“Neighborhood in the Night”

Talk about early morning things, today I am up at 3:30. There’s a popular meme on Facebook which gives license to us old people to get up and do things in the middle of the night. And speaking of the middle of the night, there was an old custom a good while back (before the industrial revolution) which lasted for several generations (Western Europe, the Mediterranean, America) where communities would have a “middle night.” It was referred to as between “first sleep” and “morning sleep.” Researchers today call it Segmented Sleep, if you want to look it up. Some people used it for prayer and meditation, others socialized with neighbors and friends, and some finished chores. This custom may have had its roots from B.C., even. In thinking of why people would have done this, it seems to me Winter might have brought it on for the purpose of re-stoking the fire for warmth. Or Summer might have caused it due to the bedrooms heating up when the cool winds stopped flowing through. In Southern climes the custom included bringing the supper’s dessert to one’s porch and inviting the neighbors over to help you eat it up!

So modernism of the last century chopped away at another good custom, imho (in my humble opinion.) We can blame this one, too, on central air conditioning and TV—like, who today knows their neighbors well enough to sit on the porch and visit in the middle of the night?

SIMH this morning was “Jesus Loves Me”—not as most of us sing it, but as Whitney Houston sang it in that movie.

Speaking of neighbors, those that live with 2-3 houses of you: 1. Could you put names on them and on their children? 2. Would you know if someone not in the family was going into their house at a questionable time? 3. Personalities aside, would you be comfortable having them in your home? 4. Would you let your daughter date their son? or vice versa? 5. How about calling them for help if you were in a tight spot? — any one of them?

We who claim to be in the “fellowship of the mystery” should be ashamed if we can’t answer these 5 simple questions properly. So, here’s the last question: “When Christ, who is our life shall appear…” how many of your neighbors are going with you?

Thanks for reading, the Elder