The Feast of Candlemas which we are remembering this morning marks the true end of the Christmas Celebrations. Today’s Feast is the culmination of the Christmas season of celebration. It is the reason why our church remains in White or Gold until 2nd February rather than reverting to the Green of Epiphany Sundays, to which it will move next week. 40 days of rejoicing and thanksgiving for the birth of our Saviour have been celebrated. 

The 2nd February is the 40th day after Christmas Day and Christmastide like Eastertide is 40 days long. This is to emphasise the importance of the Feast of Christ’s Nativity - the birth of our Saviour. Just as we keep the 40 days of Lent and Eastertide to emphasise the self-giving and resurrection of Christ as our Saviour. I wonder, however, how many people have been giving thanks for 40 days for the wonder and mystery of the Incarnation? For some, Christmas ended on Boxing Day when they took the tree down (being fed up with it as it was put up in early November!) or for most at Twelfth Night, when on the eve of the Epiphany decorations disappeared in some homes. Well not quite in mine.

Come Twelfth Night, I remove most of the decorations and the tree but I have an Epiphany Crib that I leave out along with any Christmas cards depicting the ‘Wise Men from the East’ until Candlemas. Only after Candlemas do I fully clear ‘Christmas’ away. 

Candlemas is, I believe, an important but so often overlooked feast day. I wish it was more noticed by everyday folk and the wider Church as well. 40 days of Christmas celebration seek to remind us of the importance of Jesus’ birth, It should be something we greatly rejoice  in. For without Christ’s birth there would be no Easter Day and proof of our redemption! Although Easter is the primary celebration of our faith, Christmas comes a close second.

But, what is Candlemas or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple really all about?

St.Luke relates to us, the story of Jesus’ presentation in the temple and his Mother’s purification or ‘Churching’ after childbirth. It was the Jewish tradition to make sacrifice in thanksgiving for the birth of a son. He also goes on to tell us about the two elderly temple dwellers who have been told by God that they will live to see their Messiah. When they see the Holy Family, God alerts them to the fact that they are in the presence of the Messiah. They rejoice and give thanks knowing that their waiting is over. 

They also predict that the child will have a turbulent life but that he will save those who believe who he is. These two pensioners see the light of Christ and it shines brightly for them in their darkness.

Candle-mass, also, tells us something else and it is very important; it is that we are never too old or too young to do God’s will. Think about it. The Candlemas heroes are Jesus and two elderly people Simeon and Anna both of whom have waited years to see the Christ Child. They were in God’s eyes NOT TOO OLD to proclaim the Christ. The infant or baby Jesus is also NOT TOO YOUNG to offer God’s salvation to us. 

Candlemas is a festival celebrating not only the salvation offered by Christ but the wisdom of the elders in recognising who that baby really was. Simon and Anna also prove that we are never too old to change our minds or to see something afresh or with new eyes. 

Both ends of life are represented in this feast of Candle-mass; this feast shows us that age in God’s eyes is no barrier to proclaiming his truth and salvation. It may not suit our human logic that it is the elderly and the very young acting as prophets of God but, it suits God’s logic and shows us that God will use us as he thinks best, regardless of our age, sex or background. None of us are ever too young or too old to do God’s bidding.