This Sunday, we begin Christmas week and Sunday is December 21, the Winter Solstice of the Northern Hemisphere. Christmas, always on December 25, follows this Winter Solstice. As the upper tilt of the earth moves the maximum distance from the Sun, we experience the shortest time of daylight and the darkest night of the year. From that point forward, daylight will begin to lengthen, and the dark nights, shorten. Over the centuries of discovery, and various whens and whys, Christmas was formally set to follow this peak of darkness and the return movement to increasing light. To me, here in the Northern hemisphere, these events have become an annual reminder that 'darkness' doesn't stay and the Light is never extinguished, despite threats and tragedies. We brighten what we can, care for each other, share, give, and find reverence and awe in the ancient stories, music, prayer, and community. And as Christmas celebrations close, we prepare to begin again, with release, forgiveness, and affirmation of a new time and a new cycle of nature's events--a New Year. The Christmas story is a story of birth and rebirth, again and again and again, in undying Light.
This week holds spaces for spiritual reflection on the Light that always returns, and our own capacity for renewal and rebirth. Traditional Christianity expresses that capacity through the birth of Jesus. Jesus himself is quoted in John 18;12 as saying, '‘I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life.” In Matthew 5:15-16, Jesus declares, "You are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden." While tradition has this declaration limited to the disciples, New Thought captures this moment as Jesus' affirmation of the miracle of human existence and our capacity to open to the Light that we all bring to this miraculous Universe. As my ministerial mentor David Alkins expressed it, Jesus was the Way-Show-er, revealing, living, expressing this endless Light. Follow the Light.
Consider this week, the birth of Light, endlessly renewing and re-emerging out of the darkness. Consider too, that re-emergence begins in innocence, as a baby is innocent, expanding, growing into full maturation and expression, like the phases of the moon, in enduring cycles. As Psalm 19 sings, "The Heavens declare the Glory of God". Yes, It recedes, but also, yes, It returns. Have a Light-filled Christmas. (Susan Nettleton)
for poetry: https://wordsfortheyear.com/2018/12/25/christmas-light-by-may-sarton/
https://hillsidesource.com/end-of-seeking-larry-poem
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/B/BacharachNaf/APoemforthe/index.html