Sing into the Dark

The June moon was full as we trekked deeper into the “back 40” wilderness area. 

Last summer’s senior high youth camp had the chance to venture deep into the woods and sit in the darkness as part of the summer theme Creation Speaks. The night hike is always a favorite for campers and this time I wanted to take them deeper… of both the outer and inner landscapes. 

I invited them to spread out and sit and listen to what creation might be speaking in those moments. (Now I must preface this scenario with the fact that we’d been talking earlier in the day about fears and the black bear that had been seen on camp property.) 

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, their fears were heightened. There was a disturbance coming from something up in the trees. Not only that but with each passing moment, it appeared to be getting closer. So, I asked them what they were feeling in those moments. Responses ranged from anxious, cautious, fearful, and even an adrenaline rush about what was out there. They kept asking me, “What is that?” And honestly at first, I wasn’t entirely sure. Something nocturnal was interested in why we were out there so late in their space. 

I encouraged the youth to shift their awareness and attention away from those feelings of fear and anxiety towards gratitude and joy. What were they most thankful for? What gives them the most joy? And within moments of the youth doing that, those unsettling noises around us ceased.

I then read from the forty-second Psalm. I encouraged them to “sing into the dark”. To let the “deep” of their soul call to the “deep” of the wildness around them. And a few of them did. Some sang quietly, others hummed. There was a clear shift in the mood of the forest that night. What had been a brooding and unsettling atmosphere was transfigured into a peaceful sense of connection with the Spirit, and God’s creation. 

One of my lifelong deep nature connection mentors has taught that we must learn to be quiet enough to distinguish disturbances in the surrounding landscape from those within the soul; to distinguish between exterior and interior wild-ness. The Psalms call to “sing into the dark” is the invitation to recognize the interior landscape of our souls. And when the darkness hems us in, we sing. And creation, acting as a mirror for our inner landscape, will reverberate with God’s lovingkindness. 

[Published in Skyridge Church of the Brethren (Kalamazoo, MI) 2023 Lenten Devotional]