Candlelight Services Organizer

Recruit 4 speakers or 4 groups of speakers, and assign each to one of four nights: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. The current Chairs do Saturday night Candlelight chapel; the new Chairs are responsible for Friday. Traditionally the Senior Teens do a service on Thursday night.

The speakers should be chosen from those people who indicated on their evaluation sheets of the previous year that they would like to lead an evening chapel service. Call the Chairs for suggestions if you don't have enough volunteers. Give the names of the leaders on the schedule to the Chairs and also to the Starboard Scribe when you get to the Island.

Be sure to tell the speakers that they will need to arrange for music in advance. If there is a Conference Music Director, get their contact info from the Chairs and provide it to your speakers. The Island Music Coordinator may be available to play the pump organ, but will need to be asked at least one day ahead.

Make sure to bring with you one or two extra good strong flashlights and replacement batteries for them.

Upon arrival at Star, it is wise to check in with Conference Services about the timing and setup for Candlelight services — All Star II runs on a different (earlier) schedule than other conferences.

You should:

1. Recruit a team of helpers. Each night you need:

   • a bell ringer who should be familiar with how to ring the chapel bell slowly (it takes a bit of practice to get it right)

   • one or two helpers to stand at the top of the path near the chapel door and shine their flashlights to avoid trip hazards

   • one person who stands on the porch and waits for a signal from the person at the chapel door

   • one person who stands at the chapel door. This last person will show a flashlight signal when the leaders are ready and when the last person has arrived. It is helpful to pick your people before-hand so they can bring flashlights.

2. At the beginning of the week and each evening check on the state of the candles and matches plus the wick and oil for the UU chalice. This is a beautiful chalice that does not get used often enough probably because it uses oil and if the wick is not trimmed correctly it can get pretty smoky.

3. The Pelicans will bring out the lanterns and light them around 9:40pm. [Ed. note: This was written in the years when Candlelight started at 10pm. In recent years it has been moved back to a 9:30pm start. Double-check this with the Chairs.]

4. Ask the volunteers to meet with you at the end of the porch at 9:50 p.m. so that you know everyone's on the job and knows what to do.

5. The leader, the bell ringer and the chapel helper take at least 3 lanterns up to the chapel at 9:50 p.m.

6. The porch bell is rung by the Ding-a-ling, at which point conferees begin to line up quietly on the porch.

7. The helper on the porch starts the procession AFTER s/he receives the signal from the chapel door. The porch helper should be the last member of the procession.

8. When the helper at the chapel sees that the procession is coming to an end, s/he tells the bell ringer.

9. Helpers enter the chapel behind the procession.

10. After the service, the helpers light the path for the trip (we hope not) down the hill.  In spite of path improvements, 1-2 flashlights on the path might still be nice.  We will see this summer how many are really necessary.

Some special comments for Senior Teen chapel:

1. Starting in 2006, Sr. Teen Chapel has been relocated to Newton, due to fire restrictions permitting a maximum of 50 people in the chapel. Talk to Sr. Teen leaders about how they would like Newton to be set up, and coordinate the physical setup with conference services.

2. The junior and mid teens like to attend the senior teen chapel. Ask Jr. and Mid Teen leaders to remind them of the etiquette surrounding the chapel: silence, start from porch, care with candles etc.

3. Stop younger teens from dashing up the hill before the senior teens have indicated they are ready.

4. The chapel often starts late because of preceding events finishing late.

5. Be ”on duty” at the allotted time even if that is before the preceding event finishes

6. Ask the younger teens if they would please form their line behind the last adults in line, and sit on the floor in Newton if necessary to provide seating for adults.

This is an easy job — but it is an everyday (7 days) job. And of course it means staying up every night until 11:00 p.m.