Saint Margaret’s

Anglican Episcopal Church

Budapest, Hungary

Malachi 3:1-4 ; Hebrews 2:14-18 ;

Luke 2:22-40 ; Psalm 84

My eyes have seen your salvation, which you

have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a

light for revelation…

Candles have always been important to the

Church not only because many medieval

churches, especially in mid-winter in northern

Europe, were dark and dreary places in practical

need of illumination, but because the flame or

light of the candles themselves was somehow

felt to frighten away any evil spirits lurking in the

dark recesses of the church and people’s lives.

Beyond that, the flame of the candle provided a modicum of warmth and a reassurance of

the summer light sure to come.

We still light candles on our altar each Sunday. By the way, the candles used at the

Eucharist in ages past by Canon law had to be of pure beeswax, the social order and

energy of the bees being seen as emblematic of how and what the Church itself should be;

busy as bees, a society at peace with itself and working together energetically for the

common purpose not only of survival but salvation. I have here a one-hundred percent

beeswax candle gifted to me years ago by a parishioner. In fact, I think it was our own

Alice who gave it to me. It has a wonderful scent and soft glowing hue to it, as you can

see, unmatched by modern paraffin candles.

Lighted candles also came of course to symbolize Christ, who is the light of the world;

Christ who brings illumination and enlightenment to hearts and minds sometimes grown

cold and dark with doubt or cynicism. We see this most dramatically of course in the

Paschal, or Easter, candle which would be lit at the ancient Easter Vigil services of great

cathedrals. It still is, in fact. We have our own modest version here at Saint Margaret’s.

We also light candles on our Advent Wreath and remember the coming of the light of

Christ into our world.

Over the ages, the Festival Day of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which we

celebrate today, also became a day associated with light and candles. In fact, it came to

be called Candlemas, the day of the year upon which the candles used at the altar over the

coming year would be blessed. For fairly obvious reasons, the Church did not choose for

this purpose a day in the intense heat and glaring light of mid-summer when crates of

candles might well have melted and congealed into an unholy mass or mess.

But the Church chose rather the mid-point of the winter season, still called cross-quarter

day by the meteorologists, some forty-five or so days after the birth of Jesus at Christmas

or in other words today, February second, which is also of course the festival day of ourLord’s Presentation in the Temple, commemorating the occasion when, in the temple at

Jerusalem, Simeon’s eyes were opened and he came to describe Jesus as “the light of

revelation for the Gentiles.

” Gentiles, that of course would be you and me. And, as

Simeon proclaims, Christ has come into the world to bring the light of the Gospel to those

darkened by sin and despair. There is no sign of candles in our Gospel passage, but it is

easy to imagine them there, illuminating the temple precinct itself and Simeon’s face.

In many ways, our world remains as dark a place as it has ever been, some might say

darker still. Just this past week, we commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz eighty

years ago and all those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, the darkest of all dark times.

Sadly, as we know too well, people across the globe remain impoverished by war and the

corruption of the powerful. They still seek refuge far from their homelands. The world

today remains sorely in need of “the light of revelation” which is found in Christ and the

Gospel.

So, perhaps this mid-winter, this cross-quarter day, is a day upon which we can reflect on

the Cross and the salvation won for us there; a day when we can again believe in light and

revelation and begin to feel the warmth not only of the summer to come but of God’s love

for us, which does not change with the seasons. After all, it takes more than a change of

seasons to bring understanding and light into our troubled and darkened world. It takes

God at work in the hearts of men and women everywhere, in the heart of each of us.

It takes Christ alive in our world today, still a “light of revelation to the Gentiles” and to all

people. An old proverb, attributed to everyone from Confucius to Eleanor Roosevelt, tells

us that it is always better to light one little candle than to curse the darkness. That is our

challenge. The world today is sorely in need of every little candle, the flames of which

together can brighten the world and lighten our paths.

As you with the Holy Family return later this day to your homes, my friends, share the light

which God has given you. Let your hearts burn bright with the light of Christ. Be, my

friends, busy as bees for the good. Only in this way can we ever hope to overcome the

pervasive darkness of this or any age and bring revelation and light to those in such need

of it.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God,

set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever.

Amen.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Frank Hegedűs