Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas

Sermon Illustrations

The story of the candy cane

• A Candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that could be used as a witnessing tool, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane.

• He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus.

• He began with stick of pure white, hard candy.

• White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus,

• And hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises of God.

• He made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior.

• The shape at the same time represented the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who have gone astray.

• Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the Candy maker stained it with red stripes.

• He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the beating Jesus received by which we are healed.

• The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have eternal life.

• Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time.

• But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear".

• The Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate force in the universe today.