On our last night at Ring Lake Ranch, the retreat group read compline together. We had hoped to pray under the stars, but a ferocious wind kicked up and we wound up inside around a fireplace. I wanted to share our Starry Compline with the whole Cottage community — as both a recording (above) and the written liturgy (below).
Under “INSPIRATION” you can find the poem by Rilke (read by Marianne Borg) at the outset of the recording.
I’m heading out of the wilderness back to the wilds of Washington, DC on Tuesday. We’ll be back to a regular schedule of The Cottage in September. In the meanwhile, I hope you might find beauty and comfort in the stars.
I’ve also included a selection from my book, Grounded, about the sky at Ring Lake Ranch. Enjoy!
From Grounded, chapter 3, “Sky”
Unlike the ground and water, the sky is beyond our comprehension.
Where does it begin or end? How large is it? It is both visible, as the location of heavenly orbs and clouds and colored light, and invisible, as atmosphere and wind. It is a vast cosmos and big skies; it is sunlight warming our face or wind blowing our hair. The sky, like the earth itself, is multi-layered: a five-layer atmosphere and then outer space. The atmosphere is the world’s protective covering, keeping the planet from the icy terrors of the deeper heavens. The sky touches the earth; the skies are infinitely far from us. It is where we always are, what we always breathe, yet, at the same time, it is the place we can never go without oxygen and special suits and flying machines. We breathe the sky in; we make wishes on stars whose names we do not know. The sky is the most intimate inner space and the most incomprehensible outer reaches of the universe. It is that which we see; it is that which remains an invisible presence in our lives.
Every other year or so, my family goes on retreat to a place called Ring Lake Ranch outside of Dubois, Wyoming, in the Wind River Mountain Range, a couple of hours east of Yellowstone. Ring Lake is a place of splendid distance, far away from glowing cities. On my first visit some years ago, the director warned us to bring flashlights and be careful after dark, for city dwellers were unused to night without electric lights. I was not entirely sure what he meant. But when the sun completely set, it seemed like a thick wool blanket had been pulled over my head. All light disappeared. I had forgotten my flashlight. And I feared I would not make it back to my cabin. Trying not to panic, I sat on the lodge stairs and wondered what to do.
In a few minutes, my eyes adjusted to the lesser light of the night. The moon was bright, but it was not the only source of light. The sky was nearly pulsating with the light of millions of stars, more stars then I ever remember seeing, some still, some in familiar patterns, some shooting past others toward destinations unknown. They seemed so close, this starry swath, that I wondered if they were all falling toward the earth, to dress the whole planet in sparkling light. I trembled. The cold perhaps? A sudden shock of humility, of the power of the night sky? Without a moment’s reflection, the words of an old hymn sound in my mind: “Consider all the worlds thy hands have made.”
Consider.
Indeed, the word consider comes from the French and means to “observe the stars,” now intended as a call to reflect upon or study intensely. Consider the sky. That night in Wyoming, I understood that the sky was much more than I knew, hidden away as it is by pollution and man-made lights. It was compelling and frightening, and I felt both smaller than I ever had before, yet somehow connected to the stars. Now, I carry the memory of the Wyoming sky with me. Whenever I arrive at Ring Lake, I sit on the cabin porch and wait for the skies darken (hoping that no bear or mountain lion will join me) and the stars to appear. And there, I consider not only my strange insignificance, but I consider God, the one who is Light and made the lights. It is easy to see why thousands of generations of humankind believed God – or the gods – lived in the stars or dwelt in distant realms as a sky deity.
The night sky has become less familiar to many, as city lights compete with heavenly ones to brighten the nighttime. But, beyond the city, the night sky still dazzles, as it has since before our existence. The Milky Way, the Northern Lights, constellations north and south, millions of distant planets and moons and suns and comets, all dancing in the dark to some primal harmony that physicists seek and poets extol.
A STARRY COMPLINE for RING LAKE RANCH
(Drawn from the New Zealand Prayer Book, adapted by Diana Butler Bass)
OPENING SENTENCE
The universe and the light of the stars come through me. (Rumi)
APPROACH
The angels of God guard us through the night,
and quieten the powers of darkness.
The Spirit of Wisdom be our guide
to lead us to peace and to glory.
Silence
Friends and companions,
our help is in the name of the Holy One,
who is making the heavens and the earth.
Eternal Spirit, thank you for all that is good,
for our creation and for our humanity,
for the stewardship you have given us of this planet earth,
for the gifts of life and of one another,
for your love which is as unbounded and eternal as the Milky Way.
O thou, Wisdom and Grace,
my Guide on the journey,
my bright evening star.
We are sorry for the wrongs we have done:
We have wounded your love.
O God, heal us.
We stumble in the darkness.
Light of the sun, moon, and stars transfigure us.
We forget that we are your home.
Spirit of Wisdom, dwell in us.
Living flame burn into us,
cleansing wind, blow through us,
fountain of water, well up within us,
that we may love and praise in deed and in truth.
INVOCATION
Eternal Spirit, flow through our being and open our lips,
that our mouths may proclaim your praise.
PSALM 148 (adapted)
Praise the Eternal One!
Praise God from the heavens;
praise God in the heights!
Praise God, sun and moon;
praise God, all you shining stars!
Praise God, you highest heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Love,
for God commanded and they were created.
Praise the Creator from the earth,
Mountains, rocks, and all hills,
limber pines, sage brush and all cedars!
Wild animals, horses, and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
Rulers of the earth and all peoples!
Young of all genders alike,
old and young together!
Let us praise the name of the Eternal One,
for God’s glory is above earth and stars.
READING (verses from Job 38)
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
HYMN
Be thou my vision, O Christ of my heart,
Be all else naught to me save that thou art,
Be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
PRAYERS
The Lord’s Prayer
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.
The leader and people pray responsively.
I will lie down in peace and take my rest,
for it is in the Spirit that I dwell unafraid.
Let us bless the Earth-maker, the Pain-bearer, the Life-giver,
let us praise and exalt God forever.
May Wisdom be praised beyond the furthest stars,
treasured and adored in our hearts always.
THANKSGIVING FOR NIGHT
Lord,
it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives
rest in you.
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.
BLESSING
Blessing, light, and glory surround us
and scatter the darkness of the long and lonely night.
Holy Wisdom dwells in us.
Thanks be to God.
INSPIRATION
You, darkness, of whom I am born–
I love you more than the flame
that limits the world
to the circle it illuminates
and excludes all the rest.
But the dark embraces everything:
shapes and shadows, creatures and me,
people, nations — just as they are.
It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.
I believe in the night.
— Rilke, “The Night”
Sunday Musings