Paschal Candles: Why Not Every Sunday?

As is so often the case, one of my seminary classmates has pushed me to think longer and harder about this topic (thank God for faithful colleagues).

She asks:

Ok, for the sake of argument, didn't Martin Luther say that every Sunday is a "little Easter"? So, why not light the Paschal Candle every Sunday? We celebrate Christ's passion and resurrection with each Holy Eucharist. Thoughts?

Bishop J. Neil Alexander (former Bishop of Atlanta, current dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee, and, like me, an alum of LTSS) discusses this in one of his books, Celebrating Liturgical Time. Essentially, his point is that while every Sunday is a "little Easter" and that the theology of the Resurrection permeates every Divine Service throughout the year regardless of seasonal and thematic overtones, that we still mark Easter proper with special distinction -- pre-Paschal fasting during Lent, the Triduum, the Vigil, extra acclamations, and the like. These distinctives set Easter apart as a sacred time among sacred times. Some of these markers (in this case, the Paschal candle) carries further into the rest of the year.

It's similar to the point Phil Pfatteicher makes about the "priesthood of all believers" -- that all Christians are baptized into the ministry of offering prayers and participation in sacramental worship, but the Holy Spirit and the Church call deacons, presbyters/priests, and bishops to ordained ministries of Word, Sacrament, Service, and Order (to be as broadly ecumenical as possible). The call to ordained ministry does not negate the ministry in which all Christians share, but rather furthers it. Just so, the year of "little Easters" culminates in the holiest time of holy times -- the Paschal Feast.

I suggest that it is good and proper to maintain certain distinctive elements, including the Paschal Candle, but not to such a degree as to make them "off-limits" throughout the rest of the year. The Paschal Candle, then, functions as something of a Resurrection exclamation point, making certain feasts stand out through the year.

By way of comparison, imagine if we took "Alleluia" to such an extreme -- that we used it all throughout Easter, but then excluded it from our Christmas liturgy, or if we did not abstain from it during Lent.

All of that being said, there is an argument to be made for using the Paschal Candle throughout the year, and frequent usage does not rob an item or action of its "specialness" or its meaning. We can probably count this one as adiaphora.