This Sunday we are celebrating Candlemas – or as it is formally known, the Presentation of Christ. These two names reflect its twin themes.
On the one hand, it is the feast when we remember Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple to make the offering for him as the firstborn son. We recall Simeon taking the baby into his arms, and recognising him as the ‘light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel’. We hear of Anna, who praises God and begins to speak about the child to all.
On the other hand, it is – or was – the day when candles for use in the church were blessed: so that the words in the Nunc Dimittis ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles’ were symbolised in the candles lit in church. It is also the day when we turn at last from the Crib, that stable we have gazed into with wonder to see God-with-us, and begin our journey to the Cross, where God-with-us dies for us.
We can’t have 10,000 candles as they do at Ely Cathedral, but we will be celebrating this day – with words and music and, yes, candles on both Sunday morning at 10am and at Evensong.
While it’s not a legal requirement to wear masks in church any longer, we are still asking people to do so for the present, although I hope we will be able to review that soon.
with my prayers and blessings, Nicola