Stupid Winter



 Photograph By Gary Norbraten


I dislike winter intensely. I also know that what we call winter and what most of the U.S. will call winter are two very different things. Well, that's why I live here and not there. Winter; why do I hate you? Let me count the ways: 1) cold surf, 2) wetsuits that make you look like a B-movie space ranger, 3) pants and shoes. This list is by no means exhaustive, feel free to add to it. Granted, our winter will last only about ten days over a three month period, but still, I had to bring the pineapple plants inside last night. Some people love winter. I'll bet that they love it for the same reasons I hate it and the love and hate of winter are really both the same spiritual response.

Spiritually, what is winter? It's the beginning of Advent. What is Advent? It's the season of preparation for Christmas. It is also the season of "ends". With the cold comes death. Think about the first cold-front that blows in. The time changes and that days are growing shorter and darker. The plants start to die or hibernate (well, not so much here, but I've seen movies where they did). The world is coming to a close, creation is going to sleep.

This is where the love/hate comes in... I hate winter because it means I have to anticipate Spring. I hate it because it means that everything is coming to a close and I have to wait for the new birth. I hate the cold because it tells me that the old is falling away. For the same reasons, some love the winter. They love the crispness or even the bitterness of the cold because it tells them that Spring is coming. They rejoice in the falling away of the old because it prepares for the new. I hate, they love, but really for the same reasons: we both long for Spring.

Where is Advent in all this? It is the preparation for Christmas. It is the dark before the dawn, the coldest part of night. It's no coincidence that St. John the Baptist's Nativity is around (it used to be ON) the Summer Solstice, that is the longest day of the year. John's birth signified the beginning of the end. The close of the Old Covenant is symbolized by the the days growing darker as we approach Christmas. We plunge into the dark days of waiting, wondering, and perhaps mourning, that is, asking if Spring will ever come, if we will survive the darkness. Christmas (for the woefully uncatechized, the celebration of Christ's nativity) is symbolically placed on the Winter Solstice (or now, December 25). Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. We celebrate the birth of Jesus on the shortest day of the year because upon his birth, every day the light grows stronger as the darkness retreats. Death turns to new life. Warmth overtakes the cold. The nativity symbolizes the new beginning, the New Covenant.

The question is how are we going to move through Advent this year? Are we going to rejoice that Christmas is near? Or do we find sorrow in knowing that there is still quite a bit of encroaching darkness to endure before the light returns? If we are honest, I would hope that what we are really doing is a bit of both. I hope that can let ourselves know a joyful longing. We can know that God is so close, yet so far. When we are sorrowful at the distance we find peace in His closeness. Before we become complacent at His nearness, we are reminded of how great the distance between us.