Today marks the Winter Solstice and the shortest number of daylight hours in the year. Some churches hold "Longest Night" or "Blue Christmas" services for those who find this time of the year difficult. It may be because of the darkness, which seems oppressive, or the psychological gloominess which comes from loss or separation. Christmas isn't an uplifting time for many and in these services Christ's light is acknowledged.
Recently I got a call from the library saying that the book I had reserved was in. I hadn't requested a book, or so I thought, but it turned out that months ago I asked for Joan Didion's remarkable memoir called The Year of Magical Thinking. Just before Christmas 2003 Didion's daughter was hospitalized with a totally unexpected and life-threatening illness. A few days after Christmas her husband, author John Gregory Dunne, died at the dinner table, struck down by a massive heart-attack.
Her life was suddenly and irrevocably changed. In January 2004 she wrote:
Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
Although Didion carried on with the demands of life and supported her daughter back to health, that first year was marked by the "magical thinking" that Dunne would return. Her writing about grief is excruciating and exquisite at the same time. Often we don't know what those around us deal with in the silence.
While we won't have a Longest Night service, I will pray for and remember those who experience sadness and grief at this time. The painting above is by Holman-Hunt, a British artist of the 19th century. The Light of the World is a bit romanticized for my taste but it does offer the message that Christ lights our way.
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