Candlelight and Christmas Eve

It was happening; the light was making its way back as I sat in the fourth from the last pew like we always did at every church service.  Only this time it was just mom and I.  The chorus of Silent Night was bouncing off the rafters and we stood there listening because we could not sing...there were too many tears.  Earlier that year we lost my grandmother, her mother Hazel.  That candle lit up the brokenness of our hearts, our tears, and at the same time illumined the joy knowing that Christ had taken her home.

I almost didn't get to light a candle that year.  I was bagging groceries at the local Kroger and since I was a new hire, I got the late shift on Christmas Eve.  But my mother went with me to the candlelight service as the rest of the family slept.  I will never forget that flame flickering, that emotional response, that moment forever frozen in time.  Every Christmas Eve it comes rushing back to me when my candle finds its flame. 

This part of the Christmas Eve service has always been special to me.  One of my earliest memories comes from the candlelight service when Pastor Kling invited the youngest person from each family forward to receive the light of Christ.  I ran to the front of the church so proud that I was chosen to carry Christ’s light, shining in the darkness of the sanctuary, back to my family.  Years later I was the acolyte holding the Christ candle as the little ones came forward.  In time I would stand alone in the pews on Christmas Eve, choked up yet again after the passing of my mother.  I still have a few of those candles in a drawer at home.

These days I am blessed to stand in front of the congregation, reading those profound words from John, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”  I watch as each candle receives its flame, illuminating the darkness like a wave that slowly fills the sanctuary.  I see friends and families, young and old alike with their faces aglow as the light of Christ fills the world.   I listen as the Silent Night is sung, the rich harmonies touching the depth of my soul, caressing each tear that drops.  In that moment, as the light of Christ surrounds me, I feel her presence.

What about you?  When that light reaches you on Christmas Eve, what will be on your heart?  Wherever you are, whoever you are with, as the illumination surrounds you, know that you join countless others welcoming the light of the Christ child into each heart and soul.  I will be with you as well, in the front pew, with a tear in my eye.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Pastor Steve