I love that we celebrate Christmas on December 25th. I know that some people disagree on whether it’s the actual month (let alone day) of Christ’s birth, but I love celebrating it right near the solstice.

In the northern hemisphere, December is the darkest time of the year. It feels appropriate, because Jesus was born in a dark time. He was born in a barn, in occupied land, as a minority, without any of the temporal power one would assume would be the birthright of God’s only begotten son.  Christ was thrown into a world already in turmoil, and expected to save it.  To quote Nadia Bolz-Weber,

“the world into which Christ was born was certainly not one of a Normal Rockwell painting. The world has never been that world. God did not enter the world of our nostalgic silent-night, snow-blanketed peace-on-earth sugar cookie suspended-reality of Christmas. God slipped into the vulnerability of skin and entered a world as violent and disturbing as our own.”

Every year, children around the world die on or around Christmas, and throughout the year. Despite all the holly jolly cheer, people are still getting divorced around Christmas, people are grieving loved ones lost around Christmas, people are lonely around Christmas, and people are tired and disillusioned and poor and abused around Christmas. Terrible things don’t stop happening just because there’s tinsel on trees. Sometimes it feels like, no matter how many advent candles we light, the darkness can’t be overcome.

Yet, in the southern hemisphere, Christmas happens around the brightest time of the year! For those in this hemisphere, Christmas is sunny, warm, and full of light. There are BBQs and beach trips instead of snowmen and sledding.  It feels equally appropriate to have Christmas in the brightest month, because the whole message of Christmas is that Christ overcame darkness and the world!  Around Christmas, people are often a little kinder, a little gentler, a little more generous. There is hope in the story and love shared in being together with family and friends. For some, it’s one of the few seasons they get to spend with their loved ones, and there’s an extra happiness that goes with it. And even as Jesus was born into “a world as violent and disturbing as our own,” he was also born into a loving family, with angels singing and shepherds greeting!  For many, Christmas is the very best and most joyous time of the whole year.

I love that we choose to celebrate Christ at a time when the world is at its extremes, when for some it’s the darkest of times, and for others it’s the brightest. I think it helps me remember that Jesus shows up in all of it – he doesn’t just come when things are balanced, or even – Christ comes when it’s extremely dark, Christ comes when it’s extremely light. He shows up in our brightest times and in our darkest times.

It’s also a reminder to me that, in the Christmas seasons that feel light, there are those who are experiencing it in the dark.  Christmas isn’t the same for everyone, and our feelings around it don’t always match how much light we’re seeing, either.  Sometimes it’s dark outside but your soul is full of joy, and sometimes it’s bright outside but dark inside your heart.  But, for me, having Christmas right around the solstice is a reminder that Christ is in the darkness and also in the light, and that we can seek him and find him in both.

There’s a temptation to wrap this up and say that no matter how dark things get, they will someday get lighter.  I think I believe that, and I certainly hope for it, but the beauty of Christmas is that it doesn’t require that we tie every single thing up in a pretty bow.  Christ was born into a messy world, and we have messy lives, and so it’s ok for things to just be messy and to sit in the mess as it is.  If your Christmas is dark, may you have those who will sit with you in your darkness until it hopefully gets lighter.  If it’s light, may you have those who will sit with you in the light, and may it continue.  Either way, Christ will be there, showing up in our messy world, in light, and in dark.