Breeding patterns, increase in species rate of maturation, altered migration patterns are among the costs of our flooding the night sky with artificial light.  Logger head turtle hatchlings have a genetic coding that tells them to move toward the glow of light produced by the ocean.  Coastal development causes them to move toward buildings and into the path of predators.  It is estimated that a couple hundred thousand hatchlings are lost each year in Florida alone. Our sleep patterns and natural biological rhythms of light and dark are among the casualties.

I think we have lost an understanding of the gift of darkness.  There are things only it can provide: Dreams- the bible is filled with people hearing God through dreams.  We now have to be told how many hours per night we need to sleep.  Perspective: If Abraham lived in a modern city, the notion of 'looking at the stars' to see how full his life would be is not possible.  When human beings loose seeing a clear evening sky, we loose perspective of our place in the vastness of creation; we are tempted to think that what is right in front of us is what is real; we are not pushed to comprehend something vastly beyond ourselves.

There are many more consequences of thinking darkness something to conquer.

As we enter Holy Week, the church will push us into many moments, prolonged moments of darkness.  It will be tempting to rush them.  It is only as we sit in the darkness, listen to its word, that we will truly understand.  It is only as we listen to the messages found in darkness that we have balanced truth in our lives.

In the song, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen speaks of 'wanting things that can only be found in the darkness on the edge of town.'  It is not a deranged yearning.  The yearning comes from understanding that seeking to live only in light is a fallacy, and it is dangerous to think it possible.  When all is stripped from the altar on Maundy Thursday and darkness envelopes the Nave, the church begins vigil, a vigil in the darkness.  There are things to be found, life to be found, only to be found, in that darkness.

May we learn to welcome and sit with the darkness and listen for what it and only it can tell us.

Blessed Lent,

Todd Donatelli