Candlemas

2nd February 2012
       The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple is also known as "Candlemas"

"Mary's tapers"

If you look closely at a fully open snowdrop, you can see how it bends over like the flaming end of a candle lighting taper.  On the Feast of Candlemas some churches bless the candles that will be used in worship in the next twelve months, thinking of new light, Jesus "the Light of the World", of dawn, of new beginnings.
     It seemed a good day to have a funeral with the new start of life beyond death, the mystery which we cannot understand whilst we're limited to this life, mysteries of fulfilment beyond our imagination.
     Last week, before today's 95-year-old died, there were five generations of that family living in Bellingham.
     We began to think about the life of future generations in the evening's marriage preparation session.