Deakness and light

Editorial for the December Parish Magazine

In terms of weather it was a disappointing summer. It already feels to me as though we have had a long, dark winter, and we haven’t really started yet! I find that I am looking forward to that magical moment in December when the days start to get longer again.
According to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, this year’s winter solstice occurs at 12:04 on 21st December. This is the moment when the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation is exactly in line with the sun. Each year the winter solstice occurs about six hours later than the year before, and then every fourth year we put 24 extra hours into our calendar (on 29th February), so the time of the solstice jumps back about 18 hours. This ensures that the winter solstice always ocurs on 21st or 22nd December.
On 21st December sunrise in the Midlands will be 08:18 and sunset will be 15:53. This gives us 7 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. London will get 10 minutes more daytime that day, because it is nearer to the equator, but Glasgow will get 43 minutes less.
There is a saying that, “The darkest hour is the one before sunrise”. For Christians in the northern hemisphere it feels more like, “The darkest day is the one before the great light.” Just four days after the winter solstice we celebrate the birth of Jesus; the coming into the world of the true light, that enlightens everyone (c.f. John 1: 9); the light of the world (John 8: 12).
We can understand what it means to say Jesus is the light of the world if we think what it is like to exist in the dark. In the dark it is hard to move around the house. It is hard to find things. It is hard to do the simplest thing. We are clumsy and prone to accidents, and we find it easy to get lost or confused. But then when the light comes, suddenly everything gets easier. It is much easier to achieve things, to make progress and it is much safer too. Jesus has exactly this effect on our spiritual lives. Without Jesus the spiritual life is very hard. We can’t see where we are going or how to get there. Helping each other is difficult, and it is easy to make damaging mistakes. But the teaching and example of Jesus is our light and shows us what to do. We need to grow in love for God and love for one another. We need to follow God’s will for our lives, trusting that God’s path for us will bring us fulfilment, even if there are great difficulties on the way.
But then there is an even bigger problem with trying to exist in darkness. Light is essential for plants to grow. With no light we have no plants and no food to sustain our lives. Just as light gives life to plants, so Jesus gives us eternal life (e.g. John 5: 21, 24, 26). Jesus is light in the sense that he gives us life.
So in the dark month of December we have a wonderful consolation in the great light that is given to us at Christmas. Let’s use Advent to prepare well, so we are ready to welcome the great light when he comes.