“The Treasures of Darkness”

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The second Sunday of Advent is often called “Prepare Sunday.”  More often than not the lectionary tells of John the Baptist.  The sandal wearing, locust and honey eating, long haired wild man through whom God works to help people examine their lives and prepare for the one who reveals God, Jesus Christ.

This Advent we are doing things a little differently, focusing on blue as much as purple, for example.  Advent preparation starts before John, it begins with Babylon.   So instead of John, we are going to look at another Biblical figure through whom God worked to prepare the way, King Cyrus of Persia. 

In 586 B.C., the Israelites were defeated by the Babylonians, many Israelites were captured into exile.  Then in 538 B.C., Cyrus expanded his empire west from Persia, defeated the Babylonians and did what Pharaoh in Egypt could not, he “let my people go.”  God inspired Cyrus to allow the Israelites, who had grown spiritually in exile,[i] to return and rebuild both their city and a post exilic culture out of which Jesus was born.  During each week of Advent in our response in praise we sing that most famous of Advent hymns, “O Come O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here.”  So let’s talk about the one who acted to free Israel from captive darkness.

God worked through Cyrus to carry out God’s will.  God called Cyrus shepherd, anointed one and announced his surname, indicating closeness to God.   Much as John proclaimed the way of the Lord, in the final section of 2 Chronicles, Cyrus issued a proclamation that God asked him to free Israel and help rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.[ii] 

God gave Cyrus what Isaiah calls the “treasures of darkness,” things “in hidden places.”  Cyrus ruled much of near Asia.  He didn’t need more wealth.  It was the ability to know God for the first time, to prepare the way for Israel’s return, and to find God’s presence in the unexpected darkness of life that was indeed a treasure.  Cyrus is an alternative Advent model for us.  There is no shortage of bright, shining objects in the lead up to Christmas for us either.  Our Advent trick is to find our treasures in the darkness.  Let us pray. 

Christian writer Barbara Brown Taylor, in her excellent new book on darkness, suggests that there are around a hundred references to darkness in the Bible and most of them are negative.[iii]   When God is angry, locusts darken the land.  John tells us that in God there is no darkness.  When Jesus is put to death on Good Friday, darkness covers the land from noon until three.[iv]  In Amos 5, which Dr. King liked to quote, the judgment day of the Lord will be darkness.  Ours is a culture that does what it can to eliminate darkness.[v]

Taylor writes that despite her efforts, the lights have gone off in her life from time to time, physically or metaphorically, plunging her into darkness.[vi]  Yet, she says, “The monsters have not dragged me out of bed and taken me back to their liar.  Instead, I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over.”[vii]  So, Taylor concludes, “I need darkness as much as I need light.”[viii]

Her conclusion is consistent with Isaiah’s approach in today’s lesson.  Rather than the usual Biblical or cultural division of light and dark, with God being only in the light and not the dark, here Isaiah concludes that God is behind everything, weal and woe, good and bad, and in both the light and the darkness.[ix]  That is good news as we prepare our hearts for Christmas in the darkness of December.[x]

In most of the U.S., and certainly around urban areas like Washington, we cannot see the Milky Way or the incredible natural lights and stars at night.  Yet when we are out of the city we might realize that the night sky puts things in perspective.  It’s natural.  It reminds us of God.

While natural light is special, we don’t see it because it is often overshadowed by artificial light.  Jane Brox writes in her book Brilliant, that “We are hampered more by (the) brilliance of our urban areas than our ancestors were by the dark.”[xi]  There are so many artificial lights, so many commercial beacons drawing us like moths to the artificial light that we don’t appreciate the treasure that darkness offers this time of year.  Sometimes we may have to adopt the conclusion of the Grinch, that “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store” to tear ourselves away from the artificial light.

We need darkness.  Darkness leads to sleep.  Bill Clinton was interviewed recently and said that all of the bad decisions he has made in his life were when he was tired.  Verlyn Klinkenborg’s National Geographic article “Our Vanishing Night” makes the case that the circadian rhythm of waking and sleeping match the natural cycle of day and night and impacts everything from our body chemistry to relationships.[xii]  We must do what our earth care council suggests and turn off the lights.  Too much light is not good for us.  I took our boys to Sweden this past summer and in early July in Sweden it is light until 1am and then again at 4.  I found that very unnatural, and really hard.  I could not sleep.  The natural rhythms of my body craved darkness so I could rest. In Sweden I began to appreciate how precious the darkness is.

It’s easy to see the good things in the light.  Especially this time of year.  We are drawn to the glitter, the engagement, the party.  Treasures of darkness are rarer.  King Cyrus was one of those guys who would be impossible to shop for Christmas.  He already owed most of Near Asia; he had everything.  Yet God showed Cyrus something special that he didn’t have before, the treasures of darkness.  Not only possessions, but the internal, unseen satisfaction that comes from being proud of what you are doing and of having a relationship with God.  You can’t put a price on that.  Seeing the treasures of darkness touches something divine. 

