Anyone up for a chat thread?

[gordonhooker]

I am always fascinated by the range of Anglican practices. We don't have candles in our fellowship except during our Carol Service and Midnight Communion at Christmas.

What is the symbolism of candles at your church?

As a warden, I get twitchy about naked flames.

The candles on the Altar represent the presence of Christ and usually and even number so in some churches you can see up to 6 candles on the altar for a High Eucharist three on the Epistle side of the Altar and 3 on the Gospel side of the Altar. When lighting the candles the server or LA will start on the Epistle side from the centre light them and then the Gospel side starting at the centre. When the candles are extinguished it is done in the opposite order starting on the Gospel side on the outside and ending on the Epistle side at the centre.

 

[Arcangl86]

I am always fascinated by the range of Anglican practices. We don't have candles in our fellowship except during our Carol Service and Midnight Communion at Christmas.

What is the symbolism of candles at your church?

As a warden, I get twitchy about naked flames.

Anglo-Catholics also have a tendency to take something that once was simply a practical matter and attach a ton of significance to it.

 

[Paidiske]

I am always fascinated by the range of Anglican practices. We don't have candles in our fellowship except during our Carol Service and Midnight Communion at Christmas.

What is the symbolism of candles at your church?

As a warden, I get twitchy about naked flames.

As well as candles on the altar (two of them), where I am we have a Paschal candle. That's a large candle that's new each Easter, and has a whole lot of complex symbolic meaning around it to do with the light of Christ. The candle given to a person baptised is always lit from the Paschal candle, and the Paschal candle is always lit next to a coffin for a funeral.

I've worked in a variety of churches with lots of candles, and I've seen safety issues twice, both to do with people lighting tapers. You have to have adequate sand for the quantity of tapers; otherwise, if too many tapers are crammed into too small a volume of sand, what happens is that as the wax melts, the bowl of sand fills with liquid wax. When the first taper burns down enough that the flame reaches the bowl of molten wax, the whole thing starts burning like a flambé. That can be really quite scary, but it takes serious effort to get to that point; I've only ever seen it happen in a cathedral with very high traffic.

The other problem was a woman who was wearing a light floaty scarf and wasn't careful when she was lighting a taper, so managed to set herself on fire.

The pastoral, liturgical and sensory benefits of candlelight in worship are significant, but if I were going to be particularly careful about safety, I'd think about the sort of candles provided for people to light in prayer, and how that is set up, to minimise risks.

 

[Arcangl86]

As well as candles on the altar (two of them), where I am we have a Paschal candle. That's a large candle that's new each Easter, and has a whole lot of complex symbolic meaning around it to do with the light of Christ. The candle given to a person baptised is always lit from the Paschal candle, and the Paschal candle is always lit next to a coffin for a funeral.

I've worked in a variety of churches with lots of candles, and I've seen safety issues twice, both to do with people lighting tapers. You have to have adequate sand for the quantity of tapers; otherwise, if too many tapers are crammed into too small a volume of sand, what happens is that as the wax melts, the bowl of sand fills with liquid wax. When the first taper burns down enough that the flame reaches the bowl of molten wax, the whole thing starts burning like a flambé. That can be really quite scary, but it takes serious effort to get to that point; I've only ever seen it happen in a cathedral with very high traffic.

The other problem was a woman who was wearing a light floaty scarf and wasn't careful when she was lighting a taper, so managed to set herself on fire.

The pastoral, liturgical and sensory benefits of candlelight in worship are significant, but if I were going to be particularly careful about safety, I'd think about the sort of candles provided for people to light in prayer, and how that is set up, to minimise risks.

I had a pastor once who preached in front of the altar. He had very flamboyant motions. The entire sermon i was terrified he was going to set his chasuble on fire.

 

[gordonhooker]

Sorry I didn't mention the Paschal candle as I thought that was a given in all Anglican Churches.

 

[Paidiske]

Sorry I didn't mention the Paschal candle as I thought that was a given in all Anglican Churches.

When I went to seminary, I had never seen a Paschal candle. More low-church places don't have them (or an Easter vigil in the form which would include one).

 

[gordonhooker]

When I went to seminary, I had never seen a Paschal candle. More low-church places don't have them (or an Easter vigil in the form which would include one).

Well there you go - I have never been to an Anglican church that doesn't have one.

 

[Paidiske]

Let's just say my first Easter on placement really blew my mind!

 

[gordonhooker]

Not even a Paschal candle at Baptisms?

 

[Paidiske]

Not even a Paschal candle at Baptisms?

Never a Paschal candle. No candle at baptisms. No chrism, either. It was a really high feast day if the vicar wore an alb, and I'd never seen a chasuble.

It's a whole different approach.

 

[Naomi4Christ]

We don't have any of these things.

Our vicar had to do a big civic/royal thing recently, and had to borrow a chasuble from a neighbouring parish.

 

[Arcangl86]

We don't have any of these things.

Our vicar had to do a big civic/royal thing recently, and had to borrow a chasuble from a neighbouring parish.

Does your vicar normally wear a stole or no?

 

[Shane R]

Great Vigil of Easter 2017, St. Timothy's Anglican Church:

A true candlelight service. On the left of the picture is the pulpit, with two large candles on its corners. On the right, with the three-candle stand is the kneeler. There were candles in each of the church's windows and a couple at the back. I passed out candle's to the attendees too. And of course, we lit the paschal candle. There were enough candles burning to raise the temperature in our small building 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the course of 1:20.

 

[Paidiske]

How can you tell that it was the candles raising the temperature, and not - say - body heat, or the approaching dawn?

 

[Shane R]

How can you tell that it was the candles raising the temperature, and not - say - body heat, or the approaching dawn?

Well, it was the first time the parish ever had the vigil service so the attendance was sparse. And the service time was in the evening, no where close to dawn, but rather trending towards the coldest part of the night. I'm fairly confident it was the many flaming candles in the small sanctuary (20+).

 

[Paidiske]

Ah.

I've done both, but I much prefer a dawn vigil, with the sun rising as the Great Thanksgiving is prayed. The liturgical experience seems to be echoing nature herself in celebrating the resurrection!

 

[Naomi4Christ]

Does your vicar normally wear a stole or no?

Mostly street clothes, but he does have a scarf.

 

[everbecoming2007]

Anglo-Catholics also have a tendency to take something that once was simply a practical matter and attach a ton of significance to it.

I have been told this is what happened with altar rails.

 

[Naomi4Christ]

I have been told this is what happened with altar rails.

What happened with altar rails?

 

[Paidiske]

Originally, they were to keep animals away from the altar area. But once it became much less common for animals to be in church, the rails stayed, and became a touchstone of piety; the boundary beyond which the ordinary person did not pass, beyond which lay the holy mysteries etc.