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Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide
Join poets and novelists from across the centuries as you travel through the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. With the popular collections At the Still A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time and Light Upon A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany , this third collection of daily and weekly readings from classic and contemporary literature completes the church calendar. New voices such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Benjamín Alire Sáenz join well-loved classics by Dostoevsky, Rossetti, and Eliot. Light in the darkness, illuminating the soul. Between Midnight and A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide will use imagination to draw you deeper into God’s presence. Read it through, then use it as a resource for years to come.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2016
19 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Arthur
27 books374 followersSarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker, Christy Award finalist, and author of numerous books for teens and adults, including the bestselling ONCE A QUEEN, the first in her acclaimed Carrick Hall Novels. Among other nerdy adventures, she has served as preliminary fiction judge for Christianity Today’s Book Awards, was a founding board member of the annual C. S. Lewis Festival in northern Michigan, and co-directs the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats. She lives in Lansing, Michigan with her husband and two preteen sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
May 27, 2023
I just love this format for a devotional. I've been in a wilderness of devotional reading for quite a while and this series by Sarah Arthur has renewed my love for daily reading with her thoughtful selections of prayers, Scripture, poetry, and excerpts from novels that have helped me to be attentive to the Church Year in new ways. I loved the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany devotional a little more, but that is simply because I'm still deeply gripped by Advent and the Incarnation and the symbolism of that season. I have Sarah's Ordinary Time devotional waiting for me next, and I look forward to its centering depth as I anticipate the long and hot days of summer (not my fave!).
February 9, 2017
I really loved Sarah Arthur's first devotional, At the Still Point, which was for ordinary time. It was an unusual devotional with thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry. Of course, that was right down my alley and it became a favorite devotional. I can vouch that Arthur does a wonderful job of choosing pieces that speak both to poetic or literary content and to the Christian message.
At the time I reviewed it, I wished for devotionals to cover the rest of the liturgical year. Arthur obliged with Light Upon Light for Advent. Now with Between Midnight and Dawn for Lent and Easter, my wishes have come true.
I'll be using this throughout Lent and Easter.
At the time I reviewed it, I wished for devotionals to cover the rest of the liturgical year. Arthur obliged with Light Upon Light for Advent. Now with Between Midnight and Dawn for Lent and Easter, my wishes have come true.
I'll be using this throughout Lent and Easter.
May 16, 2021
Sarah Arthur's literary guides to prayer gather poems, fiction, and an occasional bit of creative non-fiction in thematic sections to inspire prayer during the liturgical year. Between Midnight and Dawn is the first one I've read all the way through, and it did inspire prayer, and new ways of thinking about the season.
In a long guide like this, it could be easy to never repeat authors. There are so many wonderful options out there. Yet, I was glad to get familiar with a few new-to-me writers, especially poets. Occasionally a fiction passage would continue in a second week, or the book would be consulted later. I liked being able to settle into a selection for a little while. The choice of authors should have been more diverse, especially since Arthur included the nationality or ethnicity of each author alongside their names and time periods--she drew attention to it with every choice. Yet, I'm easily pleased when it comes to religious poetry, and I'm glad to be familiar with a few new voices. Arthur and I have rather different reading lives. When I consider what I would have included in a volume like this, I realize it would be a very different book, but I'm happy with the one she's edited here.
My only complaint about Between Midnight and Dawn is its rather uneven structure. Each grouped reading is roughly the same length, which is great (you know what you're in for each time). However, the readings aren't evenly spaced out. There's a set of readings for Ash Wednesday, then sets for the five Sundays of Lent, one set for each day of Holy Week, and seven sets of readings for Eastertide that start after Easter (a total of 8 weekly readings for Eastertide, though there are seven weeks in Eastertide, starting with Easter Sunday). During Lent I'd gotten into the rhythm of weekly readings, but during Holy Week it switched to daily readings, which was another reading commitment on top of the daily Lent reading I'd already started. The Holy Week readings were really wonderful, but what Between Midnight and Dawn asks of the reader is disproportionate.
Recommended to anyone who wants to connect their reading life to prayer and the liturgical year more closely.
