Lux Aeterna
Lux Aeterna
Today, or maybe I’d better say ‘yesterday’ by now, is All Saints Day in the tradition of Western Christianity. In the Reformed tradition of my church denomination, the saints of the church aren’t specially chosen out from everybody else for sainthood, but are all followers of Jesus, past, present, and future. In other words, anyone whose cell phone rang, caller ID said ‘Jesus’, and the person answered anyway. Or something like that. In our church we remember all those who have died in the past year and we honor all the saints of the church who have helped shape our better selves. Our choir sang the contemporary five-movement choral piece “Lux Aeterna” by the American composer, Morten Lauridsen. The title means “Light Eternal”. We have a most amazing choir, so the music was terrifically inspiring. As I listened to the Latin words and studied the English translation, the tone clusters and waves of sound washed over me and I visualized how the music could look. I thought about the interval of a second, which was prominent. I thought about rocking rhythms, quietness, boldness; all of which I heard. I thought about “let perpetual light shine upon them” and “Hear my prayer, for unto thee all flesh shall come.” I thought about “come, Holy spirit, send forth from heaven the ray of thy light.” I came home after lunch and chose and cut tesserae (little hard things). I mixed blue cement and started drawing with my tiles and glass. Here it is, one o’clock in the morning and I have finished. I probably have a lot of interpretations of “Lux Aeterna” in me, but this is the one that emerged today.
As a child my mother took me to church, i even sang in the choir.
Turns out i’m not a religous person.
however the feeling of love and support you can get in church can be very overwhelming
That’s actually a unique experience- being taken to church as a child, I mean. Most people aren’t. I grew up in the Presbyterian Church and chose to stay, quite purposefully. I have a long-standing mental habit of constantly conversing with God and asking (him, her? not really a good category for spirit!) for wisdom. I would like for everything I do and say to make the world a better place, not a worse place! And, I’m not smart enough by myself to discern which is which, that’s for sure. This is what drives me to go with fellow church members to do nasty things, like muck out flooded houses for people and go to the poor in Mexico, not too far from us, and do hard, hot, dirty manual labor to show love to the ones forgotten by their own government. It drives me to be a leader for the teenagers and almost-teenagers at church, whom I find endlessly fascinating. I have received much more love than I give out. I find that if I take a vacation from any of these chosen duties, I start to feel like I’m losing touch with the most important part of life and I lose touch with those who voices are often ignored- the kids and the poor and the mentally ill. My particular congregation keeps me on this path and I’m grateful for it. I have a what seems to me a sensible framework for thinking about how the universe fits together (in addition to the scientific framework) and how I can operate in it. You can tell that I’m passionate about my faith, but at the same time, I never assume I have the right answers. There is too much unknown to be certain.
I love having a reader somewhere who is a chef and photographer and who writes and performs poetry. I appreciate your time and attention!
wow. i like your interpretation of yesterday’s experience. thank you for sharing with us!
Thanks for looking, Ms. Jennie!
Lynn, you are amazing! To be able to capture the sounds & feelings that the Lux Aeterna obviously “spoke” to you was incredible & the result was very beautiful. I still miss you every week at choir but know you are creating beautiful art!
Mary Ann, thanks so much for looking and encouraging! The choir really did justice to the very difficult piece!