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Today’s the day; winter solstice. It’s the first official day of winter. It is also the longest night of the year. The night when darkness reigns and the light seems faraway. For thousands of years, long before Christ was born in Bethlehem, people have huddled around their fires and prayed for the return of the light. There is this sense that if we do not pray it into being, that night will last forever, and winter will never end. Once the return of the light was called Mithras, or Apollo, now he is Christ. For all you Christians out there that didn’t realize how old this celebration is, I hope it wasn’t too big a shock. Some people use the idea that Christ is only the latest in a long list of children of promise to come to us, to sort of make fun of the fact that a lot of Christians do not seem to understand that Christ is not a new idea. The light has been reborn at this time of year for so very long. But I find that Christ being celebrated, the return of the son, or sun, no matter how you spell, the return of the light, after so many thousands of years to be comforting. Think how very much we human beings must need this idea. For us to keep repeating this concept again and again, for so long, must mean that we need this little baby. We need him to be reborn every year.
We need that journey in the cold winter’s night, to seek a star, to seek a child, to seek joy in the dark. We need to find that hope is alive and well, and newly born and laid in swaddling clothes in a manger. We need the child to be born of a loving Mother of Heaven. We need for her to give birth to the light, and bring god into the world.
There is a longing in most of us to know that goodness is powerful, too. That evil may dress better, but the darkness cannot withstand the light, for the light comes and the darkness fades. Light does triumph. Good is powerful.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep believing that. Just watching the news of an evening can make you feel overburdened with the pettiness, and the cruelty of the world. It is hard to hold onto the thought that God and Goddess love us. (Feel free to put Allah, or Buddha, or whatever face god shows to you, in that last sentence.)
The light will be reborn, and hope will come with it. Charity is something we do every day for those around us, and for strangers we will never meet, because that age old question, am I my brother’s, sister’s, keeper? Yes. I believe sincerely that Diety wants us to be happy, and one of the ways they do that is by putting kind and generous thoughts into the minds and hearts of us. We humans. We hands and heart of flesh, can be filled with spirit, and moved to make things better for those around us. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. So hope is reborn with the light. Charity is something we should keep all the year, what of faith. Faith is when you believe, but have no proof. Faith is what makes us believe that the darkness will not last, and the light will come. Faith is what helps us keep the fear and the cynicism at bay. Faith is what we hang onto like a well-worn rope, when all else has gone wrong. Faith is what makes us light that candle, and put that small flame up against the immensity of the dark. Faith is knowing that all over the world other people are lighting a candle, and that each small flame is part of a larger whole. We light the candle in the dark and know we are not alone.
The light is coming. The dark cannot stay. And that is not something we must take on faith, for tomorrow the night will literally be a little shorter. The nights will grow shorter and shorter until Summer Solstice, when the cycle will repeat itself. But it is a cycle, and the dark cannot hold. Solstice blessings on all of you, no matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year. Happy Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, and if I’ve missed anyone, my apologies. Happy Holidays folks, keep the faith, whatever flavor that maybe.