Candlemas

 

On 2nd. February, the church celebrates the feast of Candlemas, or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. It was formerly called the Purification of Our Lady for, 40 days after the birth of a first-born male child, the parents were obliged under the Law to offer the child to God in the temple and present a thank-offering of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. The church often celebrates this event with a candle-lit procession, reminding us of Simeon’s prophecy that Jesus was to become ‘a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel'.

​

The symbol of light is indeed powerful: come to a church service and see the altar adorned with candles; walk into a silent church and wonder at the flickering candles of our prayers at the shrines. At the same time, take a moment to reflect on the words of S. John in the glorious prelude to his gospel ‘That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world… He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not’.

​

As we come to the end of the Christmas season on Candlemas Day, remember that the babe of Bethlehem ‘came unto his own and his own received him not’.

​

True, is it not, 2,000 years on?

​

From the candles on the altar, to the candle atop the Christingle orange, to the lighted candle presented to the newly baptised, to the Paschal candle at Easter representing the risen Christ in our midst, candles are a vivid reminder of the presence of ‘the true light that cometh into the world’  ̶  even in the darkest of times and seasons.

 

Words of T. S. Eliot spring to mind:

​

O Light Invisible, we praise thee!

Too bright for mortal vision…

We see the Light, but see not whence it comes,

O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee.

 

Deacon Douglas MacMillan

​

The Collect

​

Almighty God, whose Son revealed in signs and miracles

the wonder of your saving presence:

renew your people with your heavenly grace,

and in all our weakness sustain us by your mighty power;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

one God, now and for ever. Amen.