King Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness…”

-1 Kings 8:12

 

Tonight is almost the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, yielding the first place away by mere seconds to tomorrow night. It is a time of darkness, deep and black night. 

Sometimes when we speak of light and darkness, we treat the two as enemies, as opposite sides in a cosmic battle between good and evil. We seek to banish the darkness with light, more and more light. Yet, would our candles glow so beautifully as we croon Silent Night were all the overhead lights left on? Peace often comes in darkness  When I have a migraine, any scrap of light is pain. Healing often comes in darkness. 

When I was a child, like many children, I was afraid of the dark. It was unknown and uncertain, and I could never be sure I would not stub my toe or trip over something if I wandered around without light. I insisted on a nightlight (mine was in the shape of a cat, of all things) to keep the darkness from overwhelming me. As I grew older, I realized that there were no monsters under  the bed to keep at bay by the little light, and I stopped turning the cat light on each night. As an adult, I have learned that sleeping with a light interferes with sleep cycles. Pitch darkness is the very best way to sleep.

What if our insistence on dividing dark and light, black and white, night and day has hurt us far more than it has helped, especially when we insist on calling one good and the other bad? Too much light blinds as surely as too much dark.

In the children’s book God’s Holy Darkness, authors Sharei Green and Beckah Selnick write, “Darkness and blackness and night are too often compared to lightness and whiteness and day and found deficient, but let us name the beauty and goodness and holiness of darkness and blackness and night.”

They go on to recount many of the examples of God’s work in darkness: creation began in darkness. In the dark of night the angel passed over the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, saving them from slavery. In the dark night sky, God showed Abraham the promise of descendants as numerous as the stars. When Solomon completed the Temple, he declared, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness…”

This solstice, and throughout the dark nights and short days ahead, look and see what good, holy, beautiful things God is doing in the darkness all around you. You may very well find peace and healing and wonder in the dark. Certainly, you will find God.