advent 1 - into the dark

Note: Each Wednesday, beginning December 2 and concluding January 6, I will be posting a midweek seasonal meditation which will follow the themes of Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. My hope is that these will simply be nudges and promptings for your own contemplations as together we watch and wait for the God who crosses the threshold and draws all things together in love.

readings

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. GENESIS 1:1-4

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. JOHN 1:1-5

a story

The Sufis tell many stories about the wise fool, Mulla Nasrudin. In one of these stories we find Nasrudin crawling around his front lawn, nose to the dirt, looking for a lost set of keys. After watching him for some time, a group of neighbors decide to see what's going on.

"Nasrudin, what are you doing?" the neighbors ask.

"I'm trying to find my lost keys," he replies.

"May we help you look?"

"Surely! I would be grateful for your help," says Nasrudin.

The neighbors get down on all fours and join in the search. After many minutes pass with no sign of the keys, a woman speaks up: "We've searched your entire yard and garden, Nasrudin, are you sure that this is where you lost your keys?"

"Not at all," Nasrudin replies, "In fact, I am quite sure that I lost them somewhere inside my house."

Shocked, and more than a little annoyed, the neighbors cry out, "Then why in the world are we looking for them out here?"

Nasrudin shrugs and says, "Well, it's dark inside and so much sunnier and brighter out here. This is a much nicer place to look!"

for reflection

How tempting it is to look for what we've lost, or for what we most desire, out in the sunshiny places where life seems warmer and brighter! It can be difficult and discomforting to look in the dark, into those places within us and around us that may be shrouded by our fear and loss, or shadowed by our failings and our wounds. Or, for some of us, "the dark" might include the inner places where the soul-deep questions reside, places we might be afraid to venture into because they force us to admit that we do not have all the answers and we are not in control of everything.

And yet, what if this is precisely where we must go - into the darkness - in order to find what has been lost? Can the deepest human longings for peace, for justice, or for wholeness find satisfaction without looking honestly at what is most broken and unformed?

In the beginning . . . These two "genesis stories" speak of God as one who is already there, moving in the darkness. God does not begin in the places that are already bright with cozy completeness. The darkness where the Word of God is uttered is an uncertain and unfinished place, and it is precisely here that the Light is declared and defined; it is here that we encounter the advent of life and love.

Once again, those of us in northern climes enter this season of Advent as the days are growing shorter and the nights longer. The rhythms of night and day accentuate the rhythms of this season which invite all of us to move into the dark, trusting that God is already there, ahead of us, waiting to do something new in love.

for prayer

• What have you lost? Where are you looking for it?

• For what are you most longing? How are you seeking to satisfy this longing?

• If there is one soul-deep question you could ask of God in this moment - a question for which you have no answer - what would it be?

• Consider taking a few minutes in the night this week, perhaps before you go to bed, to read the first five verses of the Gospel of John. Read the words slowly and reflectively. Then, if you feel able to do so, turn out the lights and sit in the quiet and in the darkness. Try to simply notice, without judgement, the feelings and thoughts that arise. Invite the God of Light and Love to be with you in these moments. What comes? Conclude by lighting a candle or turning on the light and reading the first verses of John's gospel once more. Give thanks to Immanuel, God With Us.

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness does not overcome it . . .