Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!!! But it is happening!!! You see, yesterday, Thursday, December 21, was the shortest day of the year. That means today, Friday, December 22, the days have started getting longer.
According to a chart I found online at timeanddate.com, today will have about a second more sunlight than yesterday. So, like I said, don’t blink or you will miss it. Tomorrow there will be about 5 seconds more, and that number will keep growing. Before you know it, we’ll be back in the long days of summer.
This yearly ritual of the change from days getting shorter to then getting longer is a part of our Christmas tradition. Let me explain. You see, Christmas has not always been celebrated on December 25. It was only in the 4th century that the “Church” decreed that Christmas would be celebrated on a consistent date and December 25 was set, and it has been observed on that day ever since in most of the Christian world.
Part of the reason for choosing December 25 was that it corresponded with the date of the winter solstice on the Roman Calendar. At that time there was a big festival held at the time of the Winter Solstice. The Church was trying to take pagan holidays and turn them into Christian or faith-based holidays for the people of the church and for society in general.
Part of the significance of December 25 being observed as Jesus’ birthday is shrouded in the symbolism of that date…the fact that the days are getting longer. This means there is more light or daylight filling each day. What difference does that make, you ask?? Let me refer us all to John’s version of the Christmas Story.
Ok, right now some of you are thinking, “John doesn’t have a Christmas story.” And generally speaking, you’d be right, at least John doesn’t have the same kind of Christmas story that Luke and Matthew have. John’s Christmas story is wrapped in symbolism. In John’s opening sentences, Jesus is referred to as “The Word.” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. By the end of verse four the metaphor to describe Jesus has become “light.” And then verse 5 states… “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” John 1:5
So, with the Winter Solstice, there is a switch from the days getting shorter, or having more darkness, to the days getting longer, or there is more light. Do you see the symbolism? The light is pushing back the darkness. The light of the world overtaking the darkness. Thus, John 1:5 is being lived out physically in our world every Christmas Day. Elsewhere in John Jesus refers to himself as the “light of the world.” So, Christmas being celebrated on December 25 simply emphasizes the reality that Jesus is the light of the world, and the darkness cannot overwhelm or overtake the light…Jesus, the true light of the world.
I am glad that the days are getting longer, even if it is just by 1 second today. It gives me the hope that spring and summer are coming, and our world will be filled with more and more light. Our world seems to have quite a bit of darkness in it these days. Christmas, being celebrated in just a few days, is a simple yet powerful reminder that the light of the world has come…and no matter how dark it may seem, the darkness CANNOT and WILL NOT overtake the light. In the end, Jesus, the light of the world, will overwhelm and defeat the darkness of our day. That is the great hope of Christmas!! The light of the world has come!! It is our task as followers of Jesus to do our part to keep the light shining, growing, and pushing back the darkness. Maybe a Christmas tradition needs to be that we sing a special children’s song, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!!!” My friends…let’s let our light shine!!! Merry Christmas!!!
Pastor Keith