Candlemas 2026
Today many Christians around the world celebrate the festival of Candlemas. This marks the time when Mary and Joseph first brought the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. In Luke 2:21-40 we hear how two older people, Simeon and Anna, had both been waiting faithfully for this day to come. Sweeping the baby up in their arms, they proclaimed him to be the light of all nations!
Text: Luke 2:21-40
I have had a particular affection for today's Gospel story ever since we named out first child Anna. Not everyone has children, but whether you have or haven't, you can probably imagine what it means to hold that child as a baby in your arms and pray over her or him. All your hopes and dreams for who they might become. The daunting sense of responsibility for them. The promise to walk with them in the good times, but the reality that you will also hold them in the bad. And here we have this beautiful picture of elderly Simeon holding the baby Jesus in his arms, praying over him. And what a profound prayer or prophesy he prays.
It appears that Luke deliberately combined for the purposes of this story two Rituals described by the Old Testament. These are firstly the redemption of the firstborn and secondly the purification of the mother.
The firstborn was considered as wholly belonging to the Lord and had to be symbolically brought back for five shekels. There was no requirement in this to be done at the temple, but likewise there is no evidence that it could not be performed there either.
The purification of the mother is an entirely different ceremony. For 40 days after giving birth to a male child a woman was considered ritually unclean. At the conclusion of that period a sacrifice for the purification of the mother was offered. If Mary and Joseph had been better off they would have offered a lamb. Instead they offered the sacrifice of the poor was two young pigeons, and here we have in this story an identification of Jesus with the poor. He was not born as a king; he was not born with great political power. When he was born few recognized him. Even when he was brought to the temple it was just Simeon and Anna who saw who he really was. Jesus was born as one of us. No pomp or ceremony, but instead an identity with the poor and weak and powerless. That of course is the story that is to unfold throughout his later ministry. Jesus' heart was there in the midst of humanity, not looking on from the outside, but being there right in the middle.
If all eyes are on the baby, the other key players in the story are Simeon and Anna. We know that Anna is old by the standards of those times the passage tells us she was 84. It is also assumed Simeon is older. He has been waiting a long time to see the promise given to him by God come to be. Now he has seen Jesus he says he can die in peace.
For many years, Simeon and Anna had invested time in praying, fasting and listening to God, eagerly anticipating the hope that was to come. Consistent long-term investment pays off.
Praying and reading God's word every day should bring you into a closer relationship with him.
Iris and Gwen, prayer warriors at St Stephen’s Church
There is no retirement in the kingdom of God. The temple was thronging the day Jesus arrived, but only Simeon and Anna recognised him for who he was. The rest never noticed him.
The crowds in the temple hoped for a Messiah, however it was a Messiah in their own image. They hope for a real king of the world. A charismatic leader, glowing in royal colours, radiating glory, holding world dominion, full of power and majesty. Like Ceaser Augustus. Simeon in his song speaks of a different sort of Messiah. Poor, who deals with our suffering by entering into it. He speaks dark words of opposition and about a sword that will pierce Mary's heart as well.
Simeon and Anna have the prayerful wisdom and experience to see the true Messiah.
Although candles are not mentioned in Luke's story of the Presentation, it is easy to see why candles became the focus for Candlemas. At the heart of the story is an encounter: a meeting between the old Simeon and the baby Jesus. An old and weary world meets a new, fresh life, and the old man says that light has broken in — the curtains are drawn back on a new way of being human.
There is great expectancy in the story, too: what will it mean for them? But there is also the prediction of pain. The Gospel is bitter-sweet; it bears witness to the illuminating-concealing nature of God. There is talk of a sword piercing the heart of the child's mother. Light is seen as light only because there is darkness, and candles need lighting and protecting because they can easily go out.
Faith is the same. Our faith needs blessing from time to time refreshing, nurturing, and attending to. Life can be hard. Despair can be easy. We cannot afford to take the gift of faith for granted. Candlemas reminds us that Lent is coming, that snowfall in the soul where you must work out what matters; so use it well.
So what God-shaped dream do we hold in our arms? What is our dream or vision for St Mary's?
Hilda Young praying for St Saviours
St Stephen's praying for a new church
St Mary's praying for...? Who are the Simeons and Annas?
So what God-shaped dream do we hold in our arms?
Maybe it is us. That sense that God isn't finished with us yet. That flicker of a call. That stirring of a vocation. That call to be involved...
So what God-shaped dream do we hold in our arms?
Maybe it is for someone else. I am a Christian because of the faithful prayer s of those who believed in me. Those who held me. For some that God shaped dream lies outside the church. The workplace, the family, that project, that campaign...
So what God-shaped dream do we hold in our arms?
So what is the hope that you carry in your heart? Do we see Christ in our midst? What are we looking for?
Simeon's response to seeing and holding the Christ was to sing a song. The words of that song are in our reading. They are bitter-sweet and quite beautiful. We now call the song the
Nunc Dimittis. That is because those are the first two words of it in the Latin version of the bible. 'Now I may lay down in peace',
I am going to finish with those words, and perhaps as we hear them we can think of what God-shaped dream we hold.
Luke 2:29-32 New International Version (NIV)
29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel."