I Woke Up in the Dark

I don't think I have "seasonal affective disorder" but then again I might. What's the deal with all this dark? I know, the time has not changed yet to at least give us a break in the morning. That is the way it works, isn't it? I also have day light savings time disorder. I always get mixed up with "fall forward" and "spring backward." I spring when I should fall or something like that.

Anyway I sure know why all those people in the past came up with rituals in the month of December. I mean by the time December gets here it is really dark. No messing with our watches can change it. So, long ago people lit fires and danced around them. Sometimes, depending on their religious or non-religious persuasion, they asked, pleaded, or enticed the "sun" or "sun god" to please come back from his or her hiding place. This makes me feel a little better. I don't feel so alone in the dark. They did not like it either.

Speaking of December, there is some debate about the dating of Jesus' birth. It seems that Matthew and Luke did not bother to pay attention to the calendar. They were so excited to tell the story that they forgot to tell us what day it was. You say, "What do you mean...it was December 25 of course." Well that's when we celebrate it because we sure need to. We need the light in the dark. We need a good story with a happy ending. We need to not always wake up in the dark.

Since those early gospel writers failed to mark the calendar it seems that one of the Popes long ago got penned up against the wall and felt he had to offer an encyclical authorizing the exact date so that shepherds and Wise Men would no longer be "in the dark." It did not take him long to know exactly when God would have done such a thing. It had to be in the darkest time of the year. Maybe the Pope had that seasonal affective thing.

He did not need a calendar because he knew that the light needed to shine in the darkness. Maybe the exact date of that exceptionally bright star is a mystery, but it is not a mystery to me. We need light...now... and it's not even December yet.

One of the earliest Christian expressions ever recording was one word, "maranatha." It simply means, "come Lord Jesus." Some folks these days get all worked up about the word because they assume that the it refers to the literal second coming with all the end of the world fire-works and all. I simply like what it really means. Day-light savings time or not....maranatha...come into our dark mornings...and too early dark evenings...come into the dark that cannot be measured in people's lives who are without the light of love or hope or care...come into all the dark with the kind of light that penetrates the darkness like only you can...maranatha...

May you experience his light today.
jody jseymour@davidsonumc.org