Rebekah Hawk shared her thoughts in this week’s post. Take a moment and learn more about her on the contributor’s page.
Growing up, we never had a Christmas tree because my father was convinced that they were symbols of pagan traditions surrounding Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice, called Saturnalia, was celebrated by the ancient Romans as the day that marked when the sun would start shining longer again, ushering in the return of the growing season.
When Christianity became the official religion of Rome, the authorities chose to celebrate Christ’s birth on Winter Solstice, a holiday already full of candle lighting, merrymaking, singing, and celebration.
Lately, I’ve been contemplating Winter Solstice more than I ever have because this Christmas season, my children and I have been studying the various Christmas traditions and beliefs of different countries around the world and comparing them to our traditions and the biblical perspective.
We have been having a wonderful, engaging time, and I have been just as intrigued as my curious little people! What I learned about Winter Solstice, though, stopped me in my tracks and if I’m being honest, moved me to a few quick tears.
Winter Solstice is the darkest night of the year.
The year 2021 may have been dark for you. I endured one of the most painful periods of my life earlier this year, and I am burdened even now by the griefs many of my dear friends have borne in just this short trip around the sun.
The challenges, fears, and disappointments that this one year held feels overwhelmingly heavy. But when I read that December 25th is the darkest night of the year, I was instantly transported in my mind to Israel, two thousand years ago.
Imagine, God had been silent for four hundred years, Israel groaned under the Roman’s iron rule, and the priests, religious leaders, and scribes—the ones who should be providing comfort and cheer—delighted to burden their people with endless rules to follow and cheated the poor when they came to worship.
It was the darkest hour for God’s chosen people. How fitting that the Light of the World should come at just this time! Isaiah foretold that those who walked in darkness would see a great light. Immanuel, God with us, burst into our desperately dark world when Israel had all but given up on their sacred promise of a Redeemer.
He sent the host of Heaven whose bright light at first terrified the shepherds, yet the angels’ victorious message that the King was come spurred them to not only find the Christ child, but also to tell every blessed soul they met afterward that the Messiah was come at last!
My friend, as the darkest night of this year draws closer, may I encourage you to dwell on the Light that came to bring you life—true, weightless, abundant life. John writes, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Darkness cannot overcome Christ in you.
Oh, and we definitely have a Christmas tree
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