PROJECT NIGHT CHURCH -
A liturgical laboratory in the Cathedral of Copenhagen.
In the late summer of 1999 a new project was launched in the Cathedral of Copenhagen. Originally the idea was to open the church to the public in the late evening hours and to give visitors an opportunity for a personal talk with a minister. In the course of the first year several new practices and ideas were introduced which have turned the project into a liturgical laboratory and a place of dialogue.
The first year of the Night Church project (Danish: "Natkirken") has recently been evaluated on behalf of the twelwe founding downtown churches. This article summarises our evaluation report (available in Danish at www.natkirken.dk).
The Night Church was originally planned to alternate between the participating city churches on an annual basis. It has now been decided, however, that the Cathedral of Copenhagen (The Church of Our Lady; Danish: "Vor Frue Kirke"), will host the project in the first three-year period. Located on a busy street where young people use to pass by in the evening, the Cathedral is an excellent venue for the Night Church. The illuminated, impressive figure of Christ in the far end of the huge, dim room easily attracts a prospective visitor who happens to cast a glance through the open doors.
Practice
The Night Church is open from 8 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Friday and Sunday night. An evening's staff includes a minister, a deacon and two-three volunteers. The ministerís salary is paid by the diocese of Copenhagen, while that for the deacon and all other expenses are paid for by four of the twelve participating churches. An evening in the Night Church begins with an hour of practical work. The staff brings out all the props - small tables where visitors can lit candles and write prayers, writing desks with notebooks for comments and discussion, tables with bibles and leaflets, and - most recently - a new installation, "The Cross", by the Swedish minister and artist Ingemar Thalin. "The Cross" consists of nine wooden frames containing glass fragments, sand, candles, and water, which are placed on the floor in the middle of the church.
At 8:00 p.m. the doors of the Cathedral are opened and the Night Church is ready to receive its first visitors. The attendance varies over the course of the evening, and from evening to evening. In the first year the total number of visitors was around 11,000. Most of them are between 20 and 40 years old and many of them are not regular churchgoers. Some pay only a short visit, others stay for several hours. Some are Christians who are looking for a space for personal devotion, others do not consider themselves Christians but are nevertheless attracted to the silence and the "holy ambience" of the room. We have even had a few visiting Jews and Muslims.
The visitors can walk around freely in the Cathedral. The building provides many opportunities. Some visitors prefer to stay in the entrance hall for a cup of tea or coffee and a chat with one of the volunteers, others spend much time in the writing desk area. Some visitors prefer to walk around and watch the imposing statues of the twelve apostles, others sit down on the cushions on the floor by "The Cross". Many prefer to sit in the pews, some of them apparently in silent prayer and meditation, whereas others are engaged in conversation with an intimate friend. Some even dare to walk right up to the figure of Christ, often to kneel and pray. On a few occasions during an evening, visitors ask for a confidential talk with the minister or the deacon. In the first year we had altogether 144 such talks.
Most of the activities take place in silence. But the Night Church concept also includes artists - particularly musicians - who are invited to participate in the events. In co-operation with the minister they contribute to the 10 o'clock service (see below), and they are allowed to use the Cathedral for their own inquiry into the relation between art and the Holy. For example, a rap singer has elaborated on themes such as prayer, the cross, and surrender. One of our regular saxophone players prefers to walk around in the Cathedral, while the flute player usually stands in the first floor galleries. On one occasion the singers improvised alternating song from the second-floor galleries across the room. The general idea is to encourage the musicians to develop their own dialogue with God. Accordingly, we eschew the traditional notion of church concerts, where the church is used as a venue for an artistic performance only.
At 10:00 p.m. we have a 20 to 30 minute service. We have tried a number of different formats for this service and have now settled on one where musical elements alternate with readings from the Bible, the reading of a poem, a short reflection on the readings, a prayer, five minutes of silence, "The Lord's Prayer", a salutation to peace, and finally a blessing. On the first Sunday of each month we celebrate the Holy Communion with port and real bread. We form a semi-circle around the minister, and each person passes the bread to the next person, saying "This is the body of Jesus Christ", while the minister serves the wine.
