January 29, 2026
Let your light shine!
This coming Monday is the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Temple. Alternately, for those of a more Marian persuasion, it is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Either of these is a bit of a mouthful, and so it is usually just called the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas.
At the Feast of the Presentation, we read about Mary and Joseph’s visit to the Temple to make the offerings the Law required. One of their duties was the redemption of the firstborn or pidyon haben. Exodus 13 states that every firstborn, animal or human, belongs to the Lord. This is to recall and, in some way, balance the deaths of the firstborn of Egypt at the Passover and it is an ongoing reminder that all life comes from God. Initially, firstborn sons were to be consecrated to God, but after their participation in the golden calf incident, God’s service was taken from them and given to the Levites. The debt of life spared, though, remains. As a first-born son, 31 days after his birth (Yes, I know. Calendars are slippery things. More on this later.) Jesus had to be redeemed, or bought back from God with a shekel of silver coins.
Around the same time, following Leviticus 12, 40 days after the birth of a son, (Aha! See, now February 2 starts to make sense.), mothers were required to purify themselves before they could enter the temple. 31 days and 40 days are pretty close, so why not make just one trip to Jerusalem and kill two birds with one stone? (See Luke 2:24)
Today the two are combined in the single feast of Candlemas, so called because it is the traditional day when candles are blessed for their use in the church. Candlemas, as part of the Epiphany season, is most obviously a feast of light, as we hear the ancient prophet Simeon proclaiming the infant he held to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.” It even coincides with Groundhog Day, the day we first notice that the days are getting longer. Candlemas also marks an important moment in salvation history, as the Old Covenant and New Covenant meet and go forward together, as we are all purified and redeemed in the offering of God’s Firstborn Son, sold for a handful of silver coins.
If you would like to bring a candle to be blessed for your own use through the year ahead, please bring it to church this week and I will bless them at the end of each service.
What the heck is Cincinnati Chili?
After the chili cook-off (MANY THANKS TO JANET AND THE HOSPITALITY TEAM!), several people asked me what was up with the Cincinnati Chili. To answer all your questions, it is a taste of my childhood, a peculiarity I grew up with in Cincinnati. Religious wars still rage over which chili parlor was the original and which is the best (Empress is the answer to both questions.). Its origins are somewhat obscure and hotly debated, but the general consensus is that it has nothing to do with the familiar chili con carne, but was first made by immigrants from Greece and called “chili” because it looks like chili. If you tasted it, though, you know it is almost entirely different. It is almost invariably served either as a chili dog (a coney) or over spaghetti (a 2-way), most commonly with a mound of finely shredded cheddar cheese on top of it (a 3-way), often with a layer of chopped onions between chili and cheese (a 4-way), and occasionally (among heathens) with beans along with the onions (a 5-way). If you just eat it out of a bowl in Cincinnati people will look at you strangely. My favorite recipe even refers to it as “Macedonian Bolognese.” If you’re ever in Cincinnati, drop by and Empress Chili parlor and try the original. Or, if you must, I suppose Skyline and Goldstar chili will do in a pinch. (If you get it over spaghetti, remember to cut the spaghetti with the side of your fork and scoop it up. One never twirls a fork of chili. Every religion has its sacred traditions.)