3rd Week of Advent: Candlelight

This is the beginning of the 3rd Week of Advent.
Isaiah 61:1-2a (NIV)
¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor...

John 1:4-9 (NIV)
⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
⁶ There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
⁹ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 


It's not as common today as I remember growing up - candles in the window.  We frequently light candles, but especially during Advent.  Candles, of course, are  no longer the main source of light for households; so they simply add to the decorations, the ambiance of a room.  Still, a single candle burning in a darkened room changes everything.  The light pierces the darkness, rendering it without it's power.
Did you know that the candle once served a people in their faith?  The tradition of candles in the window goes back a few hundred years ago to Ireland.  During one of the periods when the English monarch brutally sought to repress Ireland's Catholic heritage, the English monarch launched a persecution against the Irish Catholic church, and especially it's priests.  Now, I should add, this had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with political power.  The English had separated from Rome and were concerned that their Irish subjects would lead a rebellion against the English unless they also were separated from the Roman church.  When this occurred Priests became outlaws, forced to stay in hiding, and in coming out to lead the Mass put their lives in danger.  So, Irish households began to put candles in the window around Christmas - and, leave their doors unlocked.  When the English asked why they did this, they told them it was to leave a place for Mary, Joseph and the baby to come to their houses.  The English thought it just another stupid Irish superstition and let it go.  What really happened was candles in the window indicated to outlaw Priests that this was a safe house to come and stay at.  It became a means of survival and a way to say that the darkness does not rule the day.
We've put candles out, not because of religious persecution, but because Jesus was "the true light that gives light to every person".
Jesus is the light that shatters our darkness of sin, illuminates our path so that we can see what God really intended for our lives - a life of fullness and abundance, apart from the darkness of sin, fear and death.
Jesus is the light of the world, and one day at his Second Advent, our world that longs for peace and compassion will have the true Light of the World to show the way.

Peace