In the Bleak Midwinter

Today at 4:21 AM, earth’s north pole was tilted furthest away from the sun during its annual trek through space. For thousands of years people have been marking the winter solstice, noting (