The Bleak Midwinter

“And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the angel of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid…’” Luke 2:8,9

We have just experienced the winter solstice. Midwinter. It is a time when the earth’s axis positions the northern hemisphere at the northernmost distance from the sun. In essence, it is the longest night of the year. The darkest night of the year. The bleak midwinter. How beautiful and how poignant and how significant it is that God chose to bring us the Christ child at this time of year. God brings us his boundless love at this darkest time.

And so it was 2000 years ago. On a dark hillside 2000 years ago some shepherds were just doing their job. They were doing their thankless job, their dirty job, their lonely, cold, low-paying job. Their future seemed as dark as the night before them. Perhaps they talked to one another in the dark night. Perhaps they thought to themselves even more. Perhaps they thought about their disappointment in the government, or the state of the economy, or about how to provide for their family, or about the safety of their children in barbaric times. Perhaps on a hillside 2000 years ago, they indeed were cold and lonely and overworked and underpaid. But with certainty, they were afraid. Fearful nights, like midwinter nights, are the longest nights. But in a moment, life would change. Like the winter’s solstice. It happens in an instant, and the tilt, the angle changes, and the darkness begins the process of receding. On a cold, barren, dark night 2000 years ago, the angle changed.

The Christmas carol, In The Bleak Midwinter, was based on a poem written by Christina Rossetti in 1859. Christina Rossetti suffered periods of severe depression brought upon by health and family setbacks. Her nights were long and fearful.

Her words perhaps reflected her heart.

“In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind may blow.
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.”

2000 years ago, in 1859, and today we all stand on the cold, barren, hard hillside in the long, dark, fearful night. Things happen, and we just don’t understand why, and it makes us sad, and it makes us afraid. But 2000 years ago, the world changed. In an instant the darkness was overcome by light, and the fear was overcome by joy. And so it is today.
And so it will be forevermore.

Perhaps Christina Rossetti found the way out of her own bleak midwinter in the last lines of her poem.

“What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part.
What yet can I give Him: give my heart.

Perhaps, this is our own way out. No, most assuredly, this is our only way out. It is the giving of our heart.

Merry Christmas