The Light of the World

Photo courtesy of www.wallpaperhdwide.com

A friend of ours down the street is moving this week, and just the other day she appeared on my doorstep with a box of lovely candles that the movers couldn't pack.  She knows I love candles, especially this time of year when the days are short and the twilight hours are so long!

It turns out that the ancient Church is a big fan of candles, too.  The Advent season is a time in which many of us Christ-followers light a candle each week as part of the Advent wreath tradition in our homes or churches.  This special wreath contains four candles around the perimeter, often in hues of pink and purple, and a large white pillar candle, the "Christ" candle, sits in the middle.  This candle is most special and it is only lit on Christmas Day.

As the Advent wreath grows brighter throughout the month, we are reminded that the coming, literally the "advent," of Christ is nearing.  More and more darkness is displaced by the light, signifying that Christ would come, in all His holiness, to likewise dispel the darkness and usher in the New Covenant, bringing an end to the reign of sin and death in this world.

And yet, of all lights that can signify Christ, I must pause and reflect that the candle is the perfect choice.  For you see, as it gives its light, it is simultaneously consumed.  It gives of its own "life" as it were to usher light into a dark corner.  And is that not what Christ has done for us, dear friend?  Giving of His own life, so that we could share in the light of His truth and His Word, imparting His light into our own hearts as the very fire of the Holy Spirit, as it came down in tongues of fire that very first eve of Pentecost?

I admire the flicker of the flame on this chilly December night...and I am spiritually undone.

Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ!