“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” The title of that old Holiday favorite crooned by Andy Williams rings true for me today, but not for any of the reasons expounded in the lyrics. For me the most wonderful time of the year rang in at exactly 10:59 EST this morning. The remainder of this final blog post of 2021 will explain why.
Today, December 21, is the official beginning of the 2021 Winter Solstice. It’s not that I enjoy the astronomical start of winter (my least favorite season), but rather that this special day marks the terminus of the sun’s retreat and the origin of its advance. We derive our English word ‘solstice’ from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stop). Today the sun, the source of light and life for planet Earth, stops diminishing in our northern hemisphere and once again begins its half year cycle of growth.
For me this knowledge is not only comforting physically, (light and warmth) but also spiritually and emotionally (faith, hope and revitalization). It is awe inspiring to fathom that this path of Creation, this astronomical cycle has been going on ever since this planet was formed some 4.54 billion years ago (give or take 50 million) from ‘stardust.’ How amazing is it to realize that the elements that form the earth and give life to our very bodies were seeded by the death and birth of stars such as our own sun.
So it is that the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of a new astronomical and meteorological season of change. But wait; there’s more. For followers of the Christ it also revitalizes faith and renews hope for the promise of abundant life that the Son (Sun) of God and Light of the world delivered through his birth, life, death and resurrection. In a world of ‘sound and fury’ where life can too often seem like ‘a tale told by an idiot,’ the rising and ever abundant Sun/Son can be a sign unto us that the words of the Old Testament Psalmist still hold true in 2021, even in the midst of our failed stewardship and constant abuse of the gifts of Creation: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” [Psalm 24:1-2] And the lyrics of the old turn of the 21st century hymn hold fast even today: “This is my father’s world. Oh, let me never forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong God is the ruler yet.”
- In my Father’s world, Heaven knows the myriad elements of darkness that have engulfed this planet, this nation and this people throughout this fateful year of 2021.
- In my Father’s world, Heaven knows the wool that has been pulled over people’s eyes by wolves in sheep’s clothing who lead them away from green pastures and down paths of perdition.
- In my Father’s world, Heaven knows the discomfort that has plagued our bodies and the discontent that has wreaked havoc on the very foundations of democracy that under gird a just, kind and righteous/reverent government of, by and for the People.
- Truth is that both Heaven and Earth know that from the very beginning and to this very day the entire year of 2021 has felt like a long, harsh winter bereft of joy and contentment. January began the year with a home-grown insurrection spawned and perpetuated by perpetrators of the Big Lie of a stolen Presidential election, the same actors who have done all in their power to rig the next election. December ends the year with the Omicron variant sweeping this stiff-necked and ill-tempered nation like a tsunami and feasting on the mask-less, unvaccinated and under vaccinated populace like a bear in a honey pot. And as one set of leaders try to deliver to the nation the Christmas gift of a sorely needed social and economic infrastructure package, a certain Senator from West Virginia is competing with his peers across the aisle for the lead role in the 2021 production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
It was sixty years ago that the great American author, John Steinbeck, gave us what would turn out to be his final novel. Panned by some of the ‘America, love it or leave it’ crowd, “The Winter of Our Discontent” went on to earn Steinbeck the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. During the presentation speech at the award, Secretary Anders Osterling of the Swedish Academy remarked on the author and book:
“Here he attained the same standard which he set in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.” Again he holds his position as an independent expounder of the truth with as unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American… be it good or bad.”
Click on this LINK to read a short plot synopsis of the book to understand what an “independent expounder of the truth with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American, be it good or bad” sounds like.
2021, the year long winter of our discontent, must teach us that if the American experiment in democracy is to survive and the ‘American Dream’ thrive, it will be because a vast majority of the American populace has rediscovered that truth and justice, ethics and morality, compassion and humility trump lies and inequity, greed and avarice, pride and prejudice, power and corruption.
Today as the world turns and the sunlight returns, let us close by recalling the lyrics of another renown author, not of novels, but of songs. Back in 1969 George Harrison having recently parted ways with The Beatles, having been arrested for marijuana possession and being generally disillusioned with the whole music business went off to stay for a time at the country house of his friend Eric Clapton. It was during this ‘winter of his discontent’ that he scratched out the words for a song that would appear on the track of Abbey Road. In his autobiography he would write:
“Here Comes the Sun” was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: ‘Sign this’ and ‘sign that.’ Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton’s house. The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars and wrote “Here Comes the Sun.”
And the rest is history. But today is Winter Solstice, 2021, and here comes the sun once again. It’s all right. Hooray and Hallelujah!
Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it’s all right
Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it’s all right
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it’s all right
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear
Here comes the sun do, do, do
Here comes the sun
And I say it’s all right