Readings:
Proverbs 8:1,22-31
Psalm 104:26-end
Colossians 1:15-20
John 1:1-14

Collect:
Almighty God
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

This week the church celebrates Candlemas (also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple). On 2February, 40 days after Christmas Day, we remember Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple to give thanks for him and to offer the traditional sacrifice to mark the birth of a child. And we remember too Simeon and Anna recognising Jesus for who he is: the light of the world, and the promised Messiah. 

In some church traditions, Candlemas marks the end of the long Christmas season. In my household, that’s when we’ll be taking down the Christmas tree and eating the last of the mince pies! It is also a turning point in the year, as we turn from Christmas towards Lent and Easter, turning from the joy of Jesus’ birth towards the sorrow of his suffering and death – and, of course, beyond that to the ultimate joy of his resurrection. 

Candlemas takes its name from the association with light, as Simeon sees the infant Jesus and acclaims him as “a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2.32). In some churches it is traditional at Candlemas to bless all the candles which will be used in worship for the year ahead, as a reminder that the light of Christ is always with us when we gather. In other churches, it is traditional for people to bring a candle to church to be blessed which they will then use at home during the year, as a reminder that the light of Christ is always with us in our everyday lives. 

Both, of course, are true. Jesus, the light of the world, is with us as we gather in his name to worship him, and he is with us in our everyday lives, in all that we do and wherever we go. The symbolism of lighting candles might remind us too of the candles we light at baptism, with the words to the newly-baptised: “shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the Father”. We are all called and sent to shine the light of Christ in the places and situations we encounter, and to reflect the image of Jesus Light of the World in the way we love God and our neighbours. 

There are always dark places in the world which need God’s light. One of the ways candles can help us in our worship and prayer is to remind us to pray always for those places where the darkness of despair, loneliness, pain, violence and conflict is oppressive, and to remind us that even where that darkness seems endless, the light of God can – and will – still find a way to shine. Perhaps we might even be part of that light. 

Even as our Christmas season draws to a close with Candlemas, let us remember the words we heard again at Christmas: “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1.5), and let us take every opportunity to shine the light of Christ in a world which needs the illuminating brightness of God’s love, now as much as ever. 

Ruth Harley