A video message for Candlemas

The Revd Canon Aidan Platten, Canon Precentor at Norwich Cathedral, shares a message ahead of Candlemas on Friday 2 February.

Watch the video message above and read the full text below.

"Only a month ago 1,000 of us gathered here for a Christmas concert which ended with us all singing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Adding up all the gifts they number some 364 – almost one for each day of the year!

"Christmas celebrations continue here for forty days until 2 February – Candlemas. This is when we remember Joseph and Mary taking their firstborn son to the Temple to dedicate him to God. In the Temple they met Simeon. He was an old man and we’re told that he took Jesus in his arms and blessed God and rejoicing that he had met his Saviour and could depart this world in peace. Simeon’s patience was rewarded.

"Patience is a virtue that often eludes me – and much of society. Social media, email, many messaging platforms allow us to know and see whatever we want in an instant.

"This moment near the beginning of the year is a time to pause before we embark on Lent in a couple of weeks. It’s a moment to ask for the gift of patience and to look in earnest for what we really need to give and receive. It won’t include multiple drummers or leaping lords or partridges in pear trees. Look at our world – beautiful, damaged, full of life, but dying in places; what we need to give and receive is love – not something sentimental, but a self-giving love modelled on Jesus. A love that causes us to change how our lives are lived - not to make us feel better but to make other people’s lives better. Each of us will be able to identify what that means in our life. It won’t happen in an instant we will the gift of patience. And we will need humility too, because sometimes the result of the best things we do remain hidden from our eyes."