Wax on / Wax off

One of the downsides to a candlelight service is the side effects of the candle wax. Wax drips on the chairs and the floor and presents a post candlelight-service clean up challenge. In the past, our Senior Pastor would expound on the proper candle-lighting procedures, so much so that it's part of our folklore. We've also tried only having the candles lit for the signing of Silent Night to keep the burn times to a minimum. Even with those efforts, there was always wax to be cleaned up after the service. This year neither of those public service announcements were employed and whether it's a true cause and effect relationship we'll never know, but there's a lot of wax to be cleaned up this week. In fact, much of Jay's day today, if not most of this week, will likely be devoted to wax cleanup.

We contemplated for just a bit the use of glow-sticks in place of the candles, but that just didn't feel right. And as I marvelled at the sight of 800+ people in the Auditorium singing out the Christmas Carols with candles lit, I wondered if the atmosphere would be enhanced if we held the candlelight services outside. A thought to ponder for future celebrations, I guess.

Or maybe we'll devote our next Digging Deeper elective to proper instruction on candle-lighting and burning and fly the guest speaker in from Arizona.