Things Hoped For

For those of us who do not jump into the Christmas season early and often, we began the season of Advent a week ago.  Yesterday was the second Sunday of Advent.  I believe that Advent is more important than ever.   The secular Christmas season is well under way in our society.  I haven’t been to a mall recently, but I imagine that Christmas carols are being played to encourage people to buy, buy and yes, buy more to honour the child that was born in a stable with a manger for a bed.  It is, all in all, the height of irony that Christmas bacchanalia has the world - at least the Western world - in its death grip.  Sorry – I am being rather over the top here.  I promised myself that I wouldn’t indulge in my annual Christmas/Advent rant, but I seem to have broken it – and it wasn’t even a New Years resolution.  There will be lots of opportunities to not live up to any New Year's resolutions that I might rashly make in about a month’s time.

Back to Advent which is supposed to be the topic of today’s rant, sorry, – reflection.  In the worship service I was part of yesterday, we celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent.   We had the ritual of the lighting of the first and second of four Advent candles on the Advent Wreath.  Each of the four candles represent a theme, or value, or virtue which we can reflect on during Advent in our preparation for the coming (the advent) of the Christ Child.  There can be some variation in the themes but generally they are, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  The order may vary but we lit the first candle representing Hope and yesterday, Peace.  Peace is what many people associate with Jesus as he is often named the Prince of Peace, so, let me reflect on Hope. 

Hope, generally, means a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.  We can hope for many different things.  If you reflect on what you may have hoped for in the past or what you hope for today, what things would they be?  I can think of times when I hoped for fame, fortune, happiness and generally the fulfillment of what I happened to desire.  This could vary greatly depending on my circumstances.  However, they were usually focused on what I thought would fulfill my life.  There was an element of being like the kind of person I admired at that time. 

If I examine what I hope for these days, what comes to mind is things like good health and happiness for me and for my loved ones.  , I also think of hope that our leaders will be wise and bring a sense of right purpose to the decision they make – although, with the re-election of Donald Trump as President of the United States at times that seems like a very faint hope.  However, if I turn my thoughts to more spiritual things which does seem appropriate when we consider Advent, there are many possibilities of what we can hope for.  One source noted that in the Bible, hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised, and its strength is in His faithfulness. Turning to one of the sources I depend on, Richard Rohr writes, “Hope, it seems to me, is the fruit of a learned capacity to suffer wisely and generously. The ego needs success to thrive; the soul needs only meaning.” (Daily Meditation December 3, 2014)

On reflection, much of what I have hoped for in my life have been ego driven.  The ego does not want to have to suffer, even when the suffering will bring us to a better place – which is not true of all suffering.  What doesn’t kill us does not necessarily make us stronger.  But we can (appropriately) hope that we will be able to see that God is with us even, or especially in our suffering.  We can hope for soul work in our lives that will open us more fully to God.  That is something to be devoutly hoped for.

Blessings on your Advent journey.

 

A Candle Burns Bright

 At the worship service Sunday at St. Alban’s Church, Souris, the altar candles were on their last legs, so to speak.  They had burned down almost to the base and were lit with the hope that they could give service for one more worship service.  I kept an eye on them and kept my liturgical fingers crossed.  It also crossed my mind that there might be a tradition – we are Anglicans after all, and tradition is important to us -   that it might be bad luck for a candle to burn itself out during a worship service.  A candle going out can represent something coming to an end. 

As the worship service drew to an end, it looked as if I might have a chance to see if that possibility was confirmed.  However, just when I thought the light was going to be overcome, the flame shone forth in a blaze of glory, and all was well.  Both altar candles were snuffed out once the service concluded.  Now, I don’t think that this qualifies as a miracle – even a minor one.  However, it certainly gave a lift to all of us and gave a wonderful conclusion to the worship service.

Of course, candles are an important symbol in Anglican worship.  We have candles on the altar which are lit for worship.  The candle of the Gospel side – the side with the pulpit – should not stand alone, as I was taught in school.  It is lit after the candle on the epistle side and extinguished before the epistle candle (sorry for the minutiae of Anglican liturgy).  We also have the four Advent candles which are lit during the four Sundays of Advent.  There is also the Christ Candle which is lit at appropriate times during the church year and for particular events such as baptisms and funerals.

Beyond these practices, candles have universal symbolic meaning or meaning.  One source entitled, Candles – Brief History of Symbolism, notes in the introduction:

Candles have always had a distinctive place in our society, and as such they represent an incredible link that taps into our past. In a quite unique way, candles radiate messages of romance, passion, security, warmth, hope, spirituality, mystery, to name just a few. Candles indeed are a burning example that the whole is more than sum of its parts – be they just a little wax and wick as they are. Deeply rooted in almost every religious and spiritual practice, creed and nationality, there is something peculiar and symbolic in a solitary flame and the aura of light surrounding it. It communicates with our souls. It speaks beyond words. It is the Unspeakable that dwells in the midst of the candle flame. It enlightens, enlivens, inspires, whispers secrets, comforts and ultimately connects. No matter how thick the darkness, the light of one candle conquers it. No matter how solitary one flame is, it is never alone or lonely for its light knows no boundaries and touches eternity.

