The Longest Night

The Longest Night

Luke 1:14
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
 
   The Winter Solstice was this week on the 22nd, and it t marks the beginning of winter.  The solstice is the shortest day – and the longest night - of the year.  The long nights can be especially hard on those who are worried about how to pay for their next meal.  For those who have a heavy heart for a loved one suffering from a long-term ailment.  For those who will find an empty chair at the dinner table this Christmas.  For those who are alone or those who should go home but can’t find the courage to go.  For these the long, cold nights can be excruciatingly long.
   Thankfully, God has arranged for us the celebration of an event that might not have actually happened during this season, but needs to be celebrated at this time of the year.  Christmas brings light and joy to millions during the darkest part of the year and inspires us to share that light and joy with others.
   From that first dark night when the bored, lonely shepherds received an angelic message and went to the stable to see a newborn lying in straw to today people have needed a ray of hope during the dark nights in our lives.  The hope was brought by a little Baby born during the dark more than 2000 years ago and He still brings hope into our dark lives.
   I think it’s fitting that one of the symbols of Christmas are bright, colored lights.  My wife and I love to drive around and see the Christmas lights people put up around their homes; the lights brighten up the long, dark nights.  Christmas is such a bright, shiny time and the merry songs bring joy and peace to us.  A drab living room is transformed with a few lights, ornaments and garland and laughter of little kids opening presents.  There are few things as wonderful as the twinkle in the eyes of kid when he first sees the tree with presents under it.  
   The one problem with this time of year is that ends all too quickly.  I’m not sorry the hype ends or the nightmare shopping trips end, but must we lose the feeling of joy and love, too?  Just because Christmas is over do we have to go back to ignoring others we pass on the street?  Do we have to go back to being surly to cashiers in the store?  To not speaking to our siblings and cousins for another year?
   We’re ok with visiting nursing homes in December, why not in February, too?  It’s ok to bake cookies or a pie for a neighbor in December, but not in January?  It’s ok to send a card in December to someone we’ve not seen in years but ignore them the other eleven months?
   Let me quote the end of Charles Dicken’s story, “A Christmas Carol”
“It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God bless us, every one!"
This year let’s try to keep that Christmas spirit around a little longer.  The lights may be packed away with the ornaments and garland, but let’s not let the true Light of Christmas fade away so quickly.  Let’s let the light of God’s love shine through us into the lives of others.  The hope brought by that Baby is still in the world and we should share it with others.  A kind word, a card or a small gift, a phone call, a plate of cookies, or whatever could really brighten the life of a lonely, hurting person during the dark nights.
Merry Christmas

Stephen Cram                          December 25, 2011                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8