By Staff
special to The Star
Dec. 12, 2003
Joining hundreds of memorial services around the world, members of the Meridian Area Chapter of The Compassionate Friends will light candles on Sunday in an act of remembrance.
The Compassionate Friends is an international self-help support organization for families grieving the death of a child.
The local candle lighting will be part of a special service held at 7 p.m. at the Meridian District Office of the United Methodist Church (formerly New Covenant United Methodist Church) at 6210 Highway 39 North. It will feature music, readings and poems. If you are unable to attend, The Compassionate Friends encourages you to participate by simply lighting a candle at home alone, or with friends and family. Every year, tens of thousands of families light candles for one hour during The Compassionate Friends 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 lit in the next, creating a 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues.
The event is now in its seventh year. This year's theme is "… that their light may always shine."
In conjunction with the Worldwide Candle Lighting, the U.S. Senate has passed a resolution proclaiming Dec. 14 "National Children's Memorial Day."
To contact the Meridian area chapter of The Compassionate Friends, call Linda Hollis at 485-5488 or Sandie McClain at 679-5076.