Five Candles and a Million Lights

Day by day as I walk down the road I see more lights adorning houses, gardens, windows, garages and trees. Yes, Christmas is coming. Our shops have been telling us this for two months. One million lights but churches throughout the world are lighting just one candle. Next week there will be two and so on until the four are lit on the Sunday before Christmas. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day the fifth candle is lit and so five candles are lit. These are known as advent candles. Advent means ‘coming’. The candles represent hope, love, joy and peace and the final one is the Christ candle. For Christians, all over the world of all the lights that are lit up at Christmas the Advent candles are the important ones. Hope, love, joy and peace are wonderful things to celebrate and Christians find all these in the birth of Jesus.