As another source said, “it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”  So may you be blessed always have a candle to light your way on your journey.

Let Your Light Shine

The season of Advent is drawing to a close.  The great feast of Christmas draws nigh when we will again celebrate the birth of the Christ Child in a lowly stable in a small insignificant town more than two thousand years ago. 

One of the ways in which I join with other Christians to mark Advent is to light candles on the Advent wreath – four candles for the four Sundays of Advent which surround the white Christ Candle at the centre of the wreath which is lit on Christmas Day.  The light of these candles is most appropriate as it symbolizes the light that is coming into the world at Christmas – the darkness has been overcome as noted at the opening of the Gospel of John, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” 

There are many associations that we can draw upon when we think about candles beyond those on the Advent wreath.  Candles were used on the first Christmas trees when they were introduced to England by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  These were replaced by electric lights fortunately but I know of people who still use candles on Christmas trees which can be done safely if proper protocols are followed.  Of course, there are the candles on birthday cakes which increase in number every year and the birthday cakes if us Baby Boomers are becoming conflagrations. An opportunity to make a wish for the coming year. 

Candle lights still are a powerful symbol of lighting the way and, as it says in John’s Gospel, overcoming the darkness of this world.  There are many songs and hymns which have a theme of lights and candles.  Two of my favourites are, This Little Light of Mine, and Jesus Bids Us Shine which are both from my childhood.  Here’s the chorus for This Little Light of Mine:

This little light of mine - I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine - I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine - I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

Perhaps the power of the song is the repetition of some simple lyrics.  It certainly is easy to remember and has a message that is hard to miss.  Here’s a link to the song on YouTube to brighten your day, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCN893hzueQ.

The other favourite of mine as I noted is Jesus Bids Us Shine.  Here are the lyrics for the first verse.

Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness, so we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.

I always think of this one as the introvert’s theme song.  In my most introverted I like to think of myself being able to let my light shine in my small corner where I am safe and sound.  It was knowingly or not the theme of my life growing up where I could be myself in my small corner and still let my little light shine.  I sometimes still like to retreat to my small corner and recharge my batteries – true introvert that I am.

In any case I hope you will let your little light shine in the darkness of this world and remember it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  May you be Blessed this joyous Christmas time.

  

Hope Shall Come Again

 For those who celebrate the season of Advent, you will know that last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent.  We began the preparation for Christmas and the coming of the Christ child and all that entails, by lighting the first candle on the advent wreath.  Advent is also the celebration of the hope for the second coming of Jesus Christ the King.

The lighting of the Advent Candle is one of the ways which we can observe the season and not jump right into the celebration of Christmas which seems to be earlier every year.  There is also the tradition of the Advent Calendar which count down the days until the wonderful event when the baby Jesus arrives in the stable and is placed in a lowly manger in that small insignificant town in an insignificant country occupied by the most powerful country in the world. 

Lorna and I participated yesterday in another wonderful Advent tradition and a tuned into the service of Advent Lessons and Carols at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church in Toronto.  This lived up to our high expectations under difficult circumstances with only a quartet rather than a full choir and liturgist who acquitted themselves admirably. 

The advent wreath is comprised of four candles, one for each of the four Sundays in Advent. Each candle represents a symbol of what is represented by the coming of the Christ Child; Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.  Sunday, we lit the candle representing Hope.  We livein a world that has always need of hope; this year more so than ever. Reflecting on hope, I am reminded of the Greek myth of Pandora’s box.  Here is a summary from an on-line source as a reminder of the myth:

Pandora was the first mortal woman in Greek mythology, a sort of an Ancient Greek Eve. Following the instructions of Zeus – who wanted to punish Prometheus for stealing the fire from the gods and giving it to the humans – she was molded by Hephaestus and endowed with gifts by all the other Olympian gods. One of these gifts was a jar full of all the evils and diseases which exist in the world. One day – out of curiosity and not out of malice – Pandora lifted the lid of the jar, thus instantaneously releasing all evils and diseases into the world. Shocked by what had happened, she quickly tried to put the lid back, managing to merely trap Hope inside it. That is why Hope is the last thing that dies in man: even though deceitful from time to time, it is the only consolation humans have for all the troubles Pandora let loose on the world. The event of their release marks the end of the trouble-free Golden Age of Man, and the beginning of the Silver Age, the second of the five Ages of Man. https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Pandora/pandora.html

Hope, it seems, has been around for a very long time.  It was not invented by Christians but was recognized as one of those characteristics essential to human nature and encapsulates what is possible in for humanity as we look to a world in which God’s kingdom will be established here in this world in the second coming.  That hope is made manifest by the birth of the Christ Child – not in a castle as the prince of a world-ruling empire but of a very different kingdom based on love.

In your journey to what will be a very different Christmas for many of us, be assured that we have the Hope of a world which is different than what we have now – a world beyond COVID isolation.

Blessings on your Advent journey in preparation for the coming of the Prince of Peace.

P.S. Thanks to Lorna for the reminder that Advent is also about the second coming.