Advent Visions

December 21:  Solstice

Today is the turning of the year.  The Winter Solstice marks the day of shortest sunlight, when the earth tilts farthest away from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere.    From now on the days will get lighter bit by bit.   The word "solstice" means "the standing still of the sun."   It is as if the year comes to balance on this dark day in December, and again on the longest day in June.   This fulcrum of time elicits a primal hope in the return of light which is life.    The ancients paused in this time to light fires, and the tradition of a lighted Christmas tree adorning a home goes far back beyond the Christian era.   In fact, it is likely that early Christians fixed the date of Christ's birth at the time of the solstice to proclaim their belief that Jesus was, indeed, the light of the world.   John's Gospel proclaims this truth in its glorious declaration that "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

I still remember an early Christmas in my life when my grandmother fixed small candles to the fir tree in the living room and lit them on Christmas Eve.   Occasionally a flame would singe the needles nearby and fill the room with the scent of pine.   My Great Uncle stood nearby with a pail of water as insurance against a greater fire.   The candles remained burning for just a few minutes of magic, but the memory has lingered for decades.  We still light fires at Christmas.  Often I have saved the stump of the past year's Christmas tree to kindle the fire in the hearth the following year, a tradition which is a kind of balance in itself.   We sit by the fire and meditate and dream and find comfort in the warmth and the golden light, trusting that even in the darkest days something bright will sustain us.   

Here at the fulcrum of the year, it is good, to pause and rest and join the sun in being still, for this restores some balance in our lives as well.   We live in a busy world that prizes activity.   Something about these darkest winter days calls us to sit quietly, to read and visit and stare into the flames of memory and hope.    This is the restorative season of the heart, where we share ancient traditions in order to discover who we are and who we will be.

Solstice

Light the fire 
in the winter night,
and let the blaze leap
with joy.
This small planet 
spinning through space
tilts slowly sunward again,
and carries us around
toward life.
And here we pause
and light our trees,
made to twinkle brightly
as if the stars themselves
could seek their home
with us.
And once a star did fall
on this benighted world,
and that flame will not go out
no matter how great or long
the darkness.