John 1:5-9: Solstice

The Winter Solstice is the darkest day of the year. There is less light and more darkness than any other day of the year. Sometimes I think that our world or our country is near its own Winter Solstice where it is only spiritual darkness all of the time.

Crime in Canada is as high as it ever was. In our own neighbourhood here there is death and violent crimes seem to occur weekly if not more regularly. According to the CCVF, it is so bad in our country now that many people are losing any faith in the authorities’ ability to stop even violent crime and so in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore. Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56 percent of companies surveyed (more than half of them) reported falling prey to white-collar crime. And – of course – near the darkest night there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the US, pornography revenue –as we have said before- is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates $3 billion annually. We are near to that societal Winter Solstice.

And then there is war: Did you know that in the ten years after the Soviet Union fell, there were people dead from more wars than from the whole century before? – And in that century, we had both WWI and WWII. The wars keep rolling and the blood keeps flowing as we invade country after country after country. The nights seem very long and dark indeed. The days seem near to a societal Winter Solstice.

During this Advent for these devotional thoughts as well as in the sermons I have preached, we have spoken a lot about social justice. That is a key element of Advent. Celebrating and waiting for deliverance from all the darkness around us.

This Wednesday is the darkest day of the year but do you know what that means for Thursday? Thursday we will see a little more light. And Friday, Friday we will see a little more light; and Saturday and Sunday, and after Christmas, more light and more light.

The Gospel of John speaks about Jesus as the light of the world. Jesus, when he came 2000+ years ago, he came as light into our dark world and though we may still be near a societal Solstice, the darkness can not overcome the light and eventually the light of the goodness of Christ will fill the whole world. Just as we celebrate Jesus coming in a manger, we look forward to his return on a cloud very soon and the Bible promises that when he does return there will be no more darkness. Revelation 22:5: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” Jesus is the light of the world.

When that day comes there will be no more darkness but until then as Christians, we are called to reflect Jesus’ light while we await his unltimate return; how can you and I do that for our neighbours who may still be groping around in our society’s darkness?

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