Sermon for Candlemas 2014
Today is called Candlemas. It’s the day when everyone in church gets a candle.
That’s because the old man Simeon in the Temple said that Jesus would be a light for
the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the
Temple to give thanks to God for his birth. Today is 40 days after Christmas, and that
is when this ceremony was supposed to take place. The other name for Candlemas is
the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
It is natural for parents to want to give thanks to God for their children’s birth. All of
you who are going to receive Holy Communion today have been brought to church by
your parents. I am sure they give thanks to God for you.
Candlemas is the very end of the happy season of Christmas and Epiphany. We
celebrated the birth of Jesus and the visit of the Wise Men, and now we remember
that he was taken to the Temple and a new stage in his life began. Things weren’t
always going to be easy for Jesus. His mother Mary was warned that some hard times
were ahead for him and for her. So it is a day that has a mixture of happy and sad
things in it. I’ll say some more about that in a moment, but first I want to talk about
some of the customs connected with Candlemas.
For centuries it has been a very popular feast, coming just at that time of year when
we are really getting tired of the dark cold winter. In Scotland, children used to bring
candles to school on this day so they could see to do their work. When gaslight came
in and they no longer needed candles for their work, they brought money instead and
gave it to the teacher. The boy and girl who gave the most money were the Candlemas
King and Queen and they got to give everyone an afternoon off work in order to play.
Another Candlemas custom is about the weather. The old saying is that if Candlemas
Day be fair and bright, winter will have another fight; if Candlemas Day brings cloud
and rain, winter won’t come again. So bad weather on this day is actually good news
– it means that winter is almost over. Where I come from, in America, people call
Candlemas Groundhog Day. They say that the groundhog comes out of his winter
hibernation and if it’s a bright day he sees his shadow and gets scared and goes back
into his hole. Then there will be six more weeks of winter. But if it’s a dull, cloudy or
wet day and he can’t see his shadow, he stays out and spring is on the way.
Well that’s a long way from the story of Jesus in the Temple, and most Americans
have no idea that there is a connection with Candlemas, but now you know!
Whatever the weather today, it’s a very special day for us at St Mary’s, because nine
young members of our congregation are going to receive Holy Communion for the
first time. They have been preparing for this day for several months. The most
important thing of all, though, happened a long time ago for most of them, and that is
that they have been baptized. Esther remembers her baptism because it was just two
weeks ago, and everyone else in the class and the congregation can remember it too.
When we are baptized, we are anointed with special oil on our foreheads and water is
poured on our heads. The last thing that happens is that we are given a special candle,
and we are told to shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father. So
Candlemas is a perfect day for young baptized members of our congregation to
promise that they are going to shine as lights in the world.
We don’t shine because we are naturally good and clever. We shine because we
reflect the light of Jesus Christ. God loves us, and that love shines through us. Other
people should be able to see God’s love in our faces.
Jesus invites us to his special meal in order to share his love with us. Every time we
eat the bread and drink the wine in Communion, we are having a special, personal
meeting with Jesus. When I say The Body of Christ and you say Amen, it is a way of
greeting Jesus. He comes to each of you to bring you the love of God.
Then, because Jesus has fed us, we can offer ourselves to serve him in the world,
doing whatever is needed to show the world what God’s love looks like.
I said today is a mixture of happy and sad things. The sad thing is that the fun time of
Christmas is really over now. The crib figures will be put away after this service.
From now on we are starting to think about Lent. That is when we remember that
following Jesus can be really hard sometimes. Ash is put on our foreheads on Ash
Wednesday to remind us that Jesus went all the way to the cross for us, and we must
be faithful and follow him even when it is not easy to do so.
So at the end of the service today, after you have received Holy Communion, we will
all light our candles and walk back to the font, where Esther was baptized just two
weeks ago and where we all remembered our own baptism promises. As we go we’ll
sing the words of old Simeon – they are in Latin: Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine,
meaning Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. Simeon wasn’t afraid to die
because now he knew that God had kept his promise. He had lived long enough to see
Jesus, the Saviour.
At the font we’ll blow out our candles to mark the official end of Christmas, and we
will begin to look ahead to Lent. We will ask God to help us to shine with his light in
the world.
And that is our prayer for you children today who are being admitted to Holy
Communion. You belong to the family of God through your baptism. You are
welcomed to the table of Jesus to be fed by him. You are called to shine with his light
in the world. And as you begin your journey of following Jesus, we pray that you will
continue on this path and come to Confirmation one day when you are old enough to
promise to be his follower for the rest of your lives.