Quick Summary:

Coming as it does during the time of year when daylight wanes and nights grow long, ADVENT is often awash with metaphors of LIGHT and DARKNESS. So often LIGHT, in these scenarios, is associated with all that is good and right and true. While DARKNESS is associated with all that is bad and wrong and false. YET from the beginning, as our GENESIS reading illustrates, darkness and light have complementary roles to play within God’s magnificently unfolding universe. Imagine, if you can, a world that lacked Daytime or lacked Nighttime. The thought is nonsensical. For every life form on this planet home—including our own—has evolved under the influence of night and day, darkness and light, and life as we know it could not exist without their DANCE.

Our Advent invitation this year is to stay alert to ways of imagining darkness and blackness NOT as attributes to be shunned, but rather attributes to be hallowed.