Candlelight Reflections Booklet

The MRN has published a booklet of 12 Candlelight Reflections useful for church and community alike along with some detailed information about setting up a candlelight scene. You can download a copy here Candlelight Reflections Booklet (2.34 MB) or

View & print the document online

An PowerPoint slideshow, containing the images used in the booklet is also available to download for use alongside the reflections booklet.  Candlelight Reflections PowerPoint Resource (916.63 kB)


For an example of both text and audio please listen and read 'Windows' Candlelight Reflection 12

CANDLELIGHT REFLECTIONS AT MODBURY UC

Relax and recreate in gentle candlelight, allowing beautiful music and words to guide you. This is a time open to all…… a place where people of both church and community are comfortable in each other’s presence.

Over time at Modbury several people have dreamed about creating an opportunity to meet on a week day evening, but they didn’t want to replicate church worship or coffee and chat, or anything that was in vogue at the time.

Part of the dream was to provide a valid option alongside the traditional pathways for people to realize that God is ever present in the world.

Time passed, then Cathy Galloway, the Head of the Iona Community, visited Adelaide. The registration was significant for retirees so one Modbury couple asked the Church Council if they could be assisted with part payment for costs.

The result, after deliberation, was that the Council would pay the full registration for up to 7 people to attend. Church Council had never done anything like this before!

With great excitement we soon had 7 participants and Cathy Galloway inspired us all.

Energized we came home and decided to meet together. We had to do something!

We decided writing a report to Church Council was not the way to go, so, through one of our Worship Teams, we presented the practical Iona theology and some of the music to the congregation on 2 consecutive Sundays.

Those 2 services made a lasting impression on everyone.

Then there was the question of ‘where to from here?’ for the participants.

We explored a Taize experience in St Peter’s Cathedral, and, over coffee in North Adelaide afterwards, we talked.  It became clear that Taize was not exactly what we were after, but there were elements within the service that were significant for the group. The feeling was that people’s lives were very busy and that it would be good to create a space in which they could rest, relax and recreate. The idea of candlelight and beautiful music appealed. There was a feeling that this was not to be ‘religious’ in the traditional sense. The Celtic idea of ‘thin places’ seemed to offer an openness to all.

…. But who would organize it and do the work behind the scenes on an ongoing basis?

Time passed…..

Then one evening, by a happy coincidence, Peter Fuller, a past well loved minister at Modbury, and Di and Tony Price were having coffee.

Di and Tony shared the Iona experience and what had followed.

On the spur of the moment, Di asked Peter if he would be interested in writing for a Candlelight Reflections. Peter replied that he would love to.

Now the jigsaw was complete.  It was decided that the topics for each evening would come from everyday life and that there would be intent to create ‘thin places’ This was a deliberate undertaking to create an open pathway for people from the local community to feel free to participate.

We have found that creating a visually appealing space, a ‘sacred space’, and presenting everyday themes such as The Shallows, Aprons, Dusk and Stones, to create  ‘thin places’ or entry points into personal reflection has been very meaningful to those who attend. It seems to provide a welcome interval in busy and sometimes heavy laden lives.

In the first 12 months people have come from beyond our church, one has joined our congregation and a couple of people who come from the community to help us with our weekly African Women’s Day, are coming to our next Reflection having heard about it from others.

We have found that candlelight, beautiful music and trickling water, along with the text can be effectively presented at any time of day.

What is the vision for the future?

Candlelight Reflections could be used:

• In the Outback by Frontier Services Personnel
• In City Church lunch hours
• In  Lay Ministry activities
• In Home Groups
• As an ecumenical activity
• In Retirement Villages and Aged Care Settings
• And it could engage young people as well

The advantages are:

• It is a product that knows no boundaries
• It’s Inviting to those who do not attend church
• The format is easy to replicate
• And the cost is minimal for displays

Contact

For more information please contact Rev Tony Goodluck, the minister at Modbury, on 8264 2208. Tony can put you in touch with the organizers.