Happy Solstice/Christmas
December 21, 2011
Today and tomorrow mark the winter solstice for us northern hemisphere folk, when our slightly off-kilter earth is at its farthest distance from the sun – leaning away, giving us the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Dependent on our star and its life-giving light and energy that we are, this time has always carried psychological and spiritual significance for humanity. Darkness and light have spiritual qualities, and just as we are reaching our longest night, we begin to veer toward the light, however imperceptible it may be at first.
It’s no secret the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth has connections with pre-Christian solstice celebrations. Nobody knows when Jesus was actually born, but the symbolism of turning toward the light is a fitting place on the calendar to remember that holy night.
We are a people not well connected to the natural world. We depend on it like all generations before us, but are distanced from it by the nature of our present economy. One small way of recovering this connection is by reconciling our Christian and pagan heritage in celebrating both solstice and Christmas as wondrous gifts from God. It is humbling to consider our utter dependence on this fragile planet and a burning ball of hydrogen almost 100 million miles away. It is humbling to consider that we call “Savior” a peasant child who embodied divine love as an adult and suffered a violent death at the hands of his enemies.
Our family has had an Advent wreath on our dinner table and the girls have taken turns lighting the appropriate candles each evening throughout the season. Tonight, rather than blowing them out the normal way, we’re going to experiment with turning off all the lights in the house and blowing out the candles one by one, talking about the solstice, our sun, the wonder of physical life, and our planet’s turning toward the light. I’m not sure what the girls’ reaction will be when the last candle is blown out and we are sitting in darkness, but hopefully it will at least be a reminder to Abbie and me that we are grateful residents on this our native planet, where life has formed from the energy of the sun, and where love has blossomed from the manger in Bethlehem.