After another hour of "holy chaos" (a concept we have borrowed from Olli Valtonen, the creator of the Thomas Mass in Helsinki) it is time for a short midnight prayer service. Throughout the evening visitors have had the opportunity to write personal prayers - these are included in the service and read aloud by the deacon.
At 12:30 p.m. the last visitors are politely gently asked to leave and to come back another day, the church door is closed, and after another hour of practical activities the staff gathers for a glass of beer and an informal evaluation of the evening.
So far we have been reluctant to advertise for the Night Church. Its existence is mainly spread by word of mouth. Visitors can receive a small monthly newsletter, which is also distributed by e-mail. Some may also have found information about us on our website: www.natkirken.dk
Ideas and visions
The ideas and visions for the Night Church project have developed gradually as a result of our practical experiences. Something unexpected may happen in the course of an evening, new perspectives emerge, new reflections and a new practice is born. When the Night Church project started in 1999 the idea was to provide an open and quiet church punctuated by a short service. Today, however, we envisage the entire evening as an extended service. The long stretches of time when "nothing happens" are part - and a most appreciated part - of the service. The Night Church thus becomes a refuge from everyday life with its career pressures and constant demands for personal achievement. Several visitors have expressed their gratitude to this dimension of the Night Church (see below). The message that many a minister tries to convey to his congregation in elaborate ways, namely, that we do not need to perform or do anything to receive the love of Christ, is here replaced by a personal experience that grows out of the simple practice of "doing nothing", just being - in the calm.
The noise generated by today's information and media society has turned people's attention to the blessing of quietness. Similarly, the common experience of a normative vacuum in today's society has contributed to a revival of ritual. We wish to develop credible rituals. Credibility is bound up with resonance and the content and mode of expression in the rituals and the service must therefore resonate with the individual's perception of holiness and sense of the fundamentals of life. That is, the service must resonate with the visitorís need to find a suitable vocabulary, a direction of mind, and a spiritual context for his or her search. Our task is to find modes of expression that are credible to the individual visitor and which provide a space for dialogue - a dialogue that (post)modern man expects to be a natural part of the state of being together, with other human beings as well as with God.
Many of our visitors can be characterised as "seekers", and we consider it one of our primary aims to establish a dialogue with this group of people. In order to enter into a dialogue with "seekers", however, we must meet them on their own terms. A well-known graffiti says that "Jesus is the answer, but what was the question?" In other words, there is no point trying to preach the gospel if we cannot see our visitorsí distress and if we cannot give them an opportunity to articulate their own questions. To "see" somebody does not necessarily imply accepting everything he or she say - to be "seen" also includes being contradicted and corrected. But whether we agree with our visitor or contradict him, his sense of having been seen is a necessary condition for his being affected.
The churches often denounce today's cultural and social phenomena of temporariness and individuality. In the Night Church project we have chosen to view temporariness and individuality both as an unavoidable condition of postmodernity and as phenomena with a potential positive value for the future. The Night Church apparently appeals to individualists, those who consider it more important to make their own decisions than to fit into a group of believers. It appeals to men and women who do not necessarily believe what the minister says just because her or she is ordained, but who maintain that personal trustworthiness is essential for human contact and a true dialogue.
Since we see temporariness and individuality both as unavoidable conditions and as resources for Christianity today, we do not focus on the pulpit or on traditional church activities and - perhaps more important - we do not wish to integrate our visitors into a parish in the traditional sense. Our "parish" is all those men and women who gather in the Night Church in the course of the evening. This means that there is no basis for distinguishing between members and non-members of the "parish", because everyone who enters the church during the evening becomes a member of the temporary "parish" of the Night Church. Even if the individual "seeker" stays in the Cathedral for only a few minutes or only comes once, for a couple of hours of individual prayer, he or she is, in our view, nevertheless connected to a universal Christian community and incorporated as an individual link in the chain of the historical path of Christendom.
