ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 2, 2022
As I continue to ponder the Season of Advent, I turn to Barbara Brown Taylor, who wrote,
“It is a helpful reminder to all who fear the dark. Darkness does not come from a different place than light; it is not presided over by a different God. The long nights of Advent and the while it was still dark on the early morning of Easter point us toward the God for whom darkness and light are alike. Both are fertile seasons for those who walk by faith and not by sight. This darkness is necessary to new life, even when it is uncomfortable or we feel it goes on too long. Next spring’s seeds break open out of the dark winter soil. Darkness is mostly negative from beginning to end in the Bible. But pay attention to moments of transformation of narratives that took place at night or under cover of darkness.”
It’s interesting how, in almost every painting (TV/movie as well), the birth of Jesus took place at night. As far as I know, there is nothing in scripture suggesting it occurred at night. The scripture does not say, “Shortly before midnight, the time came for Mary to deliver her child…” It’s as if artists knew deep within themselves exactly what Barbara Brown Taylor was suggesting. It could have happened at noon, but it’s as if we understand how the strict dualism we tend to create (light vs. darkness) does not adequately express reality. As the author of Psalm 139 suggests, “Even the darkness is not dark to you (O Lord); the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.” They are intrinsically tied together. One does not exist without the other; each provides the other with its purpose for existing.
Holy One of Light and of Darkness, we journey in this Advent season that is often described as the darkness before the light, but it appears to be much more. In the darkness of this season, we are given space to reflect on the sacred ideas finding their first movement in the fertile soil of possibility. It is here that transformation finds its advent. Amen.
