Love Part Two

 

Today is the longest night and shortest day of the year.  Because we live in a world of artificial light that can instantly scatter the darkness with the flick of a switch, we may not always notice how darkness has arrived earlier each day.  Our ancestors, however, who lived closer to the land and did not have modern gadgets, paid more attention to the sun setting earlier and the stars sticking around longer each day.  One scholar suggests that Solstice celebrations go back 30,000 years.  You may know that Stonehenge is designed to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.  See how much you learn reading these morning meditations?  Other ways to honor this day include bonfires or turning on only your Christmas tree with Christmas carols filling your house as are soaked and saturated in the light. 

 

Another suggestion is to read the Gospel of John’s prologue/poem/prayer found in chapter 1.  John tells us that in the beginning, the Word (Wisdom or Creativity or Knowledge) was with God and was God.  The two were inseparable.  The two collaborated and conspired and cooperated to craft all that is seen and unseen.  Without the Word, Creation would not have sprung forth.  The Word is woven into everything, including you, me, the lizard that just ran across my window, the blade of grass, the bear hibernating and the hummingbird searching for food.  The Word was expansive, inclusive, and imprinted all with the Eternal.  The Word is a light.  I love how John says the light shines in the darkness…and the darkness did not and will not ever overcome the true Light of God.

 

Tonight, when the sun sets, I invite you honor this holy threshold moment.  You can join us for our Longest Night Service at 6:30 pm on Zoom.  You can turn off all the lights in your house, light ONE candle of LOVE, consider the ways darkness often seems like it has the upper hand in our lives and world.  And prayerfully ponder where one sliver of light might be showing you the way this week and in the weeks of the New Year. 

 

I encourage you today to pay attention to the light and darkness.  Where are places where nighttime has settled in?  This could be an activity you needed to stop because of COVID or a relationship that is no longer as vibrant or maybe physically or emotionally or spiritually you are slowing down.  Notice the nighttime moments in your personal life.  I know we often want to quickly jump to what is wrong ‘out there’ but I invite you to also pay attention to what is unsettled ‘in here’ within you.  May you in naming, noticing the shadows also realize God’s love came at night.  God’s love burst and broke into our world not when the sun was blazing, but the stars shinning.  Let God’s nighttime love meet you in this moment on this longest day.  Amen.