One afternoon Jamie was playing in his backyard. He was riding a broom pretended that it was a horse. He was having a wonderful time and rode the broom until it was getting dark. He left the broom on the back porch and went inside.
A while later, his mother noticed that the broom was missing. She asked Jamie, and he told her that he had left it on the porch.
She then asked him to please go get it. The little boy protested saying that he was afraid of the dark and didn’t want to go outside to get it.
Said his mother “you know how I feel about you putting things away. You left it outside. I want you to go get it. She said “Jamie honey, this is nothing to be afraid of on our porch. She added: When you are afraid and have something you need to do, ask Jesus for help.
“Is Jesus outside in the dark?, asked Jamie.
“Whenever and wherever you are scared and need his help Jesus will be there for you. He will protect you in the dark.”
Jamie was unsure about this. “Really?,” he asked. “Are you sure?” She insisted that Jesus would help him whenever he was afraid.
Hesitant and with trepidation, Jamie moved slowly toward the door. When he got there he opened the door only partially. Then he said: “Jesus? If you’re out there, would you please hand me the broom?”\
Fear of the dark has been with us through the ages. Like all fears it can be traced to survival vs death. Most of us probably feel secure in having shelter and food for the winter. We don’t doubt that Wednesday will be the day of least sunlight in the Northern hemisphere.
Even still, the shortness of the days impact us mentally and emotionally. And we will celebrate Solstice, as have our ancestors for more than 10,000 years.
Imagine the insecurity our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago! Our ancestors survived the Ice Age. They outlived and knew that the Neanderthals did not. Thousands of years ago, even a few hundred years ago, humans knew intimately the sting and danger of darkness and extreme cold.
The establishment of agricultural society placed the burden of survival upon the success of crops. That success was dependent upon longer hours of sunlight. Becoming able to predict the lengthening and shortening of hours of daylight was a colossal achievement for humanity. What great cause for celebration it must have been when Solstice arrived signaling that the sunlight would begin increasing again!
Of course, Solstice is the beginning of winter. Surviving winter was a challenge. Even today, we are concerned that winter will increase the number of cases and deaths from flu and Covid.
It is good to celebrate Solstice and the beginning of longer days. It helps us prepare for winter. As winter begins, it helps to remember that its days are numbered.
Yes I did intend to allude to death. Not only Pagan, but all religion is grounded in the awareness that our days are numbered. When religion fosters awe and respect for the rhythms and cycles of nature, it leads us to an awareness of being part of an order, connected to power greater than our own.
With sincere respect and appreciation for the many great religious traditions that emerged in the last 5 thousand years, I say that Solstice was the mother of all winter holidays. It was the original reason for the season.
I’m not marching into the culture warzone. Because I am not a literalist, I don’t enter a debate about which religion is right. The question seems absurd to me. I see truth and treasure as well as falsehood and oppression in every human culture, in every religious tradition. I respect and find value in sacred stories told throughout the world. I see great commonality across the diversity of religious traditions.
When Luke’s angel appears to shepherds in their fields, his first words were “Fear not!” This is frequently what angels and divine messengers say. Despite the snares and struggles of this life, despite that our intelligence alerts us to dangers, our ancestors passed on a wisdom from generation to generation that has us look to the vastness of the heavens, ..(turns to UBarU guests to ask if the attended the star party last night. “yes.” The you turned to the vastness of the heavens, didn’t you?!) ..wisdom has us move beyond the limitations of the view possible from our history to become aware of miracle and majesty of power and order that is greater than we can grasp. Now we measure tectonic shifts, trace the story of evolutionary, study the spectacular landscapes of biology, genetics, and physics and the power, the order remains greater than we can grasp completely.
Fear not! And tune in to the awesome unfolding.
Summer and Winter Solstice are a demonstration of yin and yang. (points to symbol behind the podium). The summer solstice which marks the beginning of the fruitful season also announces the start of the days of declining sunlight. The December Solstice while it marks the beginning of winter, announces the start of the days of increasing sunlight. We are talking the cycle of death and rebirth.
Something is always dying and something new is always be born. Yes, there are dangers and hardship involved in birth. Every season has its pain. Each wave of blossoms passes away. Each leaf must fall.
After the season when leaves fall, the landscapes appears more barren, and the life force goes underground to the roots. The roots do their thing and must survive for new life to come again in spring.
Winter can shake us to our roots. When our flowers, fruit and leaves fall, we may feel all shook up.
The coming cold pushes us to seek shelter. Our shelters can be pretty cozy. We may feel the spirit of hibernation. Spiritual wisdom tells us to go inside further, to gain awareness from within ourselves.
Everywhere there is more going on than meets the public eye.
