Download There`s hope in the winter solstice

There’s hope in the winter solstice
By Dave Hurst
© 2016 Hurst Media Works
The evening beyond my windshield seemed much later than it was. An overcast sky had
blocked all ambient light and suggested midnight, yet the dashboard clock hadn’t even
reached 6:00 p.m. yet.
It’s easy to tell that we’re nearing the winter solstice, I thought to myself, then added:
Good!
Not that I enjoy the dark or some of the conditions that accompany it at this time of year.
But there are paradoxes in play now that I find interesting and inspirational.
The winter solstice marks the beginning of the winter season, yet it also marks the end
point of the sun’s journey away from us (from our limited perspective) into the southern
hemisphere. Now that winter has begun, we are getting a bit more daylight each day as
the sun returns (again from our perspective) back into our northern half of the globe.
Because our part of the Earth will continue to cool over the next two or three months,
we’ll be getting colder weather – just as we get hotter weather for a couple of months
after the sun reaches its summer solstice here in June.
However, winter contains the agent of its demise: returning sunlight. To me, that’s an
interesting concept.
What I find inspirational is that at this darkest time in our calendar year, we observe our
brightest holidays of Hanukkah and Christmas, celebrating both with light. This is not by
happenstance.
Hanukkah also is known as the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the miracle of the
burning of the Temple menorah for eight days on one-day’s supply of oil, at a time when
the Jews were rededicating the Temple, following its defilement by Greeks.
Following a dark time, God provided light.
Christmas marks the arrival of God among us in the form of the infant Jesus. The event
was marked by the appearance of a celestial light – a “star” – so unusual that it prompted
three of the day’s most-learned individuals to travel many months to find the event’s
source.
Once again, God provided light.
While Hanukkah’s commemoration is fixed to a specific time on the Hebrew calendar,
the reason behind the establishment of Christmas’ date is less clear. Scripture doesn’t
offer any definitive clues as to the time of year when Jesus was born.
The date of December 25 seems to have emerged from fourth-century Christianity and
may have demonstrated some inspired marketing by the Church at the time. Pagans had
been celebrating the winter solstice for generations, commonly with large bonfires
designed to chase away the deep dark of this time of year along with evil spirits that the
pagans believed inhabited the dark.
What better time for the Church to celebrate the arrival of the one who would later
describe himself as the “light of the world” than during our world’s darkest time
annually? When the night is dark, light is bright, readily noticed and more appreciated.
Spend any time in either the Torah or The Bible and you’ll quickly see that paradoxes are
common occurrences in the Kingdom of God. The least become leaders. The weak defeat
the strong. Those thinking themselves wise are fools. Those who give everything, gain
everything.
God’s universe is ordered in such a way that our longest, darkest night marks the
beginning of light’s return. Even the coldest, most blustery times of winter carry the hope
of spring in each day that is a bit longer than the previous one.
And during this time when the sun seems so distant and inattentive, every light is
precious and meaningful – whether that light is from a menorah’s candle, a tabletop
Christmas Nativity, the shrubbery in front of a home or even a store display.
Now – during our longest nights of the year – our holiday lights chase the dark, radiate
joy and remind us that God is with us always.