An invitation to ‘The Daily Candle’
Chris Bennett writes…
Since the start of the Lockdown, I’m finding that the days just disappear in a kind of fretful blur if I don’t establish new rhythms and routines in my daily activities. The one that has really helped beyond all others is to stop for a minute at 6.00 pm, light a candle, and say a simple prayer.
There’s something profound about the candle: even when I struggle to turn my anxieties into words or prayers, the candle speaks of light in the darkness and helps to still my soul.
So for the last few weeks I’ve been producing a little 3–minute video every day to go live on Facebook at 6pm so that parishioners, family, friends – and even people I’ve never met – can connect by sharing, praying and lighting our candles at the same time. (Or almost at the same time – I’ve lost count of the amount of people who confess that they keep forgetting about it at 6.00 pm – but promising that they always do catch up eventually!)
The videos start with stories of encouragement and inspiration, little snapshots of how people are living through these strange days. And as the weeks have passed, more and more people have been sending me videos and pictures to include: poems, craft activities, songs, timelapses, exercises, projects, ideas, meditations, prayers. We’ve seen a day in the life of our local butcher, been on a virtual bike ride down the Ards Peninsula, toured gardens and walked through forests, shared photo challenges and shipyard sirens and emergency poems and family heirlooms and so much more.
And then the daily candle is lit. Different people, different candles, different homes, different settings – but always the same prayer: for light in a dark world, hope in a fearful heart, peace in a troubled soul.
At the beginning, the idea was that the Belvoir Parish family could connect and communicate through these videos – but as time goes on, we’re meeting an ever–wider worldwide community, united just by this simple daily rhythm. Family members on different continents chat away to each other in the comments. Someone in Canada got in touch to say that they watch every day and use the videos to lead their church in prayer. Anyone can get involved: I love one response which read, “You know the light in the darkness bit in the end even brought a bit of comfort to a ragin’ auld heathen like me”.
At the end of April we reached our 40th Daily Candle, but it looks like our days of lockdown aren’t approaching an end just yet. So, for the foreseeable future, my invitation is the same:
Stop for a minute… Light a candle… say a prayer. Join me every evening from 6.00 pm.
You can find the Daily Candle at 6.00 pm on the dot every day at any of the following links:
Chris Bennett’s Twitterfeed or follow @docktqchris