This time of year is sometimes called “the season of light” as we light candles and other festive decorations. It is equally though the season of darkness. While this is particularly true in the Northern Hemisphere, it is also true from the lens of Advent.
This season of the Church Calendar is about both light and darkness. Furthermore, it is about learning to be comfortable with both light and darkness, understanding God is at work at all times.
Now, some may be unsettled at this notion. In fact, it unsettles me too. After all, John’s gospel says that love for darkness can lead to us rejecting the Light of the World (John 3). Yet, it could also be said that those of us who believe in an omnipotent God, who made and rules all things, must also be comfortable in the dark, which the same God has ordained.
We also know that wondrous things happen in the dark. Does not a seed become a plant in the darkness of fertile soil? Does not a child develop in the darkness of a mother’s womb? And, is not the full glory of the universe seen when the sky is the most dark?
We can’t see in the dark, but we can feel in the dark. Advent invites us to call on our sense of feeling through prayer, silence and mediation. In a time of year frequently overloaded with too much busyness and noise, we need to take time for these spiritual practices to more fully feel the presence of God.
We need to be silent in the dark and ask: What stirrings of God can we feel happening under the surface today? What seeds are being nurtured and what new life is coming?
Relevant Reformation 