Candlemas
"Back in the days before electricity, a tight-fisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his girl friend.
'Why, when I went a-courting young ladies, I never carried a lantern. I always went in the dark'
'Yes' said the young man - 'And look what you ended up with!'" (1)
Light makes a huge difference in our lives.
Light brings life - If you turned the sun off tomorrow, every plant on this planet would die and we would all starve to death.
Light brings warmth and energy. You may be wearing a think jumper today, but when it's Fun in the Park [a big outreach event that our church organises] in the middle of the summer and the sun is shining down on you, you won't want more than a t-shirt - light brings warmth
Light brings joy. I remember the very first winter after I became an accountant. I would leave home while it was still dark. Sit in an office in artificial light until lunch time. Pop out for a sandwich, bring it back to my desk, eat it there. Then by the time I left at 5 or 6 it was already dark. After a couple of months I began to realise this was getting me down. I realised that at lunch I had to go outside and walk around and get some sunlight - because I could not cope with a whole day without seeing the sun. If you are struggling at work - I do recommend - go out into the light.
Light brings life
Light brings warmth
Light brings Joy
And today we celebrate Jesus the Light of the World. Candlemas.
There's an awful lot of candles in the church today. Loads more candles than normal. But for my sermon, I actually want to talk about the candles that are here normally. Five in particular.
• The Presence Candle
• The Prayer candles
• The Paschal Candle
• The Proclamation Candles
• The Personal candles
The Presence Candle
We begin here with this white candle here - by this rather special cupboard which we call the Tabernacle. This candle NEVER goes out. (well only for one day a year, and that's another story) Each week, before it can go out, a new candle is lit to take it's place. You can come into this church any time at day or night, and see this candle burning. A candle that never goes out - and it's story begins 3,500 years ago.
Moses and the children of Israel are wandering through the desert. They are all living in tents. But there is one special tent - called the Tabernacle or the Tent of meeting. Outside it is a pillar of fire. Inside it is a box - The Ark of the Covenant. And almighty God, who can be anywhere - chooses to make himself physically present through that Ark. The presence of God in that Tabernacle Tent is so strong that whenever Moses comes out his face is shining so brightly that it hurts the Israelites eyes and they ask him to cover it.
Well for five hundred years they carry the ark around. Then Solomon builds a Temple. the outer court - the court of the gentiles that anyone can go into. Then the court of the women. Then a court that only adult men can go into. Then the Holy Place into which only the priest can go. Then, in the middle of that - The Holy of Holies- where the ark is. The place of God's presence. Almighty God, who can be anywhere- makes himself physically present in the Holy of Holies. A place where the presence of God is so strong that only the high priest can go in there - and he only on one day a year - and he has to have a rope tied around him, so if he dies while he is in there, they can pull his body out.
So for 1000 years the Temple is the place where God makes himeself physically present to the people.
So in our story today - we have Anna, an 84 year old lady who ever since she was widowed decades earlier, has spent her entire life in the Temple to be close to God.
We have Mary and Joseph bringing the baby Jesus to the Temple - so that they can dedicate him and offer sacrifice in the place where Jesus is present.
And we have Simeon. Now Simeon has a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. All personal - God inside him. The Holy Spirit "reveals" things to him. The Holy Spirit "guides" him. The Holy Spirit "rests upon him". now you might think that someone who had that intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit (God inside him) would not need a mere physical presence of God in the Temple. NO that's not what the bible says. Because of the Guiding of God within him, the Holy Spirit in his life, he comes to the Temple where God is physically present.
God making himself physically present in the Temple for 1000 years.
Then for 33 years he is present bodily as Jesus.
Then, when Jesus ascends to heaven - he promises that he will still make himself physically present to his disciples through the Bread and Wine of Communion. "This is my body. This is my blood".
Like Simeon we have the Holy Spirit within our lives, the light within us. But like Simeon, we also need the reassurance of the physical presence of God that he so generously gives us when he makes himself present to us as Bread and Wine.
So this candle - what's it about? Because in this cupboard next to it - what we call the Tabernacle after that Tent where God was in the Ark - is the Sacrament - the Bread that God in his generosity makes himself present to us. A sign of God's presence among us. This candle reminds us: Yes, sure God is everywhere - but here we can encounter him specially.
Prayer Candles
We hear today of two old people's longings. Simeon - longing for the consolation of Israel. Simeon - begging God not to let him die until he has seen the Messiah. And 84 year old Anna - longing for the redemption of Jerusalem.
I've preached many a time on these two as signs that we are never to old for God to use us.
But there is more to them than that.
Their years of waiting is symbolic of a world longing for God to act - longing for someone to bring light into it's darkness.
Yesterday - as I was in church, a couple of strangers walk in - go straight up to these candles and light one. They didn't really want to talk to a human being - they just wanted to talk to God - to express their needs and their brokenness to him - their longing for his light to break into their darkness.
I'm sure many of you have lit candles here to - to bring your longings, your prayers to God.
