GETTING DARKER: DON’T BE SCARED
“you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep… then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light” (Romans 13)
“ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour “ (Matt 24)
AS WE ENTER THE SEASON of Advent, the nights in the Northern Hemisphere are approaching their longest hours; daylight time seems very short. Walking through the Gower forests at dusk with our dog Libby has been the special time of day for Emilia and me these last few weeks, as spaces in our working days meet. Ilston woods, and the top of Parc y Coed down to Giant’s Grave and back are my favourite places at the moment, particularly as the last of the sun fades and the moon, if there is one to be seen, bounces silver, white through the naked tree branches. My senses become sharp and the music of trees and breeze, rain and night creatures, dances in me gently like an Irish air or sometimes swirling like jigs and reels. Surrounded by caveman caves and overgrown, reclaimed dwelling places, time is very thin here; what was, what is and what is to come interplay and mingle and there seems no divide between heaven and earth.
There is nothing to fear in the dark, other than what is fuelled from our own imaginations or lack of trust. On Christmas night we will read again of the Light that no darkness can ever overcome (John’s prologue). Advent is about waiting for that Light, to be born again in the Mother and the Child. The waiting is about taking some time every day – once, twice, three times, all the time – to simply stop and be. Let the noise of Christmas – shopping, cooking, partying, worrying, doing – fade. All the fuss is just fuss and it will be there for you to go back to if you want to. Find the space where darkness and light play. You don’t need any armour! Just believe in the Light and know that from the dark womb of mother earth the cosmic, eternal Christ Light has been, is being and will always be. God bless you in your Advent contemplation.
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 