January 3, 2025
Ghost Lights, Candles, and Enlightened Symbols
In a theater, when the actors and the staff are gone and the stage is “dark,” inevitably there will be a single light bulb lit. It is call the “ghost light.” It is a statement that even when empty, the light and spirit of creativity remains in the theatre. Recently when theaters were shuttered by COVID, ghost lights remained lit in theaters around the world. It may seem insignificant, but there is something profound about the symbolic contrast between light and dark.
This universal contrast is certainly present in the Judeo-Christian tradition. A light was always to be lit in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, as sign of God’s presence. Jesus was God’s light entering a world whose darkness would never overcome the light. The season of Advent has for centuries been a season defined by lights in darkness. An so last month we once again lit candles each week in Advent to count down the dark weeks until Christmas.
Then on Christmas Eve we lit the “Christ Candle.” And this raised a question for me. One, I admit, I had never considered before. Don’t we already have a Christ candle? So I dug into my library and discovered something that if I knew, I had forgotten. The candle that is lit for the first time on Easter, is the Paschal Candle. It is like a ghost light, or the light in the temple—it is a symbol of Christ’s risen presence which is always present in in our worship. The Paschal Candle is taken out of our worship space at the end of our Good Friday service. A new candle to be used until the next Good Friday is lit on Easter Sunday.
The Christ Candle, lit on Christmas, remains in our worship space until the last Sunday in Christmas. It is a celebration of the birth of Christ, the incarnation of the Divine in human form. All of this may seem insignificant or trivial, but in the grand scheme, we need symbols to remind us of things we take for granted: like the layers of creativity that gives life to a theatrical performance, like the light of God that was born into the world in the incarnation of Christ, like the presence of the risen Christ which is the light in each one of out worship services. In some ways, it is the Paschal Candle that is the symbol of why we worship on Sunday, the day of resurrection.
As we enter a new year and all its unknowns, may the light of Christ and the hope of the resurrection sustain us in all that comes our way. And if you need a reminder, the light of the risen Christ’s hope will be there to assure you.
Blessings on you all in the new year,
~ Pastor Todd