The Intentional and the Unintentional

The Intentional and the Unintentional
NUMBERS 14: 39-15: 41

In our church we usually douse the candles during the final hymn, before the ministers process down the aisle and walk outside into the main street, back into the outside world, to say goodbye to the congregation. One Sunday a few months ago, our final hymn was “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,” and our rector suddenly realized that there was something symbolically wrong about dousing the candles as we claimed we were going to take our light out into the world. So he got the acolytes (people who share in the leading of the service) to carry the candles in the procession instead of dousing them. Practices such as lighting (and dousing) candles bring home to us something of the significance of Christian faith. They don’t do anything in themselves, but they outwardly express and symbolize things that are important...