Across the Pastor’s Desk by Josh Enderson

Josh Enderson is pastor of Hayward-Trondhjem Lutheran churches.

Winter can be the bleakest of seasons. The sun sets too early for most of us. The grass is browned and buried under the snow. The trees lie bare, with their skeletal branches reminding us daily of the impermanence of all things. The landscape around us seems dead, and many of us long for the noisy days of summer. We long for the days filled with birds chirping, evening thunderstorms and noisy backyard gatherings. Perhaps it is no surprise that many of us get Seasonal Affective Disorder as winter progresses, marked by depression and a sense of hopelessness. There is something about the sheer silence of winter that makes us a bit uneasy.

Recently, I saw another side of the winter landscape. I have a large backyard, which has no artificial light beyond the streetlights one block over. Throughout the year, even during the brightest of full moons, you can never see much back there. It is always dark and even a bit foreboding at times. However, after our first major snowfall this year, I saw a different side of this yard. The moon was very bright that night, but I had not noticed it with all the lights on inside of my house. As I was preparing to go to bed, I turned off the kitchen lights, and it was as if someone turned on a floodlight outside. The backyard glowed in the moonlight reflected off the new fallen snow. The yard seemed to be alive, even in the depths of winter bleakness. There were no signs of life around, yet the world seemed to shimmer with life in the moonlight. There was absolute silence in the world around me, yet it was not a frightening silence. It was a deep sense of peace and hope. “The light shines in the darkness,” as we read in John’s gospel, “and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Of course, this was not the first moonlit winter night I have experienced. I am 33 years old and have seen many in my life. But it seemed to be the first one to which I was paying attention. Had I just shut off the light, kept my eyes on my iPad and went to bed, I would not have experienced that sign of deep peace in my life.

As we near Christmas, the chaos will pick up. There will be last-minute presents, cooking and baking fiascos and parties to plan and attend. In the midst of it all, look for that light. Christ comes in our midst, a light shining in the darkness. Keep an eye out for that light this season, because it is there. You just never know when it will break into your life, reminding you of God’s deep peace and love for everyone. May you find God’s peace this Christmas season.