Sometimes things hit me a little differently as I get older. Candlelight Services have always been a tradition no matter what church I’ve attended but tonight, as I was in the upper deck at Trinity, I got a different view than the one I’m used to. Like for many people, experiences with Christians have been a mixed bag. They are some of the meanest/nicest, cruel/kind, selfish/generous, arrogant/humble people I have known. But no matter the darkness that may be in each of us who claim Christ as Lord, there is a light that persists even against our worldly nature. This same nature that proves so hard to cast off at times takes a front seat in many of our interactions, but then there’s this light.

Tonight I looked down and watched as hundreds of people who once were in darkness had a small flame passed to them by their neighbor. And slowly, it filled the room. The house lights were shut off but I could hardly tell. For the moment, everyone was free from darkness and were joined in singing Silent Night. This light they carried was a candle, but as we celebrated our Savior’s birth it stood, like the star, for His presence in our lives. This light, not glowing from anything we’ve done, not because of our status or background, but for our present and our future, shines to give us a hope not attached to anything here. This light, when held aloft as our identity, our soul source of joy and peace, spreads, for each one of us has a wick.

At one point we shared an identity greater than our own, greater than anything that can be done by a crowd of any size. We were sharing in the joy of the magi, the fulfillment of the prophets, the worship of angelic hosts and as a result, all our darkness was as chaff. This light, this small candle began to represent for me something much more than a stick of wax with some string in it, it was Jesus in us shining His light to this darkened world regardless of our darkened selves. We become illumined not because of us, but because we agreed to believe that He came for us.

What would it be like to live humbly knowing that our achievements here, no matter how great, will always pale in comparison to what has been done for us and the greatest thing we could ever do is acknowledge it?

The moment passed and it was time to blow out our candles. On the count of three we did. It was startling how drastic the darkness was, and without that small flame, that is all we will ever have. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine… hide it under a bushel, no! Won’t let Satan pff it out… I’m gonna let it shine.

God bless,
Merry Christmas,

Brian