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Candlemas Vespers

Propers: The Presentation of Our Lord, AD 2023 A

A Sonnet for Candlemas
by Malcolm Guite

They came, as called, according to the Law.
Though they were poor and had to keep things simple,
They moved in grace, in quietness, in awe,
For God was coming with them to His temple.

Amidst the outer court’s commercial bustle
They’d waited hours, enduring shouts and shoves,
Buyers and sellers, sensing one more hustle,
Had made a killing on the two young doves.

They come at last with us to Candlemas
And keep the day the prophecies came true
We glimpse with them, amidst our busyness,
The peace that Simeon and Anna knew.

For Candlemas still keeps His kindled light,
Against the dark our Saviour’s face is bright.

Homily:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for you know his sins are great.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The purpose of lighting a candle is not to burn anything down. The purpose of lighting a candle is to share a light amidst the darkness, to illumine all the world around you. And it doesn’t take much, does it? One candle, one single flame, turns blindness into sight, ignorance into awareness.

You can see the light of a burning wick at over a mile away. And all the darkness of the cosmos cannot snuff it out, because darkness isn’t real; darkness has no substance. That’s the secret behind ignorance and evil: there’s no “there” there. It’s just a void, just a lack. And the tiniest of tapers can fill it up to bursting with light and life and hope.

An apt metaphor, methinks, for the spiritual life, the religious life. The great teachers of the faith, the ones who shape our history, don’t go out there looking for trouble, don’t set out to burn down the world. They merely seek to kindle light, and to share it with those all around them.

Oftentimes the saints and sages of old simply wanted to be left alone. Even Jesus sought to get away from the crowds, to climb the mountain, to disappear for a time in the wilderness. We wouldn’t let Him, and He wouldn’t turn us away. But oh, how significant that when God came down and took on flesh to save our weary world, He came not with armies of angels, but as a Rabbi on the fringe.

Jesus served at the edges. That’s where His lost sheep were found. And people came out to Him, in their tens and hundreds and thousands, not because He threatened, not because He cajoled, but because of the light He embodied, the goodness and beauty and truth from within, which everyone could see. He was so different, He was so true, that when people met first Him, they did not bother to ask, “Who are You?” but “What are You?” what manner of Man or of God?

You light a single candle, you hold it in the dark, and others can see by your light. Others can gather around. Soon enough they will hold out their own unlit candles, and ask you to share this light, which you may do freely with no diminishment to it. And this is not to say that the life of faith is one of laziness or of ease. It comes complete with crown of thorns and rough-hewn heavy cross.

There will always be those who prefer to live in darkness, where they can hide from themselves and from others. For them the light appears to burn, to ruin their home in the shadows. Yet all it really does is to disperse both our lies and our chains. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, proclaimed both in Luke and in John. He is the Word of God, the Mind of God. He is Goodness and Beauty and Truth. He is the Great I Am, and all He has to do is Be. That’s enough, and infinitely more.

So often, in recent centuries, Christianity has raged like a fire, consuming all before it, belching out ashes and smoke, justifying things that Christ Himself could never abide: violence, enslavement, hatred, pride, the worship of blood and of soil. No wonder people are sick of what passes for Christianity, what passes for organized religion, in our politics and our popular imagination.

How different the true life of faith. How different the true Light of Christ. Do not be concerned, my brothers and sisters, with the so-called culture wars, with the state of our religious institutions in terms of numbers and of money. None of that means anything to God. He needs no money. He asks no-one to defend His honor. God is beyond any such thing. The temple which He seeks is the heart of each believer, for we indeed are the Body of His Son, the Temple of His Spirit.

Our calling, our job, our gift, is to conform ourselves ever more lovingly to Christ; to freely confess our sins and freely receive His forgiveness; to feast joyfully upon His Word and His Sacraments; and to go back out as His hands and His voice. We worry about programs and membership and evangelization, but He tells us to worry about the log in our own eye, not the speck in our neighbor’s. He tells us to love one another as He has first loved us, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

That is task enough. That is joy enough. That is both our Law and our Gospel. If we inculcate within our souls a life of humility, forgiveness, gentleness, love, bravery, compassion, selflessness, and strength—if in short it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us—then His light will shine. And the flame of His candle that burns in your breast will be witnessed for miles around.

Think of the Christians whom we most admire in our own day and age. Not Pat Robertson or Joel Osteen or any of those megachurch phonies. I’m talking about C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jimmy Carter, Mr Rogers! People who simply embody the Christ, who are neither pushy nor power-hungry, but solely seek to share the Light, to share the Goodness and Beauty and Truth who is God, manifest in Jesus Christ as the Light of the world.

You want to change the world? Kindle the candle of Christ. Walk by His sure, small, inextinguishable light, by the fire of His Spirit. Be honest, be true, be strong and loving and fearless, especially when you fail, especially when you fall. The grace of Christ will always be there for you; you are forever forgiven. And thus liberated, we are now free to go and forgive others, without malice, without limitation, without prevarication or compromise.

Acquire the Spirit of peace within you, and thousands around shall be saved. Tend your candle; let is shine; share it with any who ask. And know that the fire of Christ in the night can neither be hidden nor hindered. For the Light shines in the darkness—and the darkness cannot overcome it, ever.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Candle Blessing:

The Phos Hilaron, “O Gladsome Light,” is the earliest known Christian hymn outside of the Bible, which is still in use today:

O Gracious Light, Lord Jesus Christ,
In You the Father’s glory shown.
Immortal, holy, blest is He
And blest are You, His holy Son.

Now sunset comes, but light shines forth.
The lamps are lit to pierce the night.
Praise Father, Son, and Spirit: God
Who dwells in the eternal Light.

Worthy are You of endless praise,
O Son of God, life-giving Lord;
Wherefore You are through all the earth
And in the highest heaven adored. Amen.

Before the throne burn seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. Brothers and sisters, we are gathered to give thanks to God, and we seek His blessing as we set apart these candles to the glory of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray. O God, who revealed to us the vision of Your Son in the midst of candlelight, and of Your Spirit in seven lamps of fire before Your Throne; how often do we kindle light during vigils of community grief and on occasions of community celebration.

Grant that these candles, to be used for Your glory, may be to us signs of Your presence, of the promise of eternal Light, and of Christ, the Light of the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.