NAHANT — Nahant Village Church is seeking help to keep a beloved tradition burning bright.
The church, like many places of worship, will be holding its Christmas Eve mass via video conferencing app this year, which is why members of the congregation are asking the public to participate in a virtual version of its annual candle lighting ceremony.
During the ceremony — customarily held at the end of every Christmas Eve service — the lights are dimmed, a candle is lit from the Christ candle, and that light is passed throughout the congregation of nearly 300 people, filling the space with the glow of candlelight as participants sing Silent Night.
This year, however, participants have instead been asked to send in a horizontal recording of themselves ahead of the Dec. 24 mass.
Submitted videos should begin with participants holding an unlit candle in front of themselves, with a second lit candle sitting off to their right side. Participants should then take their unlit to the lit candle, bring it back around in front of the camera, and “pass” the light on to their left side.
“It looks better if you actually turn your head, just like you would if you were sitting in church,” said Rev. Patricia Long. “If you were actually in church, you would look at the person you were actually going to receive the light from, and then you would pass it and look to where you were giving the light.”
Called the Pass the Light challenge, NVC Leadership Team member Marrit Hastings said the church wanted to continue passing on the ceremony’s important message, especially in light of such a dark year.
“Advent is when God is bringing the light back to earth, and we light a candle every Sunday of advent. Then on Christmas, the light has come to the earth with the birth of Christ, and we light the Christ candle,” Hastings said. “Light is very significant. The light has come back to earth, and people actually pass the light to each other and then hopefully carry that light into the community and be good citizens and help and love each other.”
Anyone is welcome to participate. Finished recordings should be sent to Herb Motley at [email protected].
For taped instructions on how to participate in the Pass the Light challenge, those interested can go to https://www.nahantvillagechurch.org/ and click on the video provided.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at ecarmosino@itemliv
