This lamp is called an eternal or sanctuary candle. It in theory burns continuously (except for Good Friday) to represent God's eternal presence, and that there is reserved consecrated bread and wine nearby. The sanctuary candle derives from Jewish tradition and is known in Hebrew as a ner tamid, which means eternal light or flame.
Some churches use electric bulbs in their candles, but at St. Tim's we use oil. Sometime prior to July 8, the wick on our candle was trimmed when it shouldn't have been, which caused the flame to come into contact with the oil thus igniting the oil. With the fan blowing beneath the candle, the flame reached higher and higher and led to Cindy and Allan's dramatic rescue. A new wick has been purchased and will be monitored by Cindy and the altar guild. Cindy reports that the oil lasts between five and seven days between refillings. Our eternal candle was purchased and installed in 2014 while Ron Griffin was rector, many years after the church was built. Why the wait? According to Cindy, altar guild director, "I don't know if there was ever a purposeful decision to not have one before, but as the eternal candle is meant to be positioned either at the church's entrance/narthex, or near/over the tabernacle where we would keep reserved sacrament and wine, but since we don't have a formal tabernacle, and the narthex ceiling is so high that hanging the candle and keeping it lit would be problematic, the original team handling the interior design of St. Tim's sanctuary may have opted to 'work on it later...'"
Many thanks to Cindy for providing me with the history of this candle as well as for keeping us safe and preventing Lisa's sermon from becoming one of fire and brimstone. --Amy Phillips Witzke
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