We also respond to cold by huddling together. When dangers or threats appear, as they do at end of growing season, we remember our need for community. When it’s cold and dark, we build fires. Nowadays we put up LED lights, and we have gatherings, parties, holiday concerts, events of all kinds, and we eat comfort foods. Christians do it. Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, those spiritual but not religious, Indigenous people. We all do this.
Despite our efforts, isolation finds us. Standing in the cold, we remember the vulnerability of isolation. Songs tell us to go home for the holidays. Everywhere we hear messages that romance is what we really need. As a minister and counselor, as a single person who lives alone, I know that these messages sometimes live inside us painfully.
Even those relatively happily married and those who have big close loving families are not immune to heartache. There are ghosts of Christmas past, Solstice and Hanukah past. We think of our dearly departed. We think of friends: old acquaintances shall not be forgotten. We sometimes think of people from whom we are estranged. We grieve lost connection.
Even people who really love the holidays sometimes feel extreme melancholy. Many become depressed. Some end their lives and many more think about it. If you find yourself struggling badly, I pray that you will reach out! This congregation can’t make your family, marriage or life situation all better. However, there is love here. You matter here, and we will be walking together through winter whatever comes. There are also hotlines and warmlines with people who will help you through, if you let them.
As we did in our breathing meditation, I am going to pause before taking my next breath. I’m going to do that Yin and Yang thing, move from the acknowledgement of long long nights, to abundant sources of joy.
This time of year sees some of the best of humanity! Even those who are not enchanted with this season, those of us who sometimes have deep pain during the holidays often say “uh oh-kay” to community, to connection, to hot drinks, and to tasty foods that fill our bellies. We may enjoy the spirituality and creativity displaying symbols and sacred stories. We go outside to take in breath taking winter wonderland landscapes, light and decorations.
Back to the Yin and Yang of Solstice; that dark dot in the middle of the light. And the dark tear drop that surrounds the light. These tell us to embrace the long long night. It reminds us that its ok to retreat into our hibernation caves. Humans do have a need for solitude!
If loneliness is feeling pain and regret about being alone, solitude is an experience of acceptance, curiosity or willingness to see what we might find when we sit in temple of the spirit. We can seek and find the divine in solitude. We can choose to value the life force, the magic and the mystery when the service has ended, when the party is over or when we don’t even get invited to the party.
Solitude need not replicate the frivolity of the festivals of light. Solstice can be a festival of dark. It can be stillness. It can be spectacular. It can be scary or painful. What it won’t be is forever.
We can use compassion to meet ourselves wherever we are. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful gift?! We can become curious about any emotion moving through us; be it a firey blaze or a chilly stream. Solitude comes from compassion!
I promised to shine light upon the experience known as the dark night of the soul. We all have memories, unresolved issues, defense mechanisms that helped us survive past trials and tribulations. Most of us go to great lengths to avoid ever feeling those feelings, reliving experiences from our worst times.
Solstice tells us that the darkest longest night is the beginning of the sun’s ascent. Solstice invites us to embrace the dark. All the traditions, the bringing greenery inside, fire rituals, and celebrations are all done to help us realize that despite our fear of darkness and death, new light, new life is on its way. The dark days will pass. Life will go on. Even when we die, we will live on in people. We will remain part of the great ongoing artistic creation happening on Earth.
Even the darkest hour is fecund, pregnant with new life that will be born later. Even isolation carries gifts that will likely take time to reveal themselves.
The dark night of the soul comes when we get trapped in our identities and stories and we can’t see or remember our inherent worth and dignity. This is always an invitation to get real with ourselves.
My ministerial internship supervisor Bart Gould asked “how do we reconcile the notions of God as Love with God as Judge. His answer was that God is also truth. So when sacred story says we will face judgment, it means that we will get to recover hidden truths. Truth will set us free, and the journey to freedom might involve discarding falsehoods, aspects of our stories that have polluted the temple of our soul.
Birth and rebirth are usually painful. Why? Because we have been judging and condemning ourselves for a long time. We have carried harmful and limiting beliefs. judgments and condemnations. In response, we clung to identities such as the good mother, the competent professional, the gifted artist, or, conversely, the criminal, the inferior, the victim. But labels can never capture the fullness of our being. Our stories can’t hold the expanding life force that is in us.
The great reality, the great truth is that you are worthy of love as you are right now. The Buddha is reported to have said “you can search the entire world and never find another person who is more worthy of your love than you.”
Solstice tells us that when the longest dark night enfolds us, light is on its way. When we can’t find our way,.. when we are cold inside and it can be hard to remember that up ahead, the light is returning.
Hafiz wrote
One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The Infinite Incandescence
That has cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in darkness,
The astonishing Light
Of your own Being!
Solstice blessings of powerful darkness, faith in healing, the returning light be upon you now and forever more!
Recent Comments