Candlemas is a feast often symbolised by a candle flame – small, flickering held prayerfully and thankfully in our hands.
A fragile and beautiful sign of all that we have celebrated in the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, intimate, beautiful and wonderful.
And yet Candlemas is also a great feast, with a vast canvas and a wide horizon. Luke tells us, in Simeon’s words, that the love of God is both intimate and broad, embracing all people, all nations.
“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentilesand for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)
We might sometimes feel unnoticed, unseen. We might feel that our faith, our witness, even our love is fragile and flickering.
The wonder of Candlemas is that God, in the unnoticed, in the fragile and vulnerable, makes his love and glory known. And the more we welcome that love and the more we see that glory, the more we realise that we encounter something that is not mean and narrow, not exclusive and limited but is unbounded, beautiful, life giving and welcoming.
Like Simeon and Anna, we see, in Christ, the fulfilment of God’s promises; our minds and hearts open to the glory of God, the wonder of God and the love of God.
Like Mary and Joseph, we offer our love and prayers, and discover that, in all its joy, love is costly; for it is both precious and demanding.
Candlemas reminds us that we are called to live our flickering flame of faith and love with generosity, tenderness, courage and joy.
God of Glory,
Your love is a flame within
our hearts.
Give us grace to tend it
With gentle reverence.
So may your light
Shine with more beauty
Through the fragility of our lives.
Amen.
This blog post was written by The Venerable John Kiddle, Archdeacon of Wandsworth for the February 2025 edition of The Bridge.
