What are you carrying these days? I know that one of my flaws is that I believe I might need something and if I don’t bring it, I won’t have it when I need it. I was a Girl Scout, and I took the being prepared motto to heart. I know that I will pack my bag for work with my notebook, my occasional services book, my communion kit, a legal pad of paper, my sunglasses, my name tag, my medications, and a fun collection of pens, and I will still have a handful of things I need that didn’t make it into the bag. Most often, that’s my breakfast. When my babies were little, we had the car seats with the handle. As the kiddos grew and grew the bucket car seat got heavier and so did the diaper bag.
In these last days I have made sure to have my whistle, my portable charger, my yaks traxs, a copy of Lauryn’s passport, and an extra pair of mittens. I feel overloaded. Anyone else feeling like you are carrying too much?
This weekend we will give you one more thing to carry, if you are willing. It’s a candle. You can have a small one, either battery powered or with a wick for a flame. It is to celebrate Candlemas. The day when Mary carries the baby Jesus to the Temple for his presentation and purification as the first born child. He’s 40 days old now, 10 weeks old and starting to make eye contact and putting on weight. The elders in the temple see him and know him immediately. Jesus is the light of the world. So we carry and bless the candles and call out together “The light of Christ. Thanks be to God!”
The thing about candles is that when you light them, they don’t get heavier. Carrying the light of Christ brings lightness and goodness into our weariness. So, please, this weekend take the light of Christ with you. Carry him in your hearts.
Shalom,
Pastor Melissa