…the light.
In the global north, days are getting shorter (the corollary? Longer nights). Every year I anticipate summer warmth, summer light, summer activities. I never can get enough of those very good things. Yet just as astronomical seasons are essential for the well-being of this planet's flora and fauna (we can include humanity in that "fauna" category), seasons of work, play, rest, and repose are essential to the allover health of human individuals and human communities.
I've long aligned my own annual journey with the seasonal rhythms of the liturgical year. Each new year of grace opens wide during Advent, a time of approximately one month that starts on the Sunday closest to Saint Andrew's Day (November 30th). Advent is the favorite season for many who observe the Christian year. It's a time of hope, of waiting, of expectation. We mark our wait toward the winter solstice when days begin to lengthen by lighting candles. One candle on the first Sunday of Advent, two on the second, three candles on Advent 3, then four, and finally on the festival of the nativity, a Christ child candle surrounds the other four.
From Advent to Christmas, darkness becomes the matrix for wanting light, for appreciating light, for going toward the light. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday dawn we also wait in darkness. At the Easter Vigil we kindle the new fire, we light the Paschal (Easter) candle from the new fire. The celebrants enter the church building as they proclaim "the light of Christ;" then everyone lights their own candle from the flame of the Paschal candle. From the light of Christ.
We have a choice to walk toward the light of Christ or keep hiding in the dark. Do you know "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light" by Kathleen Thomerson? The tune is lovely, lyrical, and easy to sing; the lyrics grounded in scripture:
I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
# # #
I never thought of me as fauna,
ReplyDeletecannot see my wife that way.
It is weird and I don't wanna
have that part in God's own play
with deer and hamsters as my brothers,
the catfish as a cousin.
If God lets me have my druthers,
then I will say I wasn't
made the way that monkeys were,
that I am something different,
but I think I know the score,
and deep down know what the chimps meant
when they screeched at me in the zoo,
"We'd rather not be kin to you!"
My body is still getting used to how our clocks have gone back from BST to GMT. And I'm glad I live somewhere safe enough for walking the dog in the early darkness. I appreciate the seasons and love the cosiness of winter - but I don't like these dark evenings.
ReplyDeleteI've never lit a candle from a paschal candle at Easter. That's an interesting tradition to hold to and I can see how it can help you look forward to more. It's a good that. FMF14
ReplyDelete