Darkness and Joy

This week we greet the arrival of Fall.  On September 22, the autumnal equinox will occur and a new season officially begins.  The equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator from north to south and the days and nights are equal in length.  In other words, on September 22, there should be 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness and from that day forward the nights begin to get longer and longer.  In the midst of the long nights, the mountain ranges brighten with vibrant colors of red, yellow and orange.  After the beauty of the leaves, they land on ground bringing the need for raking and the fun of jumping in large piles.  Football season kicks into high gear and a new school year is well under the way.  Temperatures begin to drop and the first frost may even occur.  Fall is certainly a time when much is changing.  

Fall happens to be my favorite season of the year.  I love the seeing all the colors, decorating my house with mums and pumpkins, wearing long sleeves, and feeling the cool crisp air in the mornings and evenings.  While, I love the season, I know that it is met with much anxiety from others who dread the longer nights and limited daylight.   I must admit the early evening and morning darkness is my least favorite aspect of the season. 

As a mother of 3 girls, I know that things seem much worse in the middle of darkness and that the evening hours are the most difficult time of the day.  At my house, the dinner time hour is met with tired and cranky kids and parents who have worked all day and everyone has expended all our positive energy and darkness is greeted with terrible attitudes.  A fever in the night is often higher than during the day and a sickness seems to be more intense or painful when darkness covers the house.  A strange noise in the middle of the night is louder and more suspicious.  Long nights are challenging and there has been sleepless nights that I never thought would end.  

Theologically speaking, darkness has been characterized as time of loneliness and pain.  God is seemingly absent in the darkness and sin come to be associated with darkness.  Thus, it seems normal that humanity would struggle with darkness.  Depression seems to grow more prevalent during the seasons where there is more darkness, so for many fall is greeted with dread and uncertainty.  People’s moods mimic the long dark nights and they find themselves lonely and without hope.  I pray that as we head into the darkness of fall and winter, that the church would proclaim to folks that, “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  The dark days of fall and winter will gradually be replaced with more and more glimpses of light.

As we approach the autumnal equinox, it seems important for the church to remember, Jesus was born as the light of the world and that his light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not and cannot overcome it (John 1:5).  As the night grows longer and the days grow shorter, God incarnate shines brightly and followers of Jesus bring forth joy to all they encounter.