From Darkness to Light
The winter solstice is on 21 December
by Brian Radcliffe
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To encourage us to consider the uplifting effect of Christmas during midwinter bleakness.
Preparation and materials
- The Bible passage John 1.1-5 doesn’t have the Christmas story, but instead outlines the transition from darkness to light.
- Jesus’ words, ‘It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light,’ are found in John 11.10.
Assembly
- I wonder if all of you like the dark. This Saturday, it will be the darkest day of the year, which is known as the winter solstice. It’s the day when there is the least amount of daylight, and it’s the longest night of the year. We shall really be in the depths of winter.
- Darkness can have various effects on people, most of them negative. Darkness can evoke feelings of uncertainty, doubt, anxiety, fear and depression. In the darkness, you might not be clear about where you are, what others are doing, where the way ahead is. Darkness can affect us physically, as we stumble about, and also mentally, as the gloom descends. Many people find the darkest days of winter very difficult to endure.
- What we all need is a clear beam of light to penetrate the darkness. For this reason, many centuries ago, the Christian Church decreed that Christmas Day should occur shortly after the winter solstice. It’s nothing to do with exactly when Jesus was born - we have no idea what date that might have been. It’s because Christmas has a significant symbolic purpose, at least in the northern hemisphere. It’s to shine a clear beam of light into a world of darkness.
- John, the author of one of the Gospels, the accounts of Jesus’ life found in the Bible, doesn’t tell us the story of the birth of Jesus. There are no Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds and wise men. Instead, he describes God sending a light into the darkness, a light that can never be put out. That’s a good way to look at Jesus, for he came into our world to act like a light in so many ways.
- Jesus demonstrates what it’s like to live a fully human life, without any compromises, mistakes or contradictions. In addition, he shines a revealing light on the corruption and evil in the world in which we live. He’s also like a torch that shows us the way ahead when we have difficult decisions to make.
Rather than the doubt and depression of darkness, Jesus creates a hopeful, optimistic way of opportunity. He sums this up by saying, ‘It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.’ (John 11.10)
John’s picture of Jesus is very different from the tiny baby in the Christmas cradle, but maybe, on the darkest day of the year, it’s a more useful image.
Time for reflection
Ask the following questions.
- How large a part will light play in your Christmas festivities?
- Will there be lights on your Christmas tree?
- Will you hang strings of lights on the outside of your house?
- Will there be candlelight in one of your windows?
Out in the community, shopping streets are festooned with extra lights, and there may even be a huge, lit tree in the town square. All of this helps to chase away the gloom of midwinter.
But what about the gloom inside us? Do we find ourselves getting affected by the winter blues?
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern. It’s possible that many of us suffer from a mild version of it, feeling optimistic in summer, but more pessimistic in the depths of winter.
With this in mind, let’s take every advantage of the Christmas holidays. We can enjoy the holidays free from routines and pressures, and look forward to lots of parties, presents and food. Let it lift our mood. And if that’s not enough, or if family circumstances are difficult, take the promises of Jesus to heart. He came to bring hope, healing, justice and safety: light in the darkness.
Song/music
‘Light of the world’ by Lauren Daigle, available at: https://youtu.be/_cLhaZIBSpo (4.09 minutes long)
