:1
Behold, how good and how pleasant
it is for the brethren
to dwell together in unity.
Every school has the opportunity and the challenge to prepare students for life. Every school faces the challenge of accepting both the opportunity and the challenge with a sense of gratitude, humility, commitment and faithfulness. Having been privileged to serve at Baptist High School, Jos, Becky and I can certainly attest to a very high level of achievement in each of these areas of participation. We certainly give thanks to God for the part so many teachers and students have played, beginning in the early sixties, and continuing even now in the mid-twenties of the twenty-first century. All glory goes to God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Baptist High School Mission
To be a mission-minded,
Christ-exalting,
self-sustaining organization
with high spiritual, academic,
aesthetic, and moral standards,
reaching the school family,
neighboring communities,
and the world for Christ.
