THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE
Director John Stephenson
Cert. U. Running time 100 mins.
Based on the book by Max Lucado, The Christmas Candle concerns a pastor who moves to the small town of Gladbury in 1890, around the advent of electricity. The town is poor and its residents struggle in many ways, but they have hope in the story of the Christmas Candle, which comes once every 25 years and grants a miracle to one person.
This brings him into conflict with their traditional beliefs, setting the stage for an exploration of themes such as faith, miracles and living out Christian love.
The film explores the question of whether one should hope and pray for the granting of prayers in an extraordinary, supernatural way or something more ordinary such as simple acts of kindness or for God to transform people’s hearts. Or, indeed, if it can be a combination of those.
It’s sad to see a church dividing over secondary issues, rather than uniting in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. The characters are looking for hope and so Romans 8, and the unbreakable love of Jesus for those who trust in him, could have been emphasised more.
The power and goodness of God
However, looking past the secondary issues, the story does illustrate the power and goodness of God. Also, rare for a Christmas film, it does actually affirm the real meaning of Christmas. At one point, the pastor reminds his congregation that: ‘All our hope, peace, and joy are found in Jesus’.
The film shows how God's providence can act in many ways. The issue of the danger of misinterpreting God’s will, however, could have been explored more, with a Christian at one point entering into a romantic relationship with a non-Christian, thinking that ‘the moment seemed providential’. There is, though, another point in the film where a character acknowledges having taken ‘a step of faith... in the wrong direction’.
The Christmas Candle may not be a perfect apologetic, but it is an old-fashioned, heart-warming, Christian Christmas movie, which takes a humane look at how faith, hope and love can play out in the midst of the struggles of life.