In a long guide like this, it could be easy to never repeat authors. There are so many wonderful options out there. Yet, I was glad to get familiar with a few new-to-me writers, especially poets. Occasionally a fiction passage would continue in a second week, or the book would be consulted later. I liked being able to settle into a selection for a little while. The choice of authors should have been more diverse, especially since Arthur included the nationality or ethnicity of each author alongside their names and time periods--she drew attention to it with every choice. Yet, I'm easily pleased when it comes to religious poetry, and I'm glad to be familiar with a few new voices. Arthur and I have rather different reading lives. When I consider what I would have included in a volume like this, I realize it would be a very different book, but I'm happy with the one she's edited here.
My only complaint about Between Midnight and Dawn is its rather uneven structure. Each grouped reading is roughly the same length, which is great (you know what you're in for each time). However, the readings aren't evenly spaced out. There's a set of readings for Ash Wednesday, then sets for the five Sundays of Lent, one set for each day of Holy Week, and seven sets of readings for Eastertide that start after Easter (a total of 8 weekly readings for Eastertide, though there are seven weeks in Eastertide, starting with Easter Sunday). During Lent I'd gotten into the rhythm of weekly readings, but during Holy Week it switched to daily readings, which was another reading commitment on top of the daily Lent reading I'd already started. The Holy Week readings were really wonderful, but what Between Midnight and Dawn asks of the reader is disproportionate.
Recommended to anyone who wants to connect their reading life to prayer and the liturgical year more closely.
February 2, 2016
Lent hasn't even begun yet and I've already had to purchase this book three times because I keep giving my copies away! I've loved each of the first two books in this "Literary Guide" series by Sarah Arthur, and this one does not disappoint. If you are looking for a thoughtful, interesting way to read yourself through the seasons of Lent and Easter, this is the book for you!
May 29, 2022
The reflections and guidance for lent & eastertide in this book touched me so very deeply as I read through. Perhaps it was the personal connection with death and resurrection as I had a loved one pass away at the start of lent this year. Either way, the collections of poems, excerpts, and Bible passages offer a meaningful pathway through the darkness and into the sunrise. I would recommend this to anyone in a heartbeat.
May 13, 2023
The longer I live, the more I turn to poetry as an aid in observing the liturgical calendar, and this volume is a more than helpful guide to that end. As with any such collection, the older works are typically the best, yet more than a few of the contemporary pieces are also quite arresting in their poignant accessibility, and I am grateful for a heightened exposure to newer poets who truly seek to stand on the shoulders of the greats.
May 19, 2018
What a beautiful book to not only take me through lent but through the whole Easter season. I loved how the author was able to tie various pieces of literature, both classic and contemporary and poetry to scripture. It made for a different and wonderful spiritual experience of both seasons.
May 27, 2023
Great, lovely, wonderful. Some old timey poems in here that were a bit harder to understand, but besides that. Good freaking stuff
March 11, 2016
This rich compilation of poetry and prose excerpts is structured as a devotional for the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide, though its meditations can also be recognized as paralleling the journey of a life: we are born into dust (Ash Wednesday), journey through seasons of mourning (Lent) and seasons of uplifting (Easter), until finally we anticipate resurrection into eternity.
Unlike other devotionals, this is not a collection of five-minute “devos” formulated by an encouraging verse, often taken out of context, and a following “gear up for the day” paragraph loosely based on the short biblical quote. Instead, Arthur’s selections work together to press into each week’s subject from multiple angles by grouping together passages from the five main sections of the biblical cannon (Psalms, Prophets, Letters, and Gospel) along with five literary readings. Since the ambition of these selections is to fuel reflection and prayer, the reader is given the freedom to read them all at once, one a day, or to flip back and forth out of order. I found myself reading them all the first day of the week, then returning to contemplate them more slowly in subsequent readings.
Arthur’s choice of readings is robust, pairing old friends (Jane Austen, Frances Hodson Burnett, John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot to name a few), with many new friends (Marcie Rae Johnson and Nathaniel Lee Hanson are new favorites), some of whom have yet to be discovered by the public spotlight. In this volume, Arthur brings together voices as old as the 3rd century up through modern times, spanning selections from Iran, India, and Syria, through all the ethnicities that make up America. This is a coming together of the global and trans-generational body of Christ. It is the fellowship of struggling toward God together, and learning to pray from one another; a pre-amble to a future where we will come before God from every nation and tongue as one voice.
