Light a Candle

There are so many things I want to write about, this Christmas.  About peace, especially.  About being light to the world.  About joy and beauty and love.  About concepts so big I can't even put them into words.

Mostly, about the phrase I came across in a book I read recently.  "Light a candle for Christmas Eve."  In the book this is in the context of Christmas during World War I - when there was a spontaneous, unofficial cease-fire in the trenches, and may lit candles to celebrate the birth of Christ, oblivious to their personal safety.

I haven't been able to get the words out of my head, and I think they have a wider application than a cease-fire almost a century ago.  As I go to services tonight, and tomorrow on Christmas morning -- as I light the Christ candle at the centre of the Advent wreath -- I will think about this.  Light a candle -- not just for Christmas Eve, but for every day.  Light a candle -- and share the Light with the world.

As the last lines of this gorgeous Spanish carol proclaim:  God is born -- God is here!