...even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You. - Psalm 139:12
It's finally September, so let the pumpkin spice everything begin. This month is a time of endings and beginnings, a time of darkness and of light, a time when we look forward to autumn and all the blessings peculiar to that season of the year. We mark this transition on September 22 as we celebrate the autumnal equinox; the time when we have equal amounts of daylight and darkness. Equinox literally translates to “equal night”, meaning those above the Tropic of Cancer have the same amount of night as those below the Tropic of Capricorn (equatorial regions don't have our 4 seasons).
Yet darkness seems to get a bad rapport among us. We mourn the passing of the long, lingering sunsets of summertime. We adjust our schedules to new school routines and the ending of vacation season. We realize that our activities must happen earlier in the day if we wish to avoid driving when it's dark out. Plants do not have enough sunlight to continue photosynthesis and so shut down until the return of longer days and the chlorophyll drains from leaves giving them their bright autumnal colors before they fall. It's very easy to see this month as a month of endings. Many of us are still afraid of the dark (or of stepping on / into things in the dark) and keep a nightlight on.
Darkness is also spoken of as a bad thing in Scripture, though it was not always so. Darkness is often used as a metaphor for sin and evil. We hear of the angel of death striking down the firstborn of Egypt during the night (though Israel was given freedom that night). Jesus and Paul speak of “deeds done in darkness”. Of course, we remember how “darkness was upon the face of the whole earth from the sixth hour until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33, noon to 3PM) as Jesus bled and died on the cross. But is darkness, in and of itself, such a bad thing?
In the beginning there was darkness, then God said, “Let there be light.” and there was light. God saw that the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:3) Throughout the rest of the Creation account the days are numbered, “and there was evening and there was morning, the ___ day” Does this mean that God was doing at least some of His creative work in the darkness? It would explain the platypus. King David spoke about trying to hide from God and using the darkness like a cloak, but then reveals how darkness is as light to Him who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all (I John 1:5). As we journey through Fall, our thoughts turn more and more to Christmas and the great celebration of Christmas Eve. So, darkness can't be all bad; in fact, it may hold its own blessings.
As I have an astronomy geek in my household, one of the great things about the darkness is that it allows you to see the stars. Dante Alighieri (writer of the Divine Comedy) begins the Inferno with the saying, “When the dawn seemed forever lost, You showed me Your love in the light of the stars.” When God spoke to Abraham, it must have been at night, as we find written, “He took him outside and said, Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. Then He said, So shall your offspring be.” (Gen. 15:5) Imagine never seeing a lunar eclipse, or a meteor shower (or any shooting stars), or, if you're far enough away from city lights, the great Milky Way splashed against the backdrop of the starlit sky. There is so much beauty and wonder to God's creation, even when dark.
And it's not just things celestial that we can rejoice in. God made many creatures for the dark hours as well. One of my favorites is the bat. How bats became associated with evil (like a bat out of Hell) beats me. A bat will eat its body weight in mosquitoes every night! If you're bothered by those little bloodsuckers, just hang up a bat house and they'll be gone in no time. Most rodents are more active at night – raccoons, skunks, rabbits, mice, ferrets, all are active when we are not. Foxes, bear, and deer too do most of their dining (on my apple trees!) at night. I won't even start with the genus of insects and how crickets sing us to sleep and other benefits of these nocturnal bugs. How we got the bedtime prayer, “From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, good Lord preserve us!” continues to elude me. There is a wonderful world waiting out there for the sun to go down.
Times of darkness are also built into our physical make-up. When God made us, especially as He formed the human eye, He made us diurnal – meant to function in the daylight and rest during the dark times. Ever since Thomas Edison lit up Menlo Park our bodies have suffered from over exposure to light – especially light in the blue spectrum (TVs, phones, and computer screens) which disrupt our sleep patterns. Many people today suffer from sleep deprivation or inadequate rest because there's simply too much light. We need times of darkness to function the way God made us.
Of course, with shorter days comes a cooling of temperatures. This shortened day and cooler air is what triggers apples to ripen, pumpkins to turn orange, and grass to finally stop growing like a weed.
Autumn is a great time for the Church as we celebrate the harvest season (not just at Thanksgiving). As school begins, so does our Redeemer Preschool, adult Bible Brunch, Sunday School, and many other educational opportunities. We have our Church Picnic on Sept. 15 (technically before Fall, but...) and Trunk or Treat in October. There will be a Fall Prayer Breakfast towards the end of September (date TBD). We'll wrap up our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child about midway through the season (Nov. 13). Our preschoolers (and some of us too I hope) will have the joy of going apple picking and then pumpkin picking. As the days approach their shortest time of the year, we enter Advent and the coming of the Light of the World into the flesh. There is so much great stuff happening, even if the darkness is getting longer.
So do not fear nor curse the darkness, welcome it and embrace it, for darkness and light are both used and embraced by God. Join us in all the activities we have planned to “make disciples of all nations” (inside the Church and without) even as the days get shorter and the nights longer. We need not fear any darkness, for our Lord has overcome the darkness of death and brought light and immortality to light. God is still with us, even in the darkest of nights. May you feel God's presence with you this autumn and even forevermore.
