We live in the age of research, when we are constantly bombarded by cold callers and questionnaires, and when people’s reactions to statistical information tend to range from avid interest to suspicion and even hatred. But here is one statistic that has the potential to perplex us all. Did you know that in this last year the British public spent in the region of sixty six million pounds on candles?
Why is this so, when electricity provides all the light we need at the flick of a switch? Is it because we long for a simpler age, when the only source of light available was one that flickered in the darkness? To anyone who had to live through the blackouts of the 70’s, (when coal shortages caused by the miners’ strike led to power shortages on a nationwide scale), you will know just how boring this was. If all you have is candle light, then you can’t see very well, you can’t do all that much, and if you are not careful, you will strain your eyes into the bargain.
No, it’s not for sentimental reasons, or for practical ones that we love candles, it goes far deeper than that. John Drane, the main speaker at this month’s annual conference for churches in South East Edinburgh, came up with a much better reason. He thought it was more to do with the sense that the candle flame has a ‘life of its own’, not dependant on anything else. This, he suggests, is why its glow has the ability to quieten and comfort, inspire and encourage, and lift our spirits.
One of the main reasons I love a candle is because its flickering flame is so beautiful and yet so vulnerable – it can so easily be put out. It is for this reasons that candles and Christmas go so well together. Listen again to these words of Graham Kendrick.
Like a candle flame, flickering small in our darkness
Uncreated light shines through infant eyes
Stars and angels sing, yet the earth sleeps in shadows
Can this tiny spark set a world on fire?
God is with us, Alleluia
Come to save us, Alleluia, Alleluia
Jesus is the vulnerable face of God – ruler of all creation, yet small and helpless in a manger. From him the light of hope shines out in the darkness, offering us a choice – either acceptance or rejection. To reject him is to turn back to the darkness. To accept him is to accept the possibility of his light spreading through our lives and his hope burning ever brighter in the world around us.
Yet this light shall shine from our lives, Spirit blazing
As we touch the flame of his holy fire
God is with us, Alleluia
Come to save us, Alleluia, Alleluia
May the Light of the World shine ever brighter in your life throughout the season of Advent and beyond, into the year to come.
With much love, John