Christmas is hope! Today is the shortest day of the year. Yes, you’ll get your full 24 hours, but here in the Northern Hemisphere the 21st is the Winter Solstice, which means the rotation of the Earth has the sun as far away from us as it will be for a year. As of 10:19pm tonight (in Dothan), we will reverse course and begin to move back towards the sun in our rotation. The great effect of this is that we will get more and more sunlight until the Summer Solstice. (if you want to read more about it, check it out: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html)
One tradition is that early Christians chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of Christ because it is when the light of the world begins to win the battle against the darkness. Pagans already had a holiday here and it made sense to look forward to brighter days, God’s presence, and the hope of freedom from the darkness.
Hope. You may not realize it, but we have had shorter and shorter days. Little by little we’ve moved further away from the sun. When the sun comes up on December 22nd, we will begin the slow journey closer and closer to the sun. It is not a stretch to say the same about moving towards the Son of God. Have hope – the light of the world is coming. There will be more light tomorrow than there was today. Let’s invite this light into our lives and be thankful.
One tradition is that early Christians chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of Christ because it is when the light of the world begins to win the battle against the darkness. Pagans already had a holiday here and it made sense to look forward to brighter days, God’s presence, and the hope of freedom from the darkness.
Hope. You may not realize it, but we have had shorter and shorter days. Little by little we’ve moved further away from the sun. When the sun comes up on December 22nd, we will begin the slow journey closer and closer to the sun. It is not a stretch to say the same about moving towards the Son of God. Have hope – the light of the world is coming. There will be more light tomorrow than there was today. Let’s invite this light into our lives and be thankful.
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| Photo by Magda Ehlers |
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