You'll notice that in our church, as in many others - the prayer candles are in the Lady Chapel, next to the statue of Mary, Our Lady. This is to remind us that when we pray, we don't have to do it on our own. We pray as part of a family - with our friends on earth (all the other candles next to our one) and our friends in heaven (point to Mary statue) praying with us and for us.
We move onto:
The Paschal (or Easter) Candle (Paschal is just the Hebrew and Latin word for Easter)
Yes today we heard about the baby Jesus brought to the Temple - but we also hear prophecies of what will happen later "My eyes have seen your salvation" "This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel" "She began ... to speak about this child to all who were looking for the redemption of Israel" "a sword will pierce your own soul too".
We light this candle the Easter vigil service each year - as a reminder that the light of Jesus has defeated the darkness of sin. Now if you notice, this candle isn't as tall as it was - What has happened to all that wax?
(take answers)
As the candle gives itself so we might have life - so Jesus gives himself on the cross that we might have life.
Now you would think that a promise of hope, of darkness being defeated, of forgiveness and new life would be such a wonderful message that everyone would want to embrace it.
Not so.
When you shine a light it shows up all the dirt. Keep a place dimly lit, and you won't see all the cobwebs and grime. Turn up the wattage, and you'll have no choice but to do something about them. That's uncomfortable
Not everybody likes the light. A governor of the Bahamas who was about to return to England promised to do his best to procure for the colonists any favour they might desire. Their request "Tell them to tear down the light houses- they are ruining the colony" The men were ship wreckers - they made their money from looting wrecked ships. The last thing they wanted was lighthouses saving sailors lives and taking away their treasure
(2)
So Simeon prophesies "This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that is opposed"
This candle promises hope - but not everyone will welcome the promise of hope that Easter brings. In offering us a wonderful better life, Jesus inevitably shows us that our existing lives are not all they could be. For some that is deeply attractive. For others it is terrifying or offensive.
"Some people change their ways when they see the light
others only when they feel the heat" (anon)
Fourthly we have
the Proclamation candles the Gospel candles
Every Sunday, these candles bring the Gospel down into the middle of the people. This is symbolic of what we sing in the hymn "light of the world, you stepped down into darkness". Jesus does not stay aloof in heaven , but comes into our world with a message of hope for all peoples.
"My eyes have seen your salvation
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples
A light for revelation to the Gentiles"
That's quite radical stuff from Simeon. Most Israelites at the time were looking for a Messiah who would trash the Gentiles, throw the Romans out, and establish Israel as the greatest nation on earth. The rescue plan for Israel would be at the expense of the rest of the earth.
But that is not what Simeon predicts. God's rescue plan is for everyone "a light for revelation to the gentiles" Each Sunday morning these Gospel candles come down to where we are - to show that God comes to us where we are. The bible has been translated into more languages than any other book - why - so that everyone in every nation can hear God speaking to them in their own language.
You and I gentiles. We are Christians because that light of Christ came into our country - because St Cedd and St Augustine and St Columba and St Chad and St Mellitus and a host of other people brought Christianity to our land.
As we have all noticed - our borough is changing. Many people live here who at least their grand parents were born in a very far off land. An increasing number of them come from a a Muslim or Hindu background. And what an opportunity that is. These Gospel candles represent our mission to take the Gospel to them, just as Jesus came into our lives.
You may not know, but St Andrew's Ilford now consists of two congregations - defined not by musical style like we are - but by the fact that one congregation worships in English and the other in a mix of Punjabi and Urdu. St Andrews Asian Congregation - the first Anglican congregation in Redbridge taking the Gospel to people from an Asian Muslim background. It won't be the last.
These candles remind us - Jesus is for "all peoples - a light for revelation to the gentiles".
The candles I've talked about so far are here in church every week - but there's one more candle I want to talk about, the one you are holding in your hands
The Personal Candle
"This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine". Jesus is the light of the world - but he also tells us in the sermon on the mount that we are to be the light of the world.
We are called to reflect Jesus's light to the world out there.
"You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day
by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say
men read what you're writing, whether faithless or true
Hey, what is the gospel according to you?" {3}
St Gregory the Great says
"The proof of love is in the works. When love exists it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist."
A lady in America was out driving and came to a traffic light. The light goes green and the car in front of her doesn't move. So she honks her horns, pulls down her window and swears like blue murder. Finally he moves off and she does too. Well she's only gone a 100 yards when a police car pulls her over, a cop gun in hand drags her from the car and cuffs her and takes her to the station.
Two hours later she is finally released.
"I'm really sorry for the mistake Madame. You see I pulled up behind your car and heard you swearing and honking and cussing - and then I saw the Jesus fish logo in the window and the "what would Jesus do" bumper sticker so naturally I assumed you must have stolen the car.
The American pastor Rick Warren says there's two reasons why people don't know Jesus:
1) They have never met a Christian
or
2) They HAVE met a Christian.....
Let us pray
Lord Jesus
Light of the World
Help the candles in this church to remind us of you
And help us to take your light to world in darkness
Amen
(1) (joke taken from sermon on this site)
(2) [illustration taken from sermon by Gerald Flurry on this site]
(3) [from a sermon by Jerry Shirley]
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