Our Rector Paul writes on his blog:
At 3.47am this morning the solstice took place and the earth started its’ long journey back towards summer (in the northern hemisphere at least!). I always feel my heart lighten a little when this happens. It’s all about the direction of travel as I have so often said to people struggling with circumstances or a seeming lack of progress. And the fact that I know we are heading towards warmth and light makes all the difference in the dark and the cold. It reminds me that my current situation, however stalled it may feel, will one day pass.
Such a change though rarely takes place in a dramatic and obvious ‘before and after’ kind of way. Rather it feels like a nudge. You would have to be looking very closely to notice that little tilt of the earth that starts the process. I’ve just been looking at my weather app and over the next few days the sunset time moves by a minute each day: today:15.44; 23rd: 15.45; 24th:15:46 and 25th 15:47. (yes that really is the sunset time in Scotland!).
Of course we make the most of this dark time of year and right now most houses have a brightly lit Christmas tree in the window and increasingly many have lights around their house or on bushes in the garden. Homes are warm and the light shines through from within making a contrast to the damp dark and heightening our feeling of security and hospitality that draws us in towards family and friends.
However it is not a season we would want to be a permanent season… ‘Always Winter and never Christmas’ as the White Witch in Narnia would say. The dark seasons and difficult times of our life do indeed have their peculiar treasures and lessons for us and nothing is wasted if we trust that indeed ‘all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28). But, one of the lies folk can believe is that whatever dark place they are in is where they deserve to be and where they will always be. This is simply not true, a nudge comes, the earth slowly starts to turn, your life begins to move, even if with little effort from yourself.
And this is one of the big take aways for me, that the nudge that can start a life giving process once again in my life is usually not generated by me but somehow by other people, circumstances, deep rhythms of life that slowly pull us onwards towards life again like the moon pulls the tides. We fall into the post enlightenment trap of thinking that whatever is real in my life is something that a) I understand and b) I make happen. With a lot of the deeper processes that are going on in us that pull us towards love and life neither of these two things are true…trust me, I’m a sucker for post enlightenment arrogance.
So, whatever you are going through right now and however stuck or stalled you feel, believe indeed that there ‘are new things every morning, great is God’s faithfulness’ (Lamentations 3:23). Or in the words of Lectio 365, God interrupts our despair with His faithfulness, which is a pretty good summary of what Christmas is really about. Of course, it is natural for despair to be our default setting at such a time in our world…just as complacency is natural when all is going swimmingly. God interrupts both dispositions by calling us beyond ourselves and to look to the wider horizon and the gradual turning of the bigger story we are all part of. The nudge will come , please choose to receive it as God’s tender mercy and his redemptive plan for your life. Happy Christmas.
This post and more are available on Paul’s Blog, Stillpoint at stillpointfaith.blogspot.com.
