Carnage is Sheffield’s largest fancy dress T-shirt event of the year! Thousands of students from Sheffield and surrounding areas will come to this city for a night of heavy drinking and partying. 

I was having a think and pray about this event and how it impacts our city. The word carnage means a widespread slaughter of people.  Some synonyms for carnage include: killing, bloodshed, bloodbath, and massacre. 

Why on earth would people want to get involved in an event that is described in this way!  This event may bring pain and problems into peoples’ lives.  I feel that it is bringing darkness into Sheffield.  Sometimes as Christians we have a fear when something like this comes to our city.  Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” We are not to fear the darkness but to overcome it!

How do we overcome darkness?

In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says, “You are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.  Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” 

Carnage is going to be one of the darkest nights of the year.   But we are not to fear or worry about it, because we can overcome the darkness by ‘good deeds’ and by showing the love of God to Sheffield.  

In the song Savoir of the World, Ben Cantelon writes, “Christ the Lord overcame the darkness. He’s alive; death has been defeated.”  Jesus has victory over darkness by his death and resurrection from the cross.  Now his Spirit lives in us. The same light that overcomes all evil and darkness now lives in you and in me. 

Would you join the Student team and myself in doing ‘good deeds’ and showing love to students. Together we can burn bright for Jesus. Lets’ be the change we want to see!

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