In our experience, the Night Church is a place where people rediscover the church as holy and spacious. A space into which an individual can enter and find his own place and position. A space that allows the visitors to do things that they may feel are too private to express during an ordinary service - like kneeling, crying, closing their eyes and calming down, or articulating cries for help or jubilant thanks to God.
Finally - we wish to catechise, meaning that we want to act as guides into the Christian tradition. The staff of the Night Church can offer guidance and an introduction into the richness of the Christian tradition, and we can show the visitors what our own personal way looks like. But the tradition has, as we all know, many routes, and every one of us must find our own. In the end we are all pilgrims and beggars.
About the authors:
Signe M. Berg is employed as a Minister in the Night Church by the Diocese of Copenhagen. She studied theology at the University of Copenhagen in 1989-1997 and was ordained in 1999.
Inger Ravn is employed as a Deacon in the Night Church by the Parish Council of the Cathedral of Copenhagen. She has an MA in Communication Studies and is about to complete her MA in Religious Studies at the University of Copenhagen.
Thomas Söderqvist is an historian of medicine who works as a volunteer in the Night Church.
Selected quotations from the guest-book of the Night Church
(Unless indicated all quotations are translated from the Danish)
"It's so Good that you run the night church. It's balm for the soul" (28 January, 2000)
"The Night Church idea is so beautiful. I find simplicity, calmness and beauty which makes me feel the divine" (31 January, 2000)
"Thank you for the break. For the first time in many years, I felt the presence of God as true delight, because I relaxed and let the holy spirit take over. Praise the Lord" (26 March, 2000)
"It's unbelievably beautiful to meet this QUIETNESS, this SPACE in the night. I will put the Cathedral high on my agenda in the years to come" (7 April, 2000)
"Cool" (6 April, 2000)
"It's a beautiful thing to do for us. I fell welcome, accepted and respected. A rare feeling in my everyday life. Thanks" (28 April, 2000)
"Maybe itís not a question of believing or not-believing, but whether faith believes in us or not? It's just a question. I feel enriched" (7 July, 2000)
"A really good idea. Attractive and safe atmosphere - even for a pagan like me. I'll be back!" (9 July, 2000)
"It's really as if I can feel God in here. This church has a big place in my heart. It's been a great experience to see it and meet the night. I hope you will continue" (21 July, 2000)
"Many thanks for a wonderful and overwhelming experience, I almost feel that God has somewhat delivered me tonight. This is not the last time I come here, if you continue to make such beautiful arrangements. Lots of thanks" (21 July, 2000)
"The Night Church! The best move in the history of the Danish Church for a long time - that's the spirit" (23 July, 2000) "I have missed something like this for a long time - without knowing it was here" (30 July, 2000)
"In great gratitude over having experienced a spiritual space put at my disposal. This is the most important thing we can teach each other; to be at disposal and to support. Thanks for letting me experience it" (4 August, 2000)
"Thanks for the Night Church. It has become an indispensable part of my life because I live in the downtown area and try to find some peace from the weekendís tumult. What a contrast!" (11 August, 2000)
"I must admit that I have never felt so close to God as when I came here. I felt love. Thanks for letting me have this experience"(11 August, 2000)
"Thanks for the peace and the forgiveness" (1 September, 2000)
"Hello! What a cool church. God is present here. God loves you" (8 September, 2000)
"I've memorized the beauty here for a peaceful place my mind may always retreat to" (English original; 8 September, 2000)
"I wish to live here!" (15 September, 2000)
"Hello Night Church. I fervently desire that you will endure" (22 September, 2000)
"This is an unbelievably generous gesture ... I will forever remember this evening" (22 September, 2000)
"The communion was fine, and thank you for the angelic singing" (30 September, 2000)
