CANDLE CONFUSION

Cherylyn Radford, Bowridge Associate Pastor

I do not come from a tradition that celebrates Advent. At all. I didn’t even know it existed untill my mid twenties. So, even now, I always have to look up what each week celebrates. Turns out week 2 is a bit nebulous. Some traditions say that it is the candle of peace. Others say it is the candle of faith. It is also called the Bethlehem Candle and several devotionals I found talk about how this is the week that we contemplate the coming of Christ.

Useful information, but not helpful for someone trying to write a devotional on the second week of advent. I wanted a clear topic.

So then I thought about my favorite Christmas carol. Not one that is sung a lot today, but really should be. “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus.” While Chris Tomlin has popularized it, the words were written a bit before his time. Charles Wesley penned it in 1744. And yet, some of the themes in the hymn are just as relevant today as they were 20 years before the beginning of the American Revolution.

In the carol, Wesley speaks of the desire for peace in our hearts that is common to just about everyone. “From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.”

How many of us can say that today? "Jesus, I am longing for peace, especially in my heart. The world seems so chaotic, so full of turmoil.” We, along with Wesley cry out, “rule in all our hearts alone.” We know that Christ will keep us in perfect peace if we trust in him and fix our thoughts on him (Isaiah 26:3), but we also long for peace on earth as the angels sang. Those of us who know the Savior know that it is only when he establishes his final reign on earth that there will be true peace.

So we wait. Not always so patiently. Our hearts long for his “gracious kingdom” and for worldwide peace. So in the waiting, what can we do? We can work with him to bring the kingdom. We can pray for the peace of Jerusalem and, by extension, Israel and Gaza (Psalm 122:6). We can carry out Matthew 25 and feed the hungry and welcome the stranger. In that, we are establishing a bit of God’s kingdom right now.

This waiting isn’t easy. It takes faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith shows us the reality of what we hope for, is evidence of things we cannot see. We may not see Christ’s kingdom established in our lifetime, but like those in Hebrews 11, we believe. It is in that faith that Christ becomes the “joy of every longing heart”. In that tiny town of Bethlehem was” born a child and yet a king” who will someday “raise us to his glorious throne".

So maybe nebulous is good and the second week of Advent can be all these things. We have peace in our hearts because we have been released from sin and fear and yet we wait for earthly peace by faith, all because of an event that took place in Bethlehem so long ago.