|
LOST IN THE NIGHT
(Note: we had
permission to print the text during Lent but have had to remove
the text after Lent. Refer to your hymnal for the text.)
I first heard and
sang this hymn in the seminary choir in Chicago in 1961. A tenor
from Latvia sang the first verse in a beautiful, haunting voice
that I can hear in my head to this day. He was part of a church
full of Latvians who had fled their country during the second
world war. For a time they were lost in the night and languished,
longing for morning their darkness to vanquish. They were
plaintively sighing with hearts full of anguish. The Lutheran
World Federation helped them find "morning" and a new day in the
United States. They represent all the lost people, refugees from
war, all over the world.
There are people
with a burden of sorrow everywhere. And we who have light must not
only lend it to them, but give it freely for them to keep. We
won't lose any light that we share. The most moving experiences of
my life have been when people with burdens of inner pain from
mental, emotional and physical abuse received help from people who
knew how to bring the light of Christ into the darkness of fear
and anger. Help came soon. Christ came and helped through loving
people.
The death of loved ones brings the deepest shadows. My first
funeral was for a 19-year-old girl who was killed in an automobile
accident. Her father, mother and younger sister were sorrowing
wanderers for a long period of grieving. The power of Christ's
light coming to them gave them the dawning of a new day of
radiance.
Dear Lord, planet Earth is a land of the needy. Let the light
of Christ come to us as awareness of our oneness with you and all
other people. Help us to keep on singing for the rivers of life to
stream through the deserts, bringing all people the Savior’s
redeeming.
The
Rev. Paul Reimers, retired |