"The night service including an adult baptism was a strong and unforgettable experience" (1 October, 2000)
"Open churches = open human beings = open society. Thanks for the break" (6 October, 2000) "This is just wild! I must get back here! Have a good night" (6 October, 2000)
"Thank you for feeling, thank you for being. I'm on my way. Please, have patience with me" (8 October, 2000)
"Saw light. What a beautiful idea. Could have stayed all night" (English original; 15 October, 2000)
"Walking in the pedestrian street, there is nothing more beautiful than ending such a peaceful evening in a night church. See to it that you keep it" (20 October, 2000)
"Surprisingly huge, sensuously calm. I walk out of here as a greater person" (20 October, 2000)
"Thank you for a quiet place and some trust in what is good in all of us. Hope" (22 October, 2000
"What a motion. There is space here for BIG thoughts, or small. Marvellous" (27 October, 2000)
"Thanks for your honesty and your lack of prejudice" (27 October 2000)
"Thanks for letting me open my heart for you, dear God" (10 November, 2000)
"Thousand thanks for the Night Church and the souls that are here" (10 November, 2000)
"I listen and listen. But I can only hear the mess of my own tongue. But here it calms down so the silence can clean my soul. Thank you." (19 November, 2000)
"Many Thanks. A smashing experience" (24 November 2000)
"Coming in here after a day full of stress is a liberating experience - from the 'weekday'" (24 November 2000)
"This is a mighty scenery, and a very, very calm moment. We are some who are using you" (24 November 2000).
"Jesus was here ... let it go, boys" (24 November 2000)
"We were here - and talked about love - carnal love, too. Thus everything is connected" (1 December 2000)
"Dear God. Thank You for letting me come into your house. I walk home now with a fantastic experience and a wonderful inner peace" (1 December)
"A quiet moment here. Thus much trouble diminishes" (3 December 2000)
"Thank you for fine and caring words" (8 December 2000)
"In this space it appeared - it will continue to be here - when I walk out it follows me. And the roots in the soil turn into wings in the air" (22 December 2000)
"I say thank you for a fine evening and an unbelievable feeling of safety" (29 December 2000)
Some recent prayers written in the Night Church and read at the midnight service
(Unless indicated all quotations are translated from the Danish)
"Dear God, I have such a burning wish for one thing for Christmas - that you fill my beloved with courage and strength and love. Thank you for so unfinitely much. A Merry Christmas!" (3 December, 2000)
"God, teach me how to appreciate life and teach my heart that you are love. Teach me a conciliatory spirit and forgiveness. Teach me how to accept the hard life I have lived and its consequences. I ask you to let me sleep at night - or to accept sleepless nights. Thank you God for having found this church" (3 December, 2000)
"Dear God, spare my grandfather, don't let him die. In case he does, let him come to you" (8 December, 2000)
"My God, reveal to me the meaning of my life. I have been looking for it for such a long time" (8 December 2000)
"Thank you for being with me. Free me from my chaotic chains of thought, and let me find tranquility where I am. Your will be done!" (15 December, 2000)
"God, I pray to you so that she may melt - and become someone I can be fond of. Forgive me my anger at her - and my pride" (17 December 2000)
"Dear God , thank you - I am happy again" (22 December, 2000)
"God, I pray for myself. Guide me in my crisis. Show me your way" (22 December 2000)
"I pray for my neighbour's daughter so that she may be recover before Christmas" (22 December, 2000)
"Merry Christmas! God, and congratulations! Jesus" (22 December, 2000) "Dear God, a little girl has been harmed. Now she is full of anger. I ask for your help to help her to get rid of it and become happy and alive again. Your will be done!" (5 January 2001)
"God, let us who are restless find rest in the night or, even better, sleep. Let me trust that I will be healed in my process. Let Mary find faith, joy, and love - and courage to open up to other people" (7 January, 2001)
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