Candlemas Hope

for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the gentiles
    and for glory to your people Israel.

                              Luke 2: 30-32 NRSVue

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

 This is an important day in the life of our family because it is the birthday of our wonderful daughter, Jocelyn. We playfully connected her birthday with Groundhog Day when she was young and we gave her a plush toy groundhog. 

This is also Candlemas, a Christian feast day that certainly isn't one of the "biggies" and as Protestants we aren't known for marking many of the lesser traditional days. I first heard about it when I served an outport pastoral charge in Newfoundland more than 40 years ago and the person repeated the weather-related rhyme -- is this where Groundhog Day originated?

 In other times this was a day when the faithful would bring candles to be blessed at their local church for use during the rest of the year. 

As Diana Butler Bass reminds us, Candlemas also commemorates Joseph and Mary bringing the infant  Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, 40 days after his birth. In the temple they encounter the elderly, blind prophet, Simeon, who makes the declaration we read in the verses above.

Candlemas is more than a traditional curiosity for me this year. It seems that humanity is stumbling around in the dark these days, on so many fronts. Recently a group of scientists set the symbolic Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds before midnight, the closest ever to existential disaster.

 According to their press release: 

The Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight, due largely but not exclusively to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation. The new Clock time was also influenced by continuing threats posed by the climate crisis and the breakdown of global norms and institutions needed to mitigate risks associated with advancing technologies and biological threats such as COVID-19.

It is a challenge to focus on the light in the midst of what seems to be overwhelming gloom, yet we are the people of Christ. We may not literally light a candle today, although it might be a meaningful act of hope in such unsettling times. I'm not willing to give up on Christ's promise for a redeemed world. 

In a reflection she titles Candlelit Faith, Butler Bass offers this encouragement, making reference to the gospel reading for this coming Sunday from the Sermon on the Mount. 

The long weeks of winter candle festivals — from Advent to Christmas through Epiphany — end with us bearing light into the world. In a way, it all began so passively. Waiting for God to act, to birth peace and justice in the world. God did something for us, gave us a gift of life and light.

And the cycle concludes with a remarkable admonition — words that millions of Christians will hear next Sunday: You are the light of the world.

Yes, God created the light. Jesus is light in the darkness. And yet we — fragile and flawed human beings — are the light of the world. Jesus says, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others.”

We wake up the earth. We are birthing new life. We’ve journeyed from waiting to receiving to following to joining the great procession of love and justice in and through the world.

We are the light.

 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

                                Matthew 5:14-16 NRSVue