Today something reminded me of a poem I wrote while at seminary. I couldn't find it at first, looking through all my old journals and such. Just when I was going to give up I came across it as part of an article I wrote for The Shepherd (the national magazine of the pre-merger Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada). For three years I wrote the Youth Page for that magazine - perhaps that got me started on this writing thing which has now developed into this blog. But writing is not the theme of this blog entry, the theme is the aurora borealis - northern lights. I was mentioning to someone in an email that northern lights have always had a special place in my heart, ever since I first saw them. Let me quote the first few paragraphs of that article from The Shepherd before I get to the poem:
The first time I saw them I was a counselor at Camp Kuriakos, a Bible camp by Sylvan Lake, Alberta. I was sitting on the shore of a perfectly calm body of water, reflecting the heavens from its surface. It had been a hectic day and I needed some quiet time so I sat and watched the sky grow darker, the stars grow brighter. Then they came, full of splendor and quiet excitement. I was filled with wonder and joy just by watching them, for it was the first time I had ever seen the Northern Lights.
Somehow as I watched this display, the Northern Lights dancing through the twinkling lights of the Milky Way (complete with some shooting stars every once an a while), I was reminded of God's presence in the world. My mind kept recalling lines from the Psalms. "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining starts! Praise him, you highest heavens!" (from Psalm 148).
Seeing the heavens praise their Creator like they did that night filled me with a sense of joy and excitement. I felt like I had taken part in a celebration just by my watching. It was a feeling I would get time and time again in the years to come. It was not always the Northern Lights that invoked these feelings of joy and celebration in God's creation, but also sunsets, the Rocky Mountains on a misty day, the colour of trees in the autumn, a waterfall roaring out its constant song. Different scenes like these would bring that joy and wonder, that celebration and awe to the surface again. These were rejuvenation times for me and I thank God, the Creator, for them.
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Night Celebration
Tonight I was covered with a blanket of sweeping light -
Colours, form, movement, silent in the night.
Time for a time was gone.
I remember what seems like yesterday,
Angels dancing in the sky.
My thoughts are focused in one,
I wonder what the heavens are trying to say.
Caught up in the motion my spirit begins to fly...
... gently the light disperses and the vision is done.
Timelessness turns back into today,
Yet something remains in my mind's eye;
A scene of Creation
that sung Celebration.
(Written April 15, 1983 after seeing the Northern Lights in the Saskatoon sky.)
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