A Perfect Night by Candlelight

Since I have taken residence in Japan I have been struggling with being disconnected from people. With the exception of a few friends, I feel as though I’ve been cut off from everyone and thrown into a land where relationships are prohibited by an ever pervasive language barrier. I understand that with time this barrier will slowly dissipate, but for the moment it is a bit daunting. These severed relationships not only stem from moving away from Rogers, Arkansas but also from leaving my last home, Valparaiso University. I never realized how nourished my spiritual life was there or how strong my relationships were until they were not physically present everyday.

With all that being stated; last night we visited the Lutheran Seminary here in Tokyo for an evening prayer service. I asked various questions about what the service would entail. Would it be in English? Who would be there? How long would it last? Then someone told me in was the Holden Evening Prayer service, “do you know it?” they asked. I almost had tears in my eyes when I replied yes. Something I once took for granted has come to mean more to me than I can verbalize. This prayer service has been my weekly routine for the past four years. At Valparaiso every Sunday night at 10 pm we have our Candlelight service, which is the Holden Evening Prayer. This service is something myself and my sorority sisters, close friends, classmates, teachers, and a large portion of campus would attend. This service became tradition throughout college, something that has been fulfilling for me spiritually, something that connected us as a campus and something to begin our week. As I participated and sang loudly last night (for the first time in Japan the hymns were in English!) I closed my eyes and felt those connections. The hundreds of friends I left behind in Valpo going through the same service, the same songs, the same… We might not have had candles, and granted the music was done on a harp instead of a piano…but it was the same. I could feel the tears swelling up as I realized that although I may be 7,000 miles away from home I am still connected. The similarities in some experiences I’ve had here and my experiences at home sometimes even surprise me.

To all my Valparaiso kin, know that next time you are at Candlelight service, I very well may be participating in the same service thousands of miles away. Whenever we feel as though we are separated from everything and everyone we know and love, take a breath and realize it’s all the same…just a different location. This really has put some situations in perspective for me; it was just what I needed. No matter how disconnected I may feel from someone or my “homeland” God gives me those reminders…you are still home.