For more reviews visit TheWillowNook.com
Note: Thanks to Paraclete Press for a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Unlike other devotionals, this is not a collection of five-minute “devos” formulated by an encouraging verse, often taken out of context, and a following “gear up for the day” paragraph loosely based on the short biblical quote. Instead, Arthur’s selections work together to press into each week’s subject from multiple angles by grouping together passages from the five main sections of the biblical cannon (Psalms, Prophets, Letters, and Gospel) along with five literary readings. Since the ambition of these selections is to fuel reflection and prayer, the reader is given the freedom to read them all at once, one a day, or to flip back and forth out of order. I found myself reading them all the first day of the week, then returning to contemplate them more slowly in subsequent readings.
Arthur’s choice of readings is robust, pairing old friends (Jane Austen, Frances Hodson Burnett, John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot to name a few), with many new friends (Marcie Rae Johnson and Nathaniel Lee Hanson are new favorites), some of whom have yet to be discovered by the public spotlight. In this volume, Arthur brings together voices as old as the 3rd century up through modern times, spanning selections from Iran, India, and Syria, through all the ethnicities that make up America. This is a coming together of the global and trans-generational body of Christ. It is the fellowship of struggling toward God together, and learning to pray from one another; a pre-amble to a future where we will come before God from every nation and tongue as one voice.
For more reviews visit TheWillowNook.com
Note: Thanks to Paraclete Press for a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
February 7, 2016
I had always thought of Lent as a time to give something up in order to focus more on God, but I never participated because it seemed more like a second stab at New Year’s Resolutions. For people, not for God.
In the introduction to Sarah Arthur’s newest literary guide to prayer, Between Midnight and Dawn (for Lent and Eastertide), she explains that Lent is “the season of repentance, of soul-searching, of Christ’s lonely journey to the Cross.”
I never thought about Lent as the season of darkness, loneliness, and hurt that follows the light and joyful company of Christmas. I see it in myself: after bright new belief or rekindled hope, my faith wanes and I hurt. I find that even though God has won, I am mortal, fighting still, choking on sorrow and wrapped in confusion. These things do not disappear because we believe. We ache, groaning in the terrible, dark loneliness.
But Sarah Arthur provides us with companions to walk with us through the darkness to Holy Week, to speak words of understanding and comfort until we rise with the light, until Easter breaks upon the world with light and celebration and we find the joy of the resurrection, the dawn that always comes after the night.
If you’ve never read one of Sarah Arthur’s literary guides to prayer (At the Still Point and Light Upon Light), I would encourage you to jump into those after this one. For each season in the church calendar, she compiles scripture and classic and contemporary poetry and prose passages around a weekly theme for the reader to pray through. Reading great literature alongside Scripture gives the reader a different perspective on God’s Word. These guides are a way to encounter God through the words of our fellow humans, suffering and rejoicing just as we do.
This book is for those in darkness, for we will see a great light.
In the introduction to Sarah Arthur’s newest literary guide to prayer, Between Midnight and Dawn (for Lent and Eastertide), she explains that Lent is “the season of repentance, of soul-searching, of Christ’s lonely journey to the Cross.”
I never thought about Lent as the season of darkness, loneliness, and hurt that follows the light and joyful company of Christmas. I see it in myself: after bright new belief or rekindled hope, my faith wanes and I hurt. I find that even though God has won, I am mortal, fighting still, choking on sorrow and wrapped in confusion. These things do not disappear because we believe. We ache, groaning in the terrible, dark loneliness.
But Sarah Arthur provides us with companions to walk with us through the darkness to Holy Week, to speak words of understanding and comfort until we rise with the light, until Easter breaks upon the world with light and celebration and we find the joy of the resurrection, the dawn that always comes after the night.
If you’ve never read one of Sarah Arthur’s literary guides to prayer (At the Still Point and Light Upon Light), I would encourage you to jump into those after this one. For each season in the church calendar, she compiles scripture and classic and contemporary poetry and prose passages around a weekly theme for the reader to pray through. Reading great literature alongside Scripture gives the reader a different perspective on God’s Word. These guides are a way to encounter God through the words of our fellow humans, suffering and rejoicing just as we do.
This book is for those in darkness, for we will see a great light.
June 10, 2025
An inspirational collection of weekly readings for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. The readings include selections from a wide assortment of classical and contemporary prayers, poems, and short prose pieces from around the world. Some of the prose pieces included: excerpts from Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden, Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, and George Eliot's Middlemarch. Some of the poems included: How to Prepare for the Second Coming by Abigail Carroll and Hymn based on St. Patrick's Breastplate by Patrick of Ireland. Recommended for readers who appreciate curated readings for meditations and prayer groups.
