As I mentioned yesterday, the sanctuary was dark except for a few candles. And to mark the passage of time, at the top of each hour, someone would read a passage of Scripture.
For me, that was the most haunting and powerful part of the experience. Listening to Scripture being read into darkness and silence makes the words so crisp and distinct. I don't know how else to say this, but darkness and silence makes Scripture so vivid.
And it's also comforting to hear the voices of your brothers and sisters in the darkness. A story of the night from Jana.
During the vigil Jana purposefully dozed a couple different times as she had a huge all-day rehearsal with her theater students in the morning. At one point, in the wee hours of the morning, Jana woke up to hear Julie's voice reading Scripture.
And the sound of Julie's voice was reassuring and comforting and sweet. For second when Jana woke up she experienced a bit of alarm and disorientation. "Where am I?"
But as she listened in the silence to her sister's voice softly filling the darkness Jana realized that she was safe.
She was at church. She was home.
This is a heart warming story. Many for whatever reason, do not feel comforted by intimate community in the name of Christ: dear ones, loved ones whom we think of with tears...waiting for a resurrection of faith, a renewal of relationship, a restoration of warmth in the cold winter of doubt and resentment. May the cold and darkness of their precious lives be touched by the warmth and he light of God.