If you were awake this morning at 6:28 a.m. you could have welcomed the beginning of summer. Today we will experience the day of longest light and the night of shortest darkness. For years this was something that went unnoticed to me. But now that the marking of this day has become a part of my yearly celebrations, I wonder at how this honoring slipped out of favor with, not only people of faith, but the majority of people in general. It is clear that for several hundreds of years, a celebration of the longest day and longest night, Summer and Winter Solstice, was something that was important to people.It was how they knew that life was continuing and that their God was at work. This was true especially to those who lived further from the equator where the extremes of light and darkness is so pronounced. Since the metaphors of light and darkness are so prevalent in the scriptures, it seems logical to me that marking these turning-points of the year would be important. 

The Welsh poet Thomas Telynog Evans writes:

All the sweetness of nature was buried in black winter's grave,

and the wind sings a sad lament with its cold plaintive cry,

but oh, the teeming summer will come bringing life in its arms,

and will strew rosy flowers on the face of hill and dale.

In lovely harmony the wood has put on its green mantle,

and summer is on its throne, playing its string-music;

the willow, whose harp hung silent when it was withered in winter,

now gives forth its melody.

Hush! Listen! The world is alive!

Today is a day to celebrate the mysterious and awe-producing ways our Creator God moves in the world……bringing the sad laments of black winter out of the grave and continues to bring life, held in the arms of teeming summer. How could we, how should we, miss the opportunity for praise at such a magnificent wonder? Those who once lived closer to the rhythms of the earth knew something we, in our concrete jungles and technological lifestyles, have forgotten: This world is a magnificent on-going creation of which we are only a small part. 

But make no mistake, our part is very important. We are the witnesses. We are the ones who tell the stories and prepare the next generation of storytellers and dreamers. If we take our role seriously we can recapture the habit of stopping our spinning lifestyles  long enough to notice the seasons changing, the play of light on the shadows we cast on this longest day. We can say our prayers quickly and purposefully on this shortest of all nights.

Hush! Listen! The world is alive!