Unlike some of God’s conversations with Moses, we are not told how God speaks with Cyrus.  It was a private moment.  Yet then most of the conversations people had with God in the Bible occur in private moments.  It’s only after John baptized Jesus that God speaks directly and publically to Jesus.[xiii]  The rest of the time their conversations are private.  Usually as when Jesus goes to a quiet place to pray.   Or into the wilderness with only the moon and stars as witnesses.  Or onto a mountain to spend the night in prayer away from the lights below.  Many of the intimate moments between God and Jesus were at night.  In moments in introspection.  In prayer.

It is within the quiet, prayerful, darkness that many of us will find treasures of holiness this season.  It’s in the darkness where resilience is born.  It’s why Barbara Brown Taylor says she learned this in the darkness that later saved her life, why John the Baptist called for repentance out of darkness, why God gave the Israelites treasures in the darkness in exile – as they became more observant, spiritual, humble and appreciative as they mourned in lonely exile in Babylon.  For the inner work of Advent will help us get through the solstice, through the bleak midwinter winter, through the valley of the shadow of death, into the midnight clear, into the dark streets where shineth the everlasting light. 

Recognizing the presence of God in the darkness will help you appreciate even more the light of life.   For when we realize that God is not just in the light but is comfortable with the darkness and travels with us through it, and that we learned something in it, like the Israelites, we become more appreciative, and we celebrate with our God all the more at Christmas.

In the Bible, it is often in the darkness, when the fair weather and its friends have gone, that trust in God is built.[xiv]  For example, when Abraham began to doubt God’s plan to give him a family, God told Abraham to go outside at night and look at the stars, saying “Your descendants shall be as numerous as the stars.”[xv]  Abraham would not have been able to see the stars during the day.   Only at night could he see them.  The night sky was critical to Abraham’s trusting God.[xvi]

When Moses ascends the mountaintop to meet with God he does so within a dark cloud.   Cappadocian monk Greggory of Nyssa said that Moses’ encounter with God began in the light, moved through the clouds and then finally Moses saw God most clearly in the darkness.”[xvii]

It’s why Isaiah tells us God is in the darkness and the light.  It’s why there is a specific Hebrew word for the cloudy darkness of God, araphel.  If God wasn’t in darkness, as well as the light, there wouldn’t have a specific word for it.  You might find trust in the darkness of your life.

To me the greatest comfort of this time of year comes from sitting in the darkness and allowing the darkness to defend me.  We often see God most clearly in the darkness because there are fewer distractions and competition for our attention in the darkness.  So often we are told to defend against the dark.  Security cameras and flashlights and just avoiding the night.   Yet the treasure of darkness for me is that darkness defends our souls.

Especially when there is busyness or it’s a hectic time. The darkness helps me turn off my phone or my computer and allows me to focus on my own thoughts.  It’s why you will often find me in my office in the middle of the day with my lights off praying or thinking or writing.

As I was writing this sermon on Thursday, the power went out.  So I got to write much of the sermon in the dark.  That was my most productive and holy time of writing.  Reminding me of sitting alone around camp fires or on docks on lakes and finding myself at last able to concentrate in ways I cannot with lights flashing or electronics buzzing.

Forty-nine years ago this month, Simon and Garfunkel achieved their first #1 hit.  A song called the Sound of Silence.   That song, from their first studio album, bombed so badly at first that Simon and Garfunkel disbanded the group after it came out.  Yet Sound of Silence was remixed and rereleased and went to #1 in December 1965.  

Sound of Silence famously begins with the lyrics, “Hello darkness my old friend.”  Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have repeatedly stated that those lyrics were not about anything grandiose, but rather about people’s inability to communicate despite society’s noise.  Paul Simon states that he wrote the song, and many songs, in his bathroom, in the dark, to get away from distractions.  Where he turned off the lights to concentrate better.  Simon said, “The main thing about playing the guitar was being able to sit by myself and dream.  I used to go off in the bathroom, because the bathroom was a sort of echo chamber.  I would turn off the lights and play.”  That is why the darkness was his friend.  Out of the darkness came some of the best loved American music.  But then, if you are a fan of the blues, you know that great music, like literature and poetry, often emerges from the darkness.

Darkness is an old friend to many of us.  Darkness is a treasure that keeps other stimuli away.  It allows us to focus on the natural light, like the comradery of campfires, the stars in the sky, the inner glow, the deepest and best parts of ourselves which we can tap into when we aren’t blinded by the light.   

When the bright lights give way to candles, meditation, the vesper light of Advent, we find the treasurers of darkness.  If we make time for them, the treasures of darkness for you and for me may include our private moments with God which prepare us for Christmas.  That is Advent work of the darkness.  Make darkness of the season your friend.  Allow it to motivate you, inspire you, shield you and give you hope.  Don’t fear it.  Embrace it.  Amen.