Story by Rob Wilkins
Photos by Charlene Matera
Trimming back the wick of a candle on the stage of Grace Community Church, Gary Purvis recalls his first encounter with making candles.
“Back in the early 70s, I lived in a little apartment in Chicago while attending Trinity College. It was just a hobby and something I would do to help light the darkness. Back in those days, the candles were very big and colorful.”
As the band rehearses minutes before the first Sunday service, Gary uses a pair of one-inch pruning sheers to trim the wicks back one half inch – a ritual he performs nearly every week. “It’s important to keep the wick visible,” Gary says. He places the excess wax into a plastic container with the ease of a butcher trimming fat from meat. “I recycle all the wax a make new candles out of them.”
Moving on to the next of six candles on a spiral holder near the far side of the stage, Gary continues his story. He had lost interest in making candles for a long period of time after graduation and the onset of the oil crisis. “I didn’t really think I would ever do it again.”
He digs deeper into the wax. “If you expose the wick too much,” he says as he exerts a precise pressure, “the candle can burn out of control, and then you might have a little trouble.” From his crouch, Gary look up and smiles. “Just a couple weeks ago, we had a little, ahh, situation on stage. The wax had a breakout and the flame got really high.”
The man appearing quickly from behind the curtain was Gary, snuffing out a potential problem.
Gary seems like a man who is cool with surprise. A few years ago, he continues, circumstances arranged to allow Gary to return to his long-forgotten hobby, which then evolved into a profession. He operates his own freelance business – Candle Expressions – in Swannanoa. He handcrafts all his candles.
Making candles for a business is one thing, Gary says, walking across the stage to another spiral holder, doing it for a ministry was another thing.
“For a long time,” he says, “it never really occurred to me that I could use this skill as a ministry to my church. But as I came to realize how much we emphasize the beauty of creation, I realized light is a powerful expression of that.”
A couple of years ago, Gary proposed an idea to Craig Lotz, Programming Director at Grace. He would make and maintain all the candles on stage and for special events (like the New Year’s Prayer Walk). Craig did not blink an eye.
“He really liked the idea, and so this has been a great way for me to serve the church in a small ways with the gifts I have.”
As people begin to flow in to the auditorium, Gary lights each of the candles and steps back to monitor the effect. “I believe the ambience plays a part in creating a worshipful ambience that people really like.”
In a unique way, the candles point of Jesus, he says. One of his favorite verses is John 8:12, “The light of life.”
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A few minutes later, as Josiah preaches on the Last Supper, Gary becomes slightly unsettled. A candle on the stage near the draped cross is burning a little to brightly. Another possible situation.
Walking quietly out of the auditorium, Gary seems to disappear. A few seconds later, he moves with stealth from behind the curtain to extinguish the miscreant candle. At the same time, Josiah reads a verse.
“And it was night.”
Go figure that.
If you would like to help with Gary’s ministry, he encourages you to bring in old wax so that he can recycle it into more candles. You can drop off the wax near the Information Center. In addition to Grace Centre, Gary also makes candles for Grace Foothills with plans to do so for all new congregations and sites.
Please feel free to email Gary at pfscfi@charter.net.
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