Candlemas 2023 St Andrew’s Milngavie
Today we celebrated the feast of Candlemas reminding ourselves that Christ is the light in our world.
We had an excellent turnout, and we were in good voice as we sang Candlemas hymns accompanied by Alison on the piano.
This Week
Tuesday 10am – Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Thursday 10am – Said Holy Communion followed by coffee in Friendship House
Readings for next Sunday – 2nd Sunday before Lent – Proverbs 8:1:22-31 Colossians 1:15:-20 John 1:1-14
Today’s Readings – Malachi 3:1-5, Hebrews 2:14-end, Luke 2 22-40
Candlemas is the culmination – the end point – of the season of Christmas and Epiphany. It is a feast rich in meaning, with several different interwoven themes – presentation, purification, meeting, light.
It is a pivotal moment in the Church year, when we take one last look back at Christmas and the Incarnation, and then turn to look ahead to Lent and the cross.
It’s a feast which attracts much tradition often expressed in art music and liturgy. Some of my favourite religious art pictures are those which depict the mood and wonder and the personalities of the festival.
The feast commemorates the 40 day purification of Mary after childbirth, as set out in Leviticus chapter 12. The feast also commemorates the presentation of Christ in the Temple.
Candlemas gets its name from the tradition of lighting candles which became a distinctive feature of the liturgy, symbolising Christ – the light of the world. Traditionally beeswax candles are blessed, distributed and lit and carried in procession while the Nunc Dimittis is sung, commemorating the entrance of Christ, the True Light, into the Temple.
In the Old Testament, we hear prophetic words from Malachi. “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple”.
The book of Malachi dating from the late fourth century BC was compiled within a society that contained sorcerers, perjurers and corruption. God declares that a messenger will come to the temple with the purpose of cleansing and warning the people. Perhaps this prophecy is most obviously fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus when he cleanses the Temple, angrily over turning the tables.
But today’s feast by contrast shows Jesus entering the Temple as a mere 40 day old baby, meekly carried into the Temple in his mother’s arms. When Mary and Joseph arrive with Jesus in the Temple, the faithful and devout Simeon comes and acknowledges Jesus to be the Christ. This is the moment Simeon has been waiting for, and he bursts into joyous song in the words known to us as the Nunc Dimittis, the traditional words are hauntingly beautiful:
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation;
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.”
Simeon boldly proclaims Jesus to be the light of the world, as well as the glory of his own people.
Then another elderly wise and holy person enters the scene, Anna the prophet. She too bursts into praise. It is a wonderful picture of the wisdom of old age paying homage to the innocent infant with the parents looking on in wonderment.
On this feast of Candlemas, we recall how Jesus was presented to God in the Temple, the most holy of all the sacred places.
Today we are also called to present ourselves anew to God in worship – to put the past and its failings behind us, and to focus on the living God who loves us and who calls us to a life of deepening holiness.
May we also look ahead to Lent and Holy Week and the journey to the cross, sharing in Christ’s suffering but in the knowledge that we will also share in his resurrection. This is important, despite the gloominess of the news and the difficulties of our own lives, in our hearts there is the light of hope, just as the candles display a sense of light in an often all too dark world.
God calls us to share in the light of Christ – to bring help and comfort to others by that message of hope and light.
Today we take one last look back at Christmas, giving thanks for the great gift of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ we look ahead with expectancy – the way ahead may be uncertain and even filled with difficulties and challenges, but with Christ as our guide we may be confident of his presence with us and his strength to sustain us, as we follow in his way even to the cross and beyond to newness of life. Amen.