Peace in Christ;
Pastor Brian
...even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You. - Psalm 139:12
It's finally September, so let the pumpkin spice everything begin. This month is a time of endings and beginnings, a time of darkness and of light, a time when we look forward to autumn and all the blessings peculiar to that season of the year. We mark this transition on September 22 as we celebrate the autumnal equinox; the time when we have equal amounts of daylight and darkness. Equinox literally translates to “equal night”, meaning those above the Tropic of Cancer have the same amount of night as those below the Tropic of Capricorn (equatorial regions don't have our 4 seasons).
Yet darkness seems to get a bad rapport among us. We mourn the passing of the long, lingering sunsets of summertime. We adjust our schedules to new school routines and the ending of vacation season. We realize that our activities must happen earlier in the day if we wish to avoid driving when it's dark out. Plants do not have enough sunlight to continue photosynthesis and so shut down until the return of longer days and the chlorophyll drains from leaves giving them their bright autumnal colors before they fall. It's very easy to see this month as a month of endings. Many of us are still afraid of the dark (or of stepping on / into things in the dark) and keep a nightlight on.
Darkness is also spoken of as a bad thing in Scripture, though it was not always so. Darkness is often used as a metaphor for sin and evil. We hear of the angel of death striking down the firstborn of Egypt during the night (though Israel was given freedom that night). Jesus and Paul speak of “deeds done in darkness”. Of course, we remember how “darkness was upon the face of the whole earth from the sixth hour until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33, noon to 3PM) as Jesus bled and died on the cross. But is darkness, in and of itself, such a bad thing?
In the beginning there was darkness, then God said, “Let there be light.” and there was light. God saw that the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:3) Throughout the rest of the Creation account the days are numbered, “and there was evening and there was morning, the ___ day” Does this mean that God was doing at least some of His creative work in the darkness? It would explain the platypus. King David spoke about trying to hide from God and using the darkness like a cloak, but then reveals how darkness is as light to Him who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all (I John 1:5). As we journey through Fall, our thoughts turn more and more to Christmas and the great celebration of Christmas Eve. So, darkness can't be all bad; in fact, it may hold its own blessings.
As I have an astronomy geek in my household, one of the great things about the darkness is that it allows you to see the stars. Dante Alighieri (writer of the Divine Comedy) begins the Inferno with the saying, “When the dawn seemed forever lost, You showed me Your love in the light of the stars.” When God spoke to Abraham, it must have been at night, as we find written, “He took him outside and said, Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them. Then He said, So shall your offspring be.” (Gen. 15:5) Imagine never seeing a lunar eclipse, or a meteor shower (or any shooting stars), or, if you're far enough away from city lights, the great Milky Way splashed against the backdrop of the starlit sky. There is so much beauty and wonder to God's creation, even when dark.
And it's not just things celestial that we can rejoice in. God made many creatures for the dark hours as well. One of my favorites is the bat. How bats became associated with evil (like a bat out of Hell) beats me. A bat will eat its body weight in mosquitoes every night! If you're bothered by those little bloodsuckers, just hang up a bat house and they'll be gone in no time. Most rodents are more active at night – raccoons, skunks, rabbits, mice, ferrets, all are active when we are not. Foxes, bear, and deer too do most of their dining (on my apple trees!) at night. I won't even start with the genus of insects and how crickets sing us to sleep and other benefits of these nocturnal bugs. How we got the bedtime prayer, “From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, good Lord preserve us!” continues to elude me. There is a wonderful world waiting out there for the sun to go down.
Times of darkness are also built into our physical make-up. When God made us, especially as He formed the human eye, He made us diurnal – meant to function in the daylight and rest during the dark times. Ever since Thomas Edison lit up Menlo Park our bodies have suffered from over exposure to light – especially light in the blue spectrum (TVs, phones, and computer screens) which disrupt our sleep patterns. Many people today suffer from sleep deprivation or inadequate rest because there's simply too much light. We need times of darkness to function the way God made us.
Of course, with shorter days comes a cooling of temperatures. This shortened day and cooler air is what triggers apples to ripen, pumpkins to turn orange, and grass to finally stop growing like a weed.
Autumn is a great time for the Church as we celebrate the harvest season (not just at Thanksgiving). As school begins, so does our Redeemer Preschool, adult Bible Brunch, Sunday School, and many other educational opportunities. We have our Church Picnic on Sept. 15 (technically before Fall, but...) and Trunk or Treat in October. There will be a Fall Prayer Breakfast towards the end of September (date TBD). We'll wrap up our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child about midway through the season (Nov. 13). Our preschoolers (and some of us too I hope) will have the joy of going apple picking and then pumpkin picking. As the days approach their shortest time of the year, we enter Advent and the coming of the Light of the World into the flesh. There is so much great stuff happening, even if the darkness is getting longer.
So do not fear nor curse the darkness, welcome it and embrace it, for darkness and light are both used and embraced by God. Join us in all the activities we have planned to “make disciples of all nations” (inside the Church and without) even as the days get shorter and the nights longer. We need not fear any darkness, for our Lord has overcome the darkness of death and brought light and immortality to light. God is still with us, even in the darkest of nights. May you feel God's presence with you this autumn and even forevermore.
Peace in Christ;
Pastor Brian