It may sound unusual but this Advent season I have been pondering darkness. It seems at every turn this year the mood has swung to dwell upon the darkenss of the hour. Whether it is a political situation, the state of the Church, the economy, or any myriad of other areas of life, the voices speaking the loudest are not just ho-hum but glum. It is as if collectively people have lost the ability to lift their eyes above the horizon, a horizon that is percieved as smoke and ash and utter desolation. In other words it seems we have lost all glimmers of hope.
As I have pondered this my mind has been drawn to one of my favorite scenes in the epic novel The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien througout the book masterfully interjected what he called eucatastropies: a sudden turn of a dark and impossible situation toward hope and goodness. Toward the end of the book, Frodo and Sam are in the heart of Mordor. Even Sam, the great optimist, is near the breaking point in this land of desolation, destruction, and despair. Just when all seems lost, hope comes crashing back.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.” ~The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shadow is only a small and passing thing! In the current cultural fixation on the darkness it appears many believe that in the day to day the shawdows have the last word. This may feel true in the moment but perhaps if we could lift ours eyes just a little higher, beyond the moment, beyond the situation maybe we could see the reality; Darkness is frail. The shadow is weak, and light is beyond it's reach. John, in reflecting on the first Advent of Jesus, wrote in his Gospel "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5 (ESV).
That is an amazing perspective! Life in the 1st Century, like now, seemed dark. For the Jews Rome had the known world in an iron grip, Israel was under foreign occupation, their God had been silent since beyond memory, and the religious leaders were prone to infighting, greed, and legalism. The rules and precepts meant to bring life, seemed to only bring death. Even still John tells us that at an unexpected time, in an unexpected place, light broke through. Hope had returned to those that were willing to believe the Man from Nazareth, Jesus.
As I sit here pondering this, winter is settling in on the Northern Hemisphere. As the year grows old the hours of light grow increasingly sparse over the majority of the Earths inhabitants. Even in these long night hours, we know that things will be made new as the seasons turn. We wait out the darkness as we look forward to the light of spring. I find myself wondering if that is part of the significance of celebrating the first arrival of Jesus during the darkest nights of the year. It reminds me that the darkness is real. There is great toil, hardship, pain, and suffering in this life. Nothing can change that. Still there is hope because He chose to dwell among His people. Just as we anticipate the days of spring, we know the season of this world will turn and the Light of mankind will come and dwell among us again.
Some may say that we are walking through the darkest night of the year. That may be true but perhaps if we were to lift our eyes just above the horizon we could see a Great Light there that the darkness cannot touch. As we celebrate the baby born all those years ago, may we also remember that the promise of Emmanuel did not cease when He asended to the throne. It has continued night in and night out for those willing to follow Jesus, the Man from Nazareth. Hope , for those who do, can be ever present. It does not make the pain and darkness any less real or heartbreaking, but He is with us as we walk through the shadowlands.
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