The Service of Candlemas
This Sunday we celebrate the The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Candlemas). Candlemas marks the end of the Christmas and Epiphany celebrations as we begin our journey towards the beginning of Lent. This celebration is forty days after Jesus’s birth the time when Mary presented her first born son at the Temple. Mary was following the ancient mosaic Law, that of purification and redemption (c.f. Leviticus 12:2-8, Numbers 18:15). The Gospel tells us that when Joseph and Mary take Jesus their first-born son to be presented in the Temple, Simeon recognises him as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:32). Light is a powerful symbol that represents everything that is in opposition to the darkness that we experience as humans. Light is a symbol of the presence of Christ, the hope (trust) that we have in Jesus and the Good News, that which he both proclaims and embodies in human form.
It is this, Christ’s Gospel, that we proclaim and embody in our worship, in the Liturgy and in our lives. This is what we do each and every time that we gather together in our services of worship, week after week, year after year. At the service of Candlemas we bless the candles that we will be using though the year in our services to remind us of Christs light that always is with us at our times of worshiping together. It is this light that we carry out into world within us. The light of Christ.
God Bless
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