One Candle-Power

While my family and I were relocating from Havertown, PA to El Dorado, AR we received word that our moving truck had broken down and that our delivery date that had been “pre-planned” and “scheduled” got put-off and rescheduled.  Imagine the scrambling if Christmas were actually put back a couple of days to the 27^th and there was going to be one more week of Advent this year! 

We greeted this news about our move with a sigh and a shrug saying, “it was bound to happen.”  But more than that was the opportunity to take advantage of the extra time to “see some sights.” 

In the Shenandoah valley of Virginia we stopped at one of the famous “caverns” and did an underground tour.  Turns out we ended up at the place were tours have been going on for about 200 years.  And it was in the midst of being underground, with no outside light, that our tour guide turned off all the electric lights and then lit a single candle. 

I was reminded that "one candle-power"—amidst total darkness—is incredibly powerful! 

Our Christian season of Advent begins every year with one-candle-power.  I was thinking of this recent experience as I anticipated the lighting our Church’s advent wreath this past Sunday.  One candle-power.  That’s all. 

Advent begins with the flick of a bic, or a click of the lighter, or the strike of the match, and the flame is touched to the candle wick.  And for a week, that single candle burns by itself. 

One candle power. 

Is that what it was like when God said, “Let there be light?” 

And for those first few moments, the light burning away the darkness revealing chaos! 

I’m almost afraid to ask what that one candle power reveals in our world as that light chases away the darkness!  What’s been lurking in the shadows that we haven’t seen?  What new things are revealed to us about our world that the light suddenly reveals?  A light that seems so fragile amidst the darkness. 

Sometimes it seems that the darkness is always more powerful than the light.  One candle power hardly seems enough to hold back the darkness—at least not for long.  I suppose this is why we light a second candle, and then a third, and a fourth after that. 

And this year, the congregation I’m serving has a tree that stands at least two stories tall, adorned by light and chrismons.  The light of one candle, easily dwarfed by the light blazing in the corner of the sanctuary, full of the reminders of Christ!  A reminder in light that we are not alone.  That we walk with Christ among us.  That one candle power now only chases the darkness to the corners, but that one candle has backup! 

This Advent, I’m trying to think of the one candle power not revealing the darkness of the world, but exposing Christ in the world.  One candle is enough to reveal Christ at work, or Christ’s work.  And that is another light.  Now there are two lights, revealing a third and a forth.  Now for lights, spreading to six more. 

If each of us had a light….  Oh wait.  We do! 

I was reminded online last week of this quote attributed to Karl Barth: 

“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.  We must hear this in the same way we hear the news of the daily headlines.” 

For those of you who call the world dark, or who keep revealing the darknesses, the dark places, or the power of the “dark side”—I raise you one candle-power. 

How can we greet these days with the grace with which they are given?  An opportunity to bask in promises that are real—rather than as unwanted setbacks? 

© Rev. David Stipp-Bethune; Teaching Elder and Pastor, The First Presbyterian Church of El Dorado, Arkansas