Light a Candle: a chance to share your thanks, hopes and memories
Marking just over a year since the first person in the UK died of Covid-19, Salisbury Cathedral has launched Light a Candle, a virtual community of prayer and light where people can reflect on a year that has challenged us all, and express their hopes and prayers for the year ahead.
Anyone with access to digital technology and internet can take part by lighting a candle, taking a photograph, and uploading it to the dedicated Light a Candle page on the Cathedral website, adding a dedication using the form opposite your uploaded picture.
The page is here.
There are many reasons to light candle – to say thank you for someone who has helped you out during the pandemic, a message of thanks for someone you love, an expression of hope, or simply a prayer for a loved one or other situation, to bring comfort to yourself and others.
All online dedications will be added to the prayer list in the Cathedral, and will be used by the clergy in the course of daily worship. A real candle will be lit in the Cathedral for every virtual candle uploaded. Dedications and messages can also be shared.
Lighting candles in prayer is an ancient Christian custom. The burning flame symbolises the presence of Christ, the light of the world, and represents hope.
The Dean of Salisbury, The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos said:
“Everyone has been touched by the pandemic, and we hope that Light a Candle will allow people to give voice to their particular experiences of it - their grief, their thanks, their hope. These will together amount to a shared record of these times: of those who have helped us, of those who are sick, of those who have recovered and, very sadly, of those who have died.”
Canon Precentor Anna Macham said:
“Each candle lit on our virtual page will be mirrored in the Cathedral, uniting the virtual and the real worlds in which our worship currently exists. We will remember those mentioned in our prayers and as we do so, reflect on the profound changes this virus has made to all our lives and give thanks for the strength, courage and hope that is being demonstrated by so many during this pandemic.”
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