Last night, December 21,  the winter solstice took place which in our Northern Hemisphere marks both the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Technically it happened at 11:48 EST when our hemisphere tipped the farthest away from the sun. It also marks the beginning of winter season.

I’ve noticed the days becoming shorter. In the last weeks it has gotten dark much earlier and sunrise comes later. The sun’s light is icy white, emptied of its golden warmth. Evening shadows lengthen along the roadway like long fingers. As the daylight disappears into the trees I am glad to come home, drawn to fire and warmth.

The power went out yesterday and stayed off for over seven hours. Recent snowstorms brought unusual amounts of heavy snow which  broke trees and t00k down power lines. Our electricity flickered on and off repeatedly so I knew there would be an extended outage. It happened very quickly. One minute the world of my neighborhood hummed with electricity; then a sharp crackle and pop stopped everything fed by the power lines. The house became silent as all my appliances, fans and blowers quit.  It got darker by the hour. We lit candles, found flashlights and dug out the red oil lamp. There was light, but it was softer and diffused. It was light which did not reach into the corners. We  ate and read  by candlelight.   I was actually enjoying   the quiet and semi darkness when  just as suddenly the power came back, lighting up every room and turning on everything electric..

Ironically, the power failure and the shortest day of the year concurred yesterday. Natural darkness came very unexpectedly, stayed longer when the power went off. There was nothing   to dispel the inevitable dark. But that passed within a few hours as the power grids kicked back in. Today the earth begins its journey closer to the sun. Immediately after the winter solstice, daylight imperceptibly lengthens again. God created our solar system never to be far off from the life of our star.

It is little wonder that Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth in late December. Just as we earth dwellers long for the promise of our natural sun during the darkest night of the year, the prophets anticipated the Messiah and  prophesied His coming. . He would be “God with us” not only for Israel but for the entire world. Jesus , Emmanuel,  was born in a dark cave into a violent world even darker than our present one. Although his birth was probably not during the winter solstice as we know it, Jesus brought  God’s eternal Light to illuminate our spiritual darkness not for earthly seasons but eternally. He was born as the Life and Light for men walking in pitch black darkness.

Light of the world, You came down into darkness…

John begins his gospel with the beautiful and fearsome proclamation:

…In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1: 4,5

This is the same light that Jesus later echoed and claimed of Himself.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

…Open my eyes, let me see…

Therefore, rejoice. This present darkness will end. The earth’s solstices will be no more. Night and day will be as one in Christ “the bright and shining Morning Star.”

…Beauty that made this heart to adore You, hope of a life spent with You.

Just as the angles, the shepherds and the Magi did   long ago at Jesus birth beneath the star of Bethlehem, Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down… on this first day past the longest December night.

Friede Gabbert