Solstices

Do you know why Christmas is on December 25th?  Yes, you read correctly, that did say “Christmas” here at the end of June.  We do not know Jesus’ birthdate.  As close as we can come is the biblical passage in Luke: “while the shepherds kept watch.”  This would only have happened during the lambing season in early Spring because the ewes could need help with the birthing; so, what is with December?

The dates of winter and summer solstice are important in the liturgical calendar of worship.  In the Northern Hemisphere the winter solstice on December 21^st is when light is at a minimum.  The sun is farthest away from planet earth.  The Roman empire of the First Century was filled with festivals commemorating the Winter Solstice.  These festivals were centered on worship to the sun and to the emperor.  Remember, the emperor was seen as a godly figure.

Christians—who were an underground and secretive community—participated in all the celebrations the government demanded.  They would have entered fully into the solstice festivities, but their worship would have been to the Son of God and not the sun.  This is like going to the dentist, pretending it is your best friend’s birthday and having a really good time.  These early Christians were clever.  The Winter Solstice celebrations for Christians became the celebration of Jesus’ birth: Christmas.

Having said all this about the winter solstice, let’s talk about the Summer Solstice which falls each year on June 21^st.   Already, the sunlight is decreasing and the days are becoming shorter.   This Monday is the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.  Are you connecting the contrast of the two solstices?

Look at the Gospel of John.  It is John the Evangelist writing about John the Baptist.  In the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse thirty, after explaining that he is not the Messiah – that he was sent before Him, John the Baptist says, “He must increase; but I must decrease.”

The births of Jesus and John were six months apart.  The solstices are six months apart.  Just as the sun is decreasing in light now, after the Summer Solstice, and just as the sun increases in light after the Winter Solstice, we can see how the worship calendar and the solar calendar are compatible in the cycles of prayer.

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets and the first of the saints.  He connects the Old and the New Testament.  John is no small character in the scriptures: He is a headliner.  His followers numbered not in the hundreds but in the thousands.  When he spoke of decreasing himself and Jesus increasing, the new covenant was born.

Even the secular calendar can call us to holiness if we know our trivia.  Decreasing ourselves so that Jesus can increase in our lives is our daily and constant calling.  Even in the sun we get the message of the divine.