Advent- The second candle

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and so we lit the second candle called "the Bethlehem candle".




Thinking of what this candle symbolizes, I think of what happened right before Bethlehem...Joseph, who finds his betrothed expecting a child, that he knows for certain is not his. He plans to "divorce her quietly", drawing as little attention to it as possible. Then a surprise~ an angel comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, for the child she is expecting was conceived from the Holy Spirit. He is told Mary will have a son, and Joseph is to name him Jesus. This is because Jesus will "save His people from their sins". So Joseph trusts God and marries her. (Matthew 1: 18-25)

I also try to picture being nine months pregnant, traveling on a donkey, all the way to Bethlehem. Did Mary think to herself, "What in the world was I thinking saying yes to this" like I probably would have? We know she also trusted God. (But I'm not sure she wasn't at least a little cranky~ I mean she was human!)

Verse for the candle of Bethlehem:

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world...And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child." ~ Luke 2: 1, 3-5

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O Little Town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him, still
The dear Christ enters in.