A Candle for Peace

In 1986 a group of American Christians, on a visit to the churches of Russia, went to a Russian Orthodox church. After the service in the church, an old woman pushed a three rouble note into the hand of an American minister, Dr Blair Monie, gave him a Russian hug and asked him to use the money to buy a candle and light it at every service in his church as a symbol of PEACE. That note represented a lot of money for the old woman. Fortunately, an interpreter heard the Russian words and translated them for Dr Monie. His church, the First Presbyterian Church of York in Pennsylvania, readily agreed to use the money to buy a candle in a glass holder, keep it on the communion table, and light it at every service of worship. In the autumn of 1986, that church in Pennsylvania bought many candles in glass holders to send to other churches asking that they be lit as a sign of PEACE. Two people at that church, David & Angela Jones, had previously been members of Wylde Green URC in Birmingham, England, and they sent a candle in a glass holder to their old church. This candle has been lit as a sign of PEACE at every service since Peace Sunday, 1^st February 1987.

Members of the Wylde Green congregation have since bought 100 candles in glass holders, sending them to churches nearby and far away with the request that the candle be out in a prominent place and lit at every service of worship as a sign of PEACE. So shall the thought and hope of that Russian woman be spread beyond what she ever imagined, and, because of her gift, churches in many parts of the world shall be reminded to work and pray for PEACE.

In January, Sarah Owen presented Wesley Hall with this Peace Candle, a gift from her church, with the same request, that it be in a prominent place and lit at every service as a sign of PEACE.