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Vespers*

This weekend we spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with our daughter after she was away for a whole week at camp.  I say re-acquainted because it was her first experience of re-entry. You know, that period when you return from a trip or from an intense experience, and you see things slightly differently than you did before you left?


I knew enough to be low key when we picked her up. I have a bad habit of being too demonstrative at reunions and overwhelming her.

Slowly but surely, she told us about her experiences.

At the end of each day, they had vespers*. 

She insisted that it wasn't church, it was a fun, kid's version of church. You sing a song and do a skit around a fire.

Although we grew up in the church, we don`t regularly go now. It was reassuring to me to know that she had time away from electronic devices, tv and media. She had time to be outside under the stars, sitting around a fire, and having a chance to listen to nothing but her own voice sing out loud. 

This beautiful music of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu-Wiyathui brought me close to tears. Take a listen.

ves·per (source dictionary.com)

  [ves-per] 
noun
1.
( initial capital letter ) the evening star, especially Venus; Hesper.
2.
Also called vesper bell. a bell rung at evening.
3.
vespers, ( sometimes initial capital letter ) Ecclesiastical .
a.
a religious service in the late afternoon or the evening.
b.
the sixth of the seven canonical hours, or the service for it, occurring in the late afternoon orthe evening.
c.
Roman Catholic Church . a part of the office to be said in the evening by those in major orders,frequently made a public ceremony in the afternoons or evenings of Sundays and holy days.
d.
evensong.
4.
Archaic. evening.

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