The fourth candle. ( a memory)
It's called The Angel Candle, and symbolizes Peace.
Many years ago we spent Christmas in a little mountain village near Salzburg in Austria. Here, there was no emphasis on shopping, no bright lights, no advertisements demanding that you buy, buy, buy.
Instead, a peaceful village, with trees covered in white lights. Little inns from which Christmas hymns were heard, A church where, at the end of the Christmas Eve Mass, the trumpeters played Silent Night from the spire gallery.
After the Christmas meal in our Inn the owner gathered us all round in a circle. Not speaking German we had little idea of what was happening. But when she brought out a big family Bible, and started to read, we knew we were hearing the beautiful Christmas story despite it being in another language. The visitors sat silently throughout, listening. What an unexpected and delightful surprise.
After the reading a present was given to each person. This was ours, this lovely little ceramic Angel.
How we have treasured her as a reminder of that beautiful evening.
18 comments:
The Christmas you spent there in the little village in Austria sounds exactly what I yearn for our Christmas celebration to be like. Alas, the reality is very different.
The little angel that was your gift that year must be so precious to you. Thanks for this post. It has started my day with a blessing.
How beautiful. What a treasured memory. Thirty years ago an elderly couple joined our church in London. She told me a similar story about their trip to Oberammergau, and showed me a Christmas bell with a musical movement inside which played Silent Night. When we left London, she gave us the bell as a leaving gift "we have no children to pass it on to". Eileen and George are both in heaven now, but the bell comes out every year...
Hello dear Barbara,
Goosebumps on my arms while reading your story. Such a wonderful and meaningful Christmas.
I must confess I very much look forward to our 'silent Christmas' this year, although I wish the reason would be different/not present. I love it when the children and other families have a great time at our home, but if you look into my heart I love the variety like you experienced in Austria. No shopping, no hysteria. No, the gospel and a quiet time. Discovering and bowing for the true miracle of Christmas.
And thank you so much for sharing your memories and showing us this special angel today!
Love Carolien
Such a beautiful Christmas story - thank you very much for sharing Barbara. I know you, like me, recall some wonderful Christmas stories from our long ago childhood years in England. It was so simple back then and we had much less of everything but loved what we did have much more. I'm certain today's children will never recall what we can - they receive just a mass of material things, piled up for a while and then thrown away.
Your perfect angel says it all for me dear.
Mary x
Barbara, what a beautiful Christmas memory! What lovely people those innkeepers are!
Such a wonderful Christmas memory..All of it sounds perfect as I picture it in my mind...
Blessings, Linda
A beautiful story. I would treasure that angel too..
Oh how I love this Christmas memory of yours. So special.
wow, that's a really special Christmas memory; how beautiful and deeply moving! I would LOVE to hear/read more of your memories; you have a gift of telling it in a way that makes it clear and beautifully alive. (ps: Merry Christmas and still praying for you 2 and we have a Christmas card to send you but it will be late...)
This is such a beautiful memory, thanks so much for sharing - it's what Christmas is all about - absolute treasure :)
Lovely angel story
Merry Christmas
Wouldn't we all love to return to that pure, simple life. Merry Christmas, Barb.
What a beautiful Christmas memory to cherish each year. I love the simplicity and purity in your story. It reminds me of the year our youngest and her husband spent in Europe. They joined a Christian group from the UK for a skiing holiday in Switzerland, and had a similar experience (minus the angel gift). I spoke with her via Skype on Christmas Eve, and she went to the window where I could hear the church bells ringing out the good news, and see the snow on the hills. It sounded so lovely.
Wow, such a lovely memory. One to definitely cherish.
God bless.
I love hearing a familiar passage read in another lanuage.
Christmas is a time for memories.. and perhaps they are even more sweet and poignant this year? I'm certainly finding it so. Yours was lovely! x
Gosh what a beautiful memory to have, I can imagine it was very magical. Have a lovely Christmas,
Jillxo
What a treasured experience and now a memory. That's Christmas at its best. Thank you for sharing it with us so we could take joy in it today.
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