The Christ Candle

If you were here for our Palm Sunday service last Sunday, you may have noticed the Christ Candle being brought up, placed on the altar table, and lit by the acolytes.  The Christ Candle is one of the various symbols we use in Christian worship to teach and reinforce our shared history and theology.  

Appearances of the Christ Candle in worship are intentionally rare.  We are not living in the era of the presence of God in Christ beside us–we are now living in the era of the presence of God in the Holy Spirit within us.  This is symbolized each week by the acolytes processing the flame in, leaving the candles lit for the duration of the service, and then carrying the flame out of the sanctuary at the end, reminding us that the Spirit goes with us when we go out from the service of worship.  

However, throughout the Liturgical Calendar of the Christian year, there are times when we tell the story of the presence of Christ, and the Christ Candle helps us remember and visualize these moments of presence.

The Liturgical Calendar begins on the first Sunday of Advent.  The Christ Candle makes an appearance that day, as we are in a season of preparation for his arrival on Christmas.  It is located in the center of the advent wreath, but it is not yet lit, helping us feel the anticipation that Mary did–she was pregnant with Jesus, but he had not yet arrived.  We light the Christ Candle for the first time in the Liturgical Calendar year at the Christmas Eve service, because it represents that Jesus Christ is born.

We keep the Christ Candle lit through the season of Christmas, which, as the song teaches us, is twelve days long, ending on the day of Epiphany.  The Christ Candle is not displayed during the seasons of Epiphany or most of Lent.  Then, on Palm Sunday we process or introduce it in some way as a symbol of Christ's presence during Holy Week as he famously arrived on the back of a donkey. 

At the end of the Good Friday service, we process it out of the sanctuary as a symbol of the light of Christ being extinguished at his death on the cross.  On Easter Sunday morning during the processional hymn we process it back in as a visual symbol of his resurrection and physical presence once again.  We then display it in worship until Ascension, as the next Sunday–Pentecost–is the day we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit within us.

The Christ Candle is not displayed again until Advent, with the exception of funerals, at which it is displayed as a reminder of our sure hope in the resurrection of the body at the return of Christ.