Today we celebrate Candlemas. So I want to talk to you about candles. You’ve got one in front of you. Have you ever stopped to consider what a clever technology they are? Let me read out to you this description of how they work, courtesy of Chris Woodford of ‘Explain that Stuff’:
When I was little, harvest in our church was still about loaves and fishes. My church, All Saints’ in St Andrews, was built with money from the Younger brewing dynasty as a mission to the fisherfolk. Lady Younger wanted to plough the profits from barley back into the sea, to reap a fresh harvest of fishers of men. So our church was always hung with fishing nets at Harvest, and you’ll have your own memories, of churches full of sheaves of corn, windowsills groaning with marrows and tomatoes, and the altar obscured by harvest loaves and precariously balanced jars of jam. Today, our aim is to encircle the congregation with donations for the foodbank, and celebrate a very urban sort of harvest. Read More
