a combined Territorial Acknowledgement, Candle Lighting, and Reflection, from a worship service at Oliver United Church on Sunday, April 19th, 2026, prior to a congregational meeting.
Symbols and symbolic actions mean a lot in Church life.
In his seminal book, Dynamics
of Faith, Theologian Paul Tillich wrote that a symbol “participates in that to
which it points.” A symbol goes beyond mere metaphor; when
something has symbolic power, it reaches beyond this material realm and touches
the Holy.
Each Sunday morning, three
candles are lit at the beginning of worship. This was a practice that was already
well-established by the time Shannon and I got here in the fall of 2024. As we
prepare for a congregational meeting in which we imagine what it will be like
to leave this sanctuary and attach ourselves to another house of Worship, let’s
reflect on the symbolic power of each Candle.
+++
In 2015, the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission released its Calls to Action, following years of
first-hand testimony. Then in May of
2021, news broke about the ground-penetrating radar at the grounds of the
former Indian Residential School in Tk'emlúps.
In both these events, the
brokenness between First Nations people and those who have come since was
revealed in the starkest of terms. Canadians
in general and Churches in particular were called to account.
Lighting this red candle is a
symbolic act by which we reach into God’s holy intention for reconciliation, inviting
God’s healing power to light the path to a new future. Our intentions do not erase the harm, but
they do believe the testimony, and that is a start. Lighting this red candle, week after week,
symbolizes a desire for forgiveness and relationship with First Nations, and it
challenges us to do more to embrace all populations harmed by the actions or
the silence of the Church. When we light the red candle, we say no to any
oppressive actions sinfully undertaken in Christ’s name: we seek forgiveness
and a right path forward, lit by God’s own desire for reconciling grace.
And, as we prepare to move
from one building in the town of Oliver to another building in the town of
Oliver, the red candle and our territorial acknowledgement also remind us that
in both places, we gather on the traditional unceded land of the peoples of the
Syilx Okanagan Alliance.
+++
A second candle is lit, which
I have been calling a candle of connection.
This is a lovely symbol of Christian connection with our siblings in
faith at Osoyoos United Church. With
time, though, it became evident that this community of faith had its own warm,
genuine local connection, as many friends from St. Edward the Confessor
Anglican Church frequently come to worship with us here. Symbols need not remain static, so time the
symbolic meaning of this candle broadened and deepened as it acknowledged not
only our sister congregation in Osoyoos, but our growing connection with the
St. Edward’s community of faith.
Christ’s calling from the 17th chapter of John, “that all may
be one,” has come to take on even fuller symbolism..
On June 30th of
this year, just a few weeks from now, the Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral
Charge comes to an end, freeing each of these two congregations to more fully
immerse itself in God’s new and specific calling for each place. We part as friends, and I expect the
congregations will continue to do some practical things together, and Oliver
United may find new connections with other nearby United Church congregations –
in OK Falls, Oasis United in Penticton, Naramata Community Church, Summerland and
Cawston, to name a few.
These broader connections
symbolized by this camera take us right back to the origins of the Church. In those days, people came from all walks of
life, some drawn by the generous sharing of financial and material resources,
some drawn by ecstatic expressions of holiness and prayer. That breadth of belief and practice would
have been exciting at times and frustrating at times. The reading that led off
today’s service, in the 2nd chapter of Acts, speaks of the
togetherness that reached beyond differences, and the willingness to pool
resources for the greater common good.
What a concept that was… and wouldn’t it be an amazing witness to the
world if the Church could show such loving unity once more.
As we seek to share space at
St. Edward’s, a home that is still very new to us – but home to our Anglican
friends for 75 years now - I pray that this candle of connection will continue
to warm us and provide a healthy glow for us to live by.
+++
The third candle, the Christ
Candle, symbolizes the divine light that illumines what we do here and how we
live out the days between Sundays. The
light of Christ burns in the heart of all who trust in him and travels with
them. We also recognize that the light
of the Divine is something born into all God’s children; this is a light we
recognize in others and are drawn to. The
Christ light reminds us, symbolically, of the way that God’s holy intention
lives within us and between us, before us and behind us, and it so clearly
reminds us that while my best efforts in life are a great thing, I don’t
generate my own light; God does that.
While building safety rules
insist that we don’t just leave the Christ Candle to burn in the sanctuary
between Sundays, in my practice of worship over the years, there is only one
time that the Christ Candle actually gets blown out during a worship service:
on Good Friday, in that moment when Jesus himself gave up his Spirit, the
moment when evil seemed to have won. On
the third day, though, on Easter Sunday, the flame comes alive once more,
symbolic of the way that even when everything within us says that we have been
defeated, God says NO, that is not true. This light is here, to help you see with
hopeful clarity even amidst the gloomiest shadows. The light of Christ is the light of life, the
light of love.
And so we re-light this
candle, to guide each of us and all of us together, and to remind us always
that our ministry in the world is Christ’s ministry. All our hopes, all our plans, are intimately
tied to the Christ who lights our way.
+++
Taken together, people of
Oliver United Church, these candles say so much about who you are, where you
have been, and where you are going Each
brings a unique symbolism, and you will need all of them as the path leads from
here… a desire for reconciliation, a commitment to connection, a trust in
Christ’s guiding light. These, together,
will light the journey to your new home at St. Edward’s. Thanks be to God for the gift of light, Amen.
Reference cited:
Tillich, Paul. Dynamics of
Faith. NYC: Harper, 1957.
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