Saturday, December 21, will mark the winter solstice. Either the longest night of the year, or the shortest day, depending upon your perspective. We can bemoan the fact that it is dark at 5:30pm right now in Raleigh, or we remember that the longest night means that on December 22, we move in the other direction. Minute by minute, the sun remains in our sky. Both perspectives are true, and both can be comforting in their own way.
Darkness and waiting for the light are frequent themes and images in the prayers and Scripture readings of Advent. The Advent blessing from the Book of Occasional Services is: “May the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you and scatter the darkness before your path…” I love the idea of Jesus coming to scatter the darkness in front of me. It sounds so clear, so easy. No more darkness in my path means direction, purpose, meaning, clarity.
I long for clarity, but it seems like I spend most of my time in the dark. Maybe this is why I love Advent. I may find clarity comforting, but my experience of life tells me that clarity is actually pretty rare. Usually, I am stumbling around in the dark, feeling my way through, stubbing my toe painfully from time to time, until I reach a moment of light.
Maybe what is called for is making friends with the dark? Maybe Advent isn’t just waiting patiently and enduring the darkness, but welcoming darkness, uncertainty, and even doubt? If the dark and I can be friends, maybe in the darkness God is creating something new in me, waiting to be birthed, waiting for the right moment, waiting for God’s time.
This Sunday, we hear the story of the Nativity from Joseph’s perspective. Joseph is a righteous man, planning to quietly break things off with Mary when he learns she is pregnant, but then receives a visit from an angel in a dream. The angel gives Joseph instructions, but not a lot of clarity. The angel explains that the child is going to be named Jesus and is to be the savior of his people, but no further information as to the whys or the hows that is to be. Joseph receives his instruction in the dark, and remains in the dark about his son’s future. In fact, Joseph’s next set of instructions come once again, in the dark, by a dream, when the angel tells him of Herod’s plan to kill Jesus, and urges Joseph to take his family to Egypt where they will be safe. There is no return date on the ticket, so Joseph receives, once again, another dream, in the darkness, when it is safe to return to Nazareth.
All this is to say, if you feel like you are stumbling along in the dark right now, searching for clarity or purpose, you are in good company. May you make friends with the darkness this Advent. May it be a time of quiet rebirth for your soul and for the next right thing God is asking of you.