Candlemas

Marking out the progress of days, ordering our lives according to a pattern, it's something we all do in different ways. For anyone involved in church worship there's a clear picture of seasons beginning with Advent and ending with All Saints and All Souls. It's a rich and powerful way of marking out movement through the year but it often confounds our desire for an orderly march through time. This month, for instance, holds traces of Christmas and Easter, both Candlemas and Ash Wednesday fall within it's boundaries.

Candlemas marks the end of the Christmas season, and Ash Wednesday heralds the beginning of Lent. In a matter of weeks we travel from the birth of Jesus to preparation for his death. It's quite a jolt from the celebration and wonder of the new born child to the agony and sacrifice of the man, but it all pivots on the festival of Candlemas. In many churches it is celebrated with processions and candles, it can be as much a spectacle as the most elaborate of the Christmas services, and central to it is the song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis, '...let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.' The Christmas beholding, and the acceptance of death, sung out in one line; seeing it dramatised in church can bring this bitter-sweet message beautifully to life.

I would guess that most people have lost touch with the wonder of many of our Christian festivals and saint's days, and it's a great pity. There is no better way of engaging with faith than by acting out the significant stories. Look at the success of 'Open the Book' in schools, where Bible stories are dramatised, and huge numbers turn out to witness passion plays in some of our cities. Even the 'ashing' of Ash Wednesday engages people more forcibly than many other acts of worship

There is a hymn that begins 'We have a gospel to proclaim', it then runs through, in six verses, the story of Jesus Christ, before ending 'we sing His glory, tell His worth.'

As Christians we have a duty to proclaim the gospel, perhaps there is no better way of doing that than by celebrating his life and really physically marking those red letter days in our Christian calendar.

I look forward to celebrating Candlemas with you,

Lorraine.