Solstice rejoicing: the Christ light at the end of your tunnel

Ooh… it’s a bit dark at the moment. On some days it’s hard to tell whether it gets properly light at all!

But never fear, it’s only because the winter solstice is here. Well, nearly…

Solstice

Winter solstice is the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year with the point of solstice (when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.4 degrees) at 15:59 on 21st Dec in the UK. In Market Harborough, we’ll be saying goodbye to the sun at 15:51 on 21st and won’t be able to soak up any rays until 08:12 on 22nd. That’s  a full 16 hours 21 minutes of darkness!

Ancient cultures saw winter solstice as a time of rebirth, when they finally welcomed back the light. In Scandinavia, for Yule, men collected large logs to burn in recognition of the sun’s return. The Persian festival of Yalda marks the victory of light over darkness with feasting and staying up all night to greet the morning sun. But what Christians look forward to is welcoming Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12), born on Christmas day just after the solstice.

Now I’m sure you’ve had some dark experiences in your life. We all do at times. But Christ’s light never, ever goes out:

“I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who trust in me will no longer remain in the darkness.” – John 12:46 (NLT)

Even in the darkest of times His light is there.

And this made me think of tunnels.

Intrigued? Then read on…

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel…

(Excuse me while I burst into song – yes I did grow up in the Andrew Lloyd-Webber era of musicals.)

Close to where I live there’s a disused railway line, now converted into a walking/cycling/general get outside-and-enjoy-the-outdoors type of place. And there are two tunnels I’ve cycled through. The Arthingworth one is relatively short and you can see a glimmer of light at the end because it’s straight. The Kelmarsh tunnel however, is not! It’s longer and curves so once you’re in that’s it. You can see diddly squat.

I find life’s a bit like tunnels at times. While there is always light at the end, and you can sometimes see it, more often than not you can’t. So the Kelmarsh tunnels of life are understandably harder to navigate.

To get through you have to trust the light is still there even when you can’t see it.

Or take your own.

While it’s still quite hard to progress (bumps, holes, puddles, walls) a light definitely makes it easier. It shows the way for a short distance so you can see metre-by-metre what’s ahead.

But only metre-by-metre.

And that’s how Jesus guides us through life – you can’t normally see the end point but can trust him to get you a short way forward before revealing the next part of your journey. Even if you splat in a muddy puddle on the way. Even when you have a near miss with a very hard wall. The bumps and holes are all part of the adventure helping develop your character.

Trust me, when you can reframe things as “character building” instead of downright scary, it’s a lot easier to navigate your tunnels.

Of course you can choose to follow your friends through instead of ploughing straight in – I’ve done both. As long as they have a rear light you can head towards that until you emerge out of the gloom again.

But as a follower of Jesus, I know He is my best friend. Other people may wobble but Jesus is steady as a rock and totally trustworthy.

Although it’s great to have other friends with you, especially those who are more experienced tunnel-goers, Jesus Christ is the only one you know will get you through:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – so why should I be afraid? The Lord protects me from danger – so why should I tremble?” – Ps 27:1 (NLT)

How will you rejoice this winter solstice?