February 2, 2016
This new book by Sarah Arthur is similar to the wonderful formats she used in "Light Upon Light" and "At the Still Point". It is a combination of scripture, prayer, poetry, and fiction. I am amazed at the excellent pieces she found to include! My favorites for the most part are the fiction pieces but also some of the other pieces are humorous. All thought-provoking.
I have great respect for all of Sarah's work!
I have great respect for all of Sarah's work!
February 8, 2016
A beautiful book. "Between Midnight and Dawn" is the perfect finale to the trilogy of literary guides to prayer compiled by Sarah Arthur. This final collection of poems, literature, and prayers cements Arthur's ability to act as theologian and thoughtful curator. She's a master at selecting threads of thought appropriate to the season. The contemporary selections (Kate James' poems, my word!) pair wonderfully with the classics ("The Secret Garden," a personal favorite).
June 21, 2019
I use a different Lenten devotional every season. This was my favorite. Scripture and prayer, front and center, with poetry and snippets of literature to highlight the work of God everywhere.
Want to read
February 12, 2018We are nearing the beginning of Lent. I love this season! I find the preparatory seasons of the church calendar (Lent and Advent) great times to press into devotional practices which are difficult for me the rest of the time. Wednesday, I will find a church service to attend so I can get the Face-palm of Death (AKA the Imposition of Ashes). I will fast. I will engage spiritual disciplines. This season is sacred time and I enter in eager to see what God will do in me.
>One of my conversation partners this Lent will be Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide for Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide (Paraclete Press, 2016), compiled by Sarah Arthur). This is one of three devotionals Arthur has edited following the church calendar (also: At the Still Point: a Literary Guide for Prayer in Ordinary Time, and Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer For Advent, Christmas and Epiphany). At the Still Point was the only one of these devotionals I have read any of before, though my Ordinary Time resolve is nowhere near as resolute as my Lenten devotion.
Between Midnight and Dawn pairs suggested weekly Scripture readings with prayers, poetry and fiction readings. There are seven readings for each week of Lent—six poems and one piece of fiction. During Holy Week and Triduum, there are scriptures and 5-7 literary selections for each day, before returning to the weekly format of Scriptures, poetry, and fiction for each week of Eastertide.
The poems and fiction are selected to lead us deeper into the land of Prayer. Arthur suggests reading this literature, applying aspects of lectio divina—lectio (reading), meditatio (reading it again, several more times, slowly), oratio (paying attention to words and phrases) and contemplatio (shifting our focus to God's presence, p.13). Certainly, this takes a little bit of time. The story sections are longer (because 'fiction doesn't work its magic right away'), so Arthur suggests saving the story for a day of the week when we have time to just focus on the story.
Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter (Plough Publishing. 2002) is a similar sort of devotional, using literature as a way into this liturgical season. Arthur's selection is different in that she is more focused on reading literature as an act of prayer, and the scriptural readings (absent from Bread and Wine) give focus to daily practice.
As of yet, I haven't really read the book, only scanned the selections, the poems and stories selected. Arthur has chosen both contemporary and eminent voices from the past. Poets like Hopkins, Donne, Rosetti, Herbert, Tennyson but also those like Luci Shaw, Katherine James, Scott Cairns, John Fry, Tania Runyan). There are stories from Buechner, Chesterton, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George Macdonald. There are some favorite poets and poems I am surprised to not see here, but I am interested to read the ones which Arthur has chosen. I am excited to journey with poets and storytellers on my Lenten journey
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press for the purposes of review.
If you would like to get a copy for yourself for Lent you can purchase it from
Paraclete Press
Amazon (also available on Kindle)
Barnes & Noble
or wherever fine books are sold.
>One of my conversation partners this Lent will be Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide for Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide (Paraclete Press, 2016), compiled by Sarah Arthur). This is one of three devotionals Arthur has edited following the church calendar (also: At the Still Point: a Literary Guide for Prayer in Ordinary Time, and Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer For Advent, Christmas and Epiphany). At the Still Point was the only one of these devotionals I have read any of before, though my Ordinary Time resolve is nowhere near as resolute as my Lenten devotion.
