 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Wednesday, December 21, 2022 Solstice – Winter or Summer? Shortest day or longest?  Winter or Summer? Many of us are so tied to our own sense of time and weather, that we forget that our shortest day of the year is somebody else’s longest! If you were in Australia or New Zealand this week you might be planning a beach party for Christmas! That means, in terms of our spirituality, that we are always moving from darkness toward light – or from light into darkness. And both are good. Both have something to tell us – Neither our season of long light nor our cold darkness last forever. Christians in the southern hemisphere associate Christmas with the longest, brightest day of the year, and their celebrations, even their poetry and sermons reflect that. The Light who is Jesus comes at the very brightest time of the year – and will sustain and enlighten the coming darkness. For us in the north, Jesus is the Light that enlightens the darkness in which we are currently living, warms the cold and gives us hope when it is depressing and we are homebound.   With snow coming tomorrow, I hope you will be warm enough, able to stay home, to reflect, maybe to write or call those you love, to enjoy children home from school, even to bake a little if you want to – to watch a Christmas movie, or to sleep late. Lower expectations and you just might find gratitude welling up! Christmas Eve at St Alban’s 5 pm Saturday.  |
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