The candles sat on the stage. I was in the back of the room as 200 campers gathered for morning prayer -a short 10 minuet quiet time and devotional. Listening to the Word of God and joining in prayers together. It was a great way to start each day of camp. As I watched the candles the light flickered and the shadows swept across the ceiling. It was not until later that I learned that the candles were electric and the flickering controlled by electronics in the base of the candle.
Why do we feel the necessity to have the candles flicker? They certainly seemed more authentic that way. We are used to candles, the way that heat, oxygen and fuel to combine and create the mysterious dance that is a flame. Above it, heat waves seem to wrinkle the fabric of reality bending it in midair.
Is it because we all know the experience of flickering ourselves. We know about the moments when we seem overwhelmed, frustrated and uncertain and our lives collapse and then curl back to life again. Its fitting that the Bible often uses light as a symbol of Spiritual life and growth. Since the only light known in the Bible was created by the heavens and flames, then the time we watch these lights can help us see with renewed eyes. Looking at the skies above camp I’ve been watching the stars twinkle. It’s the same mesmerizing dance that the candle makes. The thermal layers bending and shaping the light before it gets to me.
We need the candles to flicker to feel the gentleness of grace. We need to know that our imperfections are not so overwhelming that we cannot be found again, we cannot recover. The unrelenting light of a bulb pierces us, it examines us, it accuses us. It is perfect, unchanging. We on the other hand are flawed and transitory. We are imperfect and like a vapor. I’m glad they made the electric candles flicker. They did not distract me but invited me to be real, to turn and react to the moment of the Spirit in the room.