The Illuminating Darkness

My friend Rebecca Cook is a southern poet. Her poem "Light," concludes with these words:

My house is a light house and yet I dwell in
darkness. My heart is a circle of light and
yet I seek a dark thing to illumine me.

That last line about a "dark thing to illumine me" has always tantalized my imagination. It seems especially fitting now that we are entering the time of lengthening shadows and longer nights. Our ancestors at one time feared that darkness just might overcome light. In winter, the time the warmth of the sun fell on their faces became less and less. With the dimming of light came the cold and a sense of unease and despair. They could see this happening in the natural world that surrounded them. What would deliver them from darkness?

We Christians enter this time of year celebrating the season of Advent. It, too, recognizes the ever present threat of darkness and implores us to resist the urges that the shadows bring. Advent knows that the dark invites slumber and numbness. So the shout is Awake! Beware! Be Aware! For even as darkness grows, there is the promise of Light.

Advent is an exceptional opportunity for us to allow the darkness to illumine us. What dark things do we find compelling? What dark whispers find and capture our attention? What dark glories do our egos cry out for? The cries of Advent are cries of illumination - to be aware of the darkness that attempts to seduce you and me into living in fear, compulsion, and slavery. The festal shout of Advent thwarts the machinations of dark passions by illuminating them.

Touched by that illumination, we are ready to be cleansed and to rise from our slumber. Hear the festal shout: Awake! Prepare! In the illuminating darkness, a new Light breaks. Our Advent journey continues as we approach Bethlehem and with each step are cleansed, wakened, and ready to give birth to the stunning Light that fills the world with hope, promise, and Love.

It is the power of that birth that peels back the layers of darkness illuminating the place of Christ's birth-your heart and mine.

Joel t