What does lighting a candle in church for someone mean?
It means whatever you want it to mean. It is a personal act to fulfil some personal need. If you believe in god, then you presumably believe god knows what is in your heart anyway so it cannot be meaningful in any sense of praying or communing with god. Maybe it serves a purpose as a conspicuous expression of something, in which case I would worry about the person lighting the candle and the social pressures that drive them to it … but mostly, I accept it is up to them. It is meaningless to me but, if it floats your boat and you don’t mind the waste of wax and energy or the CO2 pollution and have taken suitable fire precautions, then the choice is yours.
