Grieving the deaths of children within their families, members of The Compassionate Friends (TCF) of Central GA, a national self-help bereavement support organization, will join hundreds of thousands of families worldwide in lighting candles at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12 as an act of symbolic remembrance.
The local candle lighting will be part of a special service held at 7 p.m. at Griffin Center Pointe Church at 1427 U.S. 41 Bypass, Griffin, Georgia and will feature refreshments and a special candle lighting.
“We ask that all families arrive no later than 6:45 p.m. and bring a framed photo of your child and let Lisa Brown know if you would like to read a poem, sing a song or just speak about your child,” said Brent Taylor.
Annually tens of thousands of families, united in loss, light candles for one hour during the Worldwide Candle Lighting, held the second Sunday in December. Candles are first lit at 7 p.m., local time, just west of the International Date Line. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are lighted in the next, creating a 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world.
Since 1997, the Worldwide Candle Lighting has been TCF’s gift to the bereavement community during the holiday season. This time of year can be a very trying time for those who are grieving the death of a child, no matter their age and no matter how long it has been since they died. The 23rd Worldwide Candle Lighting will bring together bereaved families around the entire world symbolically displaying the love that they have for all their children who will not be physically present. However, when each candle is lit, the light of that love will shine brightly in hundreds of thousands of bereaved hearts in all countries around the globe.
The members of TCF observe this day in various ways. Hundreds of formal programs are held by chapters and allied organizations across the globe and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes as families gather in quiet remembrance. TCF invites everyone; whether they are grieving the personal loss of a child, grandchild or sibling, to join in this touching tribute.
With the theme “…that their light may always shine,” the Worldwide Candle Lighting has grown larger every year with formal services last year in all 50 United States and Washington D.C., as well as many countries around the world. TCF’s national website, www.compassionatefriends.org, is expected to receive and post information on the services submitted to and listed on its website last year and more. A Remembrance Book will be open for posts on the website, which will receive thousands of tributes from family members and other caring individuals.
To contact The Compassionate Friends of Central GA, call Lisa Brown at 770-468-1717 or email the chapter at cfofcentralga@gmail.com.
For more information about the national organization and locations of its Chapters nationwide, call 877-969-0010 or visit TCF’s national website, compassionate
friends.org. The Compassionate Friends has a presence in at least 30 countries worldwide and is the world’s largest self-help bereavement organization.
Be First to Comment