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Nighttime Memories

And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. (Genesis 1:5)

My guess is that this “In the Middle of the Night” issue may jog some nighttime memories of your own.

When you think of worship experiences at night, what first comes to mind? Those magnificent Christmas candlelight services? Easter Vigils?

“After the Sun Has Set” takes us on a personal journey traveling through “Holden Evening Prayer,” ELW’s Vespers and Compline services, and a service special to the author as well as confirmation students called “Prayer around the Cross.”

Church camping experiences are routine among rostered leaders, but how many of us have attended nighttime camp?

In “What Was That?” our author, an environmental education director at an outdoor ministry site in North Carolina, gives us a taste of what campers may experience as they explore God’s nighttime creation.

Creation is not bound to earth alone, as the psalmist reminds us in Ps. 19:1. I suspect that many of us have lifted our eyes heavenward and become attached to the mysteries and glories associated with the exploration of the universe. I have laid on hills watching meteorites dance their way to earth and peered through telescopes at planets, moons, and stars — all nighttime activities.

Through the story “In Awe of Creation and Creator,” an astronomer shares her calling to study the heavens. She also selected photos of some of the marvels of the universe that we who live in North America can see during this time of year.

Some of us know first hand nighttime ministrations of both body and spirit in hospital settings.

Hospital chaplains are familiar with middle-of-the-night calls to provide spiritual ministry. In “Throughout a Hospital’s Halls,” a hospital chaplain shares three short narratives and gives a taste of a hospital’s nighttime “subculture” through the eyes of a fellow colleague.

Finally, we arrive in the world of sleep and dreams, something we all can relate to. In “Just Dreamin’! The Subconscious at Work,” we enter the author’s mind especially on some nights prior to presiding at Sunday morning worship.

In calling the darkness “night,” Genesis 1:5 reminds us that Night is part of God’s intended creative purpose, just as the Day is. The cloak of night can lead us to worship, a glimpse of life both on earth and in the universe, care for those who are ill in hospitals, and possibly an opportunity to ferret out our subconscious thoughts and emotions that come to us in our dreams.

Good night to all, and to all a Good Night.

William Decker is editor of Lutheran Partners and Lutheran Partners Online, Chicago, Illinois.