Forty days on and Christmas is a distant memory. The bright lights that lit up our homes are back in the box, and we’ve long since eaten the last of the turkey curry leftovers. Now we’re just holding on through the storms of winter for the first signs of spring. But hold on a minute, what’s this? In the midst of the winter gloom followers of Jesus are not quite done with Christmas. The 2nd of February marked the celebration of Candlemass, remembering the time that the infant Jesus was dedicated in the Temple at Jerusalem. How fitting that in the depths of winter a candle should be lit, a light shining in the darkness. On that occasion an old man called Simeon met Jesus and his parents in the Temple and declared, ‘Sovereign Lord, my eyes have seen your salvation1’.

It may be that today you long for a light to shine in the darkness of your current circumstances. Well, the message of Candlemass is that it can. Jesus came as a light to the world that would never be extinguished, and he promises peace and wholeness to all who will come to him. 

1Luke 2:29,30

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