Editorial December 24, 1984 Issue

Christmas Eve—a time to take the candle out from "under a bushel"

WILLIAM E. MOODY

During our family's first Christmas season in New England, we observed a happy tradition that was previously unfamiliar to us. As we drove down the back roads at night through the snow-covered countryside, we saw that many of the houses set back among the trees had candles shining in the windows. The candles are mostly electric ones today, but they are nonetheless lovely. Their warmth and welcome are tangible to the passer-by.

The publication date of this week's issue of the Christian Science Sentinel is December 24—Christmas Eve. And I've thought how the quiet reverence that Christmas Eve should impart—reverence for the birth of Jesus—seems to me so gently punctuated by that simple candlelight in the window. I've felt that it could symbolize an expectancy of the coming anew of Christ, Truth, to human consciousness. And the light of hope and faith would beckon all who see its glow to come together, with unity of thought, in praise of God for what wonderful things He has done. As the Bible says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."^{John 3:16.}

Christ Jesus himself taught his followers by using the candle—actually the small oil-burning lamp of his day—as a symbol of our witness for Truth. He told the disciples: "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."^{Matt. 5:14, 15.}

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