Thoughts for the Day

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I love Church festivals and times when we can explore our faith in drama, artwork, action, and possibly with food. Our ancestors often were much better at this than us, but nevertheless today's festival offers us all sorts of possibilities. For a start the 2nd February has a lot of names: it is Candlemas, Presentation of the Lord, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and Hypapante (meeting) and commemorates the occasion when Mary and Joseph in obedience to the law go to the Temple in Jerusalem for Mary to be purified, also to present their firstborn to God, and where they meet Simeon the prophet. Our reading is from the Hebrew scriptures, from the prophet Malachi (400 years before Christ) who speaks of the coming of the Lord like a "refiner's fire" - a place where silver is put in the hottest part of the fire to get rid of impurities.

From early times Candlemas has involved the lighting and the blessing of candles when people would bring their candles to church. So the idea of Christ as the Light of the World is important, for He came to offer hope to us. But He will come again in the future and will act as a "refiner's fire" to sift us of impurities.

So today (or this coming Sunday since it can be celebrated then) let us light candles at least, and welcome Christ the Light of the world into our life this day.

Jesus Christ,
Light of the world,
Who came to bring us hope
in our darkness,
and whom the prophet Malachi foresaw
and Simeon recognised,
may we celebrate this day
as a day of thanksgiving,
with candles and light,
to remember all that You
have done for us.
Amen.