Between Midnight and Dawn pairs suggested weekly Scripture readings with prayers, poetry and fiction readings. There are seven readings for each week of Lent—six poems and one piece of fiction. During Holy Week and Triduum, there are scriptures and 5-7 literary selections for each day, before returning to the weekly format of Scriptures, poetry, and fiction for each week of Eastertide.
The poems and fiction are selected to lead us deeper into the land of Prayer. Arthur suggests reading this literature, applying aspects of lectio divina—lectio (reading), meditatio (reading it again, several more times, slowly), oratio (paying attention to words and phrases) and contemplatio (shifting our focus to God's presence, p.13). Certainly, this takes a little bit of time. The story sections are longer (because 'fiction doesn't work its magic right away'), so Arthur suggests saving the story for a day of the week when we have time to just focus on the story.
Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter (Plough Publishing. 2002) is a similar sort of devotional, using literature as a way into this liturgical season. Arthur's selection is different in that she is more focused on reading literature as an act of prayer, and the scriptural readings (absent from Bread and Wine) give focus to daily practice.
As of yet, I haven't really read the book, only scanned the selections, the poems and stories selected. Arthur has chosen both contemporary and eminent voices from the past. Poets like Hopkins, Donne, Rosetti, Herbert, Tennyson but also those like Luci Shaw, Katherine James, Scott Cairns, John Fry, Tania Runyan). There are stories from Buechner, Chesterton, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George Macdonald. There are some favorite poets and poems I am surprised to not see here, but I am interested to read the ones which Arthur has chosen. I am excited to journey with poets and storytellers on my Lenten journey
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press for the purposes of review.
If you would like to get a copy for yourself for Lent you can purchase it from
Paraclete Press
Amazon (also available on Kindle)
Barnes & Noble
or wherever fine books are sold.
May 25, 2017
I enjoyed Sarah Arthur's literary guide to Advent better than this guide, but I don't know if that's because I like the Advent season better or if it is because it was the first literary guide of hers I read. This guide follows the exact same format: opening prayer, four scriptures, variety of poems/readings, closing prayer. Still very good and thought provoking. She has one more guide for Ordinary Time, which I will most likely pick up at some point.
April 24, 2025
I found this compilation of scripture, poetry and prose a perfect literary accompaniment to the Lenten season. I’ve had a complicated relationship with devotional style scripture reading through my adulthood, but Between Midnight and Dawn drew me back to the good of scripture reading as a meditative practice. I will probably use this again next lent because it has so much in it I could read it again and gain something new.
June 8, 2017
This collection contains a wide variety of poetry, prose, and prayers -- Eastern, Western, and in translation. It warmed my soul and helped steady my footing as I tried to recover a link to the Holy this year. Highly, highly recommend if you are a literary type who wants to commune with God but isn't sure what that looks like anymore!
May 21, 2019
A lovely and refreshing journey through the Lenten season. I loved hearing the variety of literary voices from across the span of time in harmony with scriptures. A terrific devotional - I’m eager to read more like it.
May 28, 2019
Scripture, prayers, poetry and fiction excerpts from old and new, classic and contemporary authors for each day of Lent and Holy Week, and each week of eastertide. I loved the variety of authors and themes. A book I’ll turn to again and again.
August 17, 2021
My review in 3 or more words: rich compilation | diverse voices | liturgically insightful
Working our way through the 3 books in Sarah Arthur's fantastic anthologies!
More here: https://www.tamarahillmurphy.com/blog...
Working our way through the 3 books in Sarah Arthur's fantastic anthologies!
More here: https://www.tamarahillmurphy.com/blog...
March 26, 2018
I can’t wait to read the final (for me) one: At the Still Point. I adore these collections. The slightest knock is that I’d like to see fewer repeated poets, allowing for more poets to be included.
Read
April 20, 2020This book was a fine reading for the Lent season. I loved the exerts from books at the end of each chapter.
May 31, 2020
This is a lovely collection of poetry and excerpts from literature appropriate to Lent and Eastertide. I have ordered the collection for Ordinary time and will start reading it next week.
June 4, 2022
Loved this journey with poetry and Scripture. It helped me to slow down during Lent and Eastertide, which led to soaking in the truths rather than just skimming over them. Very rich, but I loved it.
June 13, 2022
I liked this book well enough at the beginning but about half way through it just lost my interest. The readings took too much time and effort and rereading to decode and sink in.
May 29, 2023
I enjoyed this less than the comparable Advent book. For whatever reason, much fewer of the poetry selections really resonated with me. Still enjoyable and worth a read though.
June 1, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, experiencing a very thoughtful Lent & Eastertide. The pleasant mixture of poetry and prose blessed my heart and soul. A must for a serious Christian library.
March 6, 2017
I used this faithfully last Lent and will use it again during the current reason. The breadth of the sources made this particularly appealing.
June 7, 2016
Between Midnight and Dawn is a “literary guide to prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide.” So to be clear, this work is meant to lead readers who celebrate these liturgical seasons through a collection of great literature that explores themes of darkness and light—themes many of us experience deeply in the dead of winter, when spring is on the horizon, but still feels so far away.
Let’s start with the title. As soon as I realized it was a line from a T.S. Eliot poem, I knew this was my kind of devotional (by which I mean, a devotional for someone who has difficulty connecting with most devotionals). I love T.S. Eliot’s poetry because I have no idea what he’s trying to say. And yet I know exactly what he’s trying to say. His words evoke paradoxes that resonate, mysteries that are as true and clear as the clang of a bell, but oh so hard to explain. That pretty much sums up what I often feel during the season of Lent and even Easter—a time of ancient traditions and mysteries that go deep and ring true, but can be difficult to articulate in a world of abrupt soundbites and short status updates.
In contrast to the fast, cursory internet reading of everyday life, Sarah Arthur has compiled a collection of words meant to be savored. As she poignantly states in the introduction, these are words for those who have “lain awake during moonless hours between midnight and dawn,” and who often feel that “the darkness is final. It owns the earth utterly. It takes hold in the tick of the clock and the stillness of the woods and the shallow breath of your own mute body…It is the last and definitive night.” Yet as every insomniac knows, “by some magic that cannot be quantified, it is not. The earth stirs, inhales, stretches…Light, where there was no light, makes visible: first the outline of a window, then the edge of the bed, your own hand, a book open on the covers. There’s no saying precisely when the turn happens. But it does. Every morning. From the beginning of the world.”
This book is a literary treasure trove all about the turns. It is also about the long nights in between them—the still points that are not always peaceful. Between Midnight and Dawn contains excerpts from beloved classic writers and poets such as George MacDonald, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Christina Rossetti, yet there are many selections from contemporary authors, too: Luci Shaw, Scott Cairns, and Wendell Berry, to name just a few. If any of these names are familiar, then you will surely appreciate the encounter with old friends, but be prepared to make new ones as well.
Let’s start with the title. As soon as I realized it was a line from a T.S. Eliot poem, I knew this was my kind of devotional (by which I mean, a devotional for someone who has difficulty connecting with most devotionals). I love T.S. Eliot’s poetry because I have no idea what he’s trying to say. And yet I know exactly what he’s trying to say. His words evoke paradoxes that resonate, mysteries that are as true and clear as the clang of a bell, but oh so hard to explain. That pretty much sums up what I often feel during the season of Lent and even Easter—a time of ancient traditions and mysteries that go deep and ring true, but can be difficult to articulate in a world of abrupt soundbites and short status updates.
In contrast to the fast, cursory internet reading of everyday life, Sarah Arthur has compiled a collection of words meant to be savored. As she poignantly states in the introduction, these are words for those who have “lain awake during moonless hours between midnight and dawn,” and who often feel that “the darkness is final. It owns the earth utterly. It takes hold in the tick of the clock and the stillness of the woods and the shallow breath of your own mute body…It is the last and definitive night.” Yet as every insomniac knows, “by some magic that cannot be quantified, it is not. The earth stirs, inhales, stretches…Light, where there was no light, makes visible: first the outline of a window, then the edge of the bed, your own hand, a book open on the covers. There’s no saying precisely when the turn happens. But it does. Every morning. From the beginning of the world.”
This book is a literary treasure trove all about the turns. It is also about the long nights in between them—the still points that are not always peaceful. Between Midnight and Dawn contains excerpts from beloved classic writers and poets such as George MacDonald, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Christina Rossetti, yet there are many selections from contemporary authors, too: Luci Shaw, Scott Cairns, and Wendell Berry, to name just a few. If any of these names are familiar, then you will surely appreciate the encounter with old friends, but be prepared to make new ones as well.
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