Ruth Carter Stapleton, the American-born sister of Jimmy Carter once remarked: "Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most." John 8:12 reminds us: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Christingle services are typically regarded as sharing the light of love. They are held anytime between the beginning of Advent and Candlemas on February 2nd. Candlemas marks the end of the Christingle season, celebrating Jesus as the light of the world, a theme perfectly suited to the candlelit ceremony. The service, which involves lighting a candle inserted into an orange, was introduced to the Church of England in 1968 to raise funds for The Children's Society. At a Christingle service, people, especially children, use an orange with a candle, sweets, and a red ribbon, representing the world. These symbolize God's creation, God's love/Jesus' blood, and Jesus as the light of the world, respectively, in a joyful, candlelit celebration to apportion hope, learn the Christmas story, and often raise money for charity. The tradition began in 1747 in Germany, when Bishop Johannes de Watteville gave children a candle wrapped in a red ribbon, praying: “Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these children's hearts, that theirs like Thine may become”.
The term "Christingle" identifies to the light of Christ. Light frequently symbolizes love across many cultures, religions, and spiritual traditions, representing divine presence, truth, guidance, inner goodness, and the positive energy that dispels darkness, ignorance, and negativity. They are often used in phrases like "Peace, Love, and Light" to signify hope, compassion, and spiritual connection. Love itself is often described as a light that emanates from within or illuminates the path to truth, creating warmth and understanding, notes a Facebook post from Nafisat Romoke. Restaurants frequently feature candles on tables as a symbol of love, intimacy and connection.
The Bible's primary story of God's light begins in Genesis 1:3, where God speaks light into existence to separate it from darkness, establishing day and night, and later creating the sun, moon, and stars for light on Earth, with light symbolizing God's presence, goodness, and salvation throughout scripture, Jesus as the "light of the world" in John, and the eternal light of God in the New Jerusalem in Revelation.
Light fundamentally represents knowledge, hope, goodness, and divine presence, dispelling darkness to symbolize veracity, life, and enlightenment across cultures, religions, and art, while also signifying creation, purity, and transformation from ignorance and evil. It illuminates the unseen, guides spiritual journeys, and inspires growth, often contrasted with darkness as a symbol of chaos and death.
Light speaks and symbolizes truth, revelation, and clarity in many spiritual and philosophical traditions, representing God's presence, spiritual understanding, and the exposure of evil, as seen in religious texts where walking in light means living truthfully. Physically, light reveals reality, while metaphorically, "light" often signifies the revealing power that dispels ignorance and deception, though some contexts, like the character Light Yagami, use "light" to represent deceptive or corrupted power. Light is widely understood metaphorically and spiritually as a force that shines. It suppresses, dispels, and overcomes evil, much like light physically removes darkness. The core concept is that evil acts as an absence or perversion of good, and introducing "light" (truth, goodness, or divine presence) illuminates and neutralizes it.
Besides Creation and Jesus as the Light of the world (John 8:12), another key Bible story on light involves Jesus healing the blind man (John 9). This demonstrates how He brings spiritual sight to those in darkness, and the parable of the Lamp on a Stand (Matthew 5:14-16), where believers are told to let their good deeds shine like a city on a hill for all to see God's glory.
Flames strongly represent hope, symbolizing light in darkness, warmth, resilience, transformation, and spiritual guidance, often seen in candles, eternal flames, and religious/cultural symbols like the Hanukkah menorah or the Phoenix rising, signifying that even small sparks can persist through adversity. Darkness often conceals sin by providing its own secrecy, but religious and spiritual teachings emphasize that sin thrives in this hiddenness, growing stronger in the dark, while "light" (truth, confession, God's presence) ultimately exposes and defeats it, revealing that nothing truly stays hidden from a divine perspective. Darkness represents moral blindness, spiritual separation, and a place where evil flourishes, but confession and walking in the light are presented as paths to freedom from sin's power.
John 3:19-21 explains that people judge themselves by their reaction to Jesus (the Light) when He comes to the world: those with evil deeds prefer darkness to hide their sin and avoid exposure, while those who "practice the truth" (do what is right) come to the light so their God-inspired works can be seen, revealing their genuine nature. The core meaning is that humanity's fundamental choice between darkness (sin, evil) and light (truth, God) is the basis for judgment, showing a moral, not merely intellectual, rejection of God. It reminds us: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Epictetus, a Greek Stoic philosopher once remarked: “Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” A Christingle can represent a new identity, specifically the new, transformed identity of a person in Christian faith. 1 Peter 2:1-10 is about Christians' new identity and purpose, calling them to shed sinful behaviors (malice, deceit) and grow like newborn babes craving pure spiritual milk to become "living stones" built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and a chosen nation to proclaim God's praises. The passage emphasises that believers are a special people, no longer "not a people," called out of darkness to experience God's mercy and live holy lives, representing Jesus. The passage reminds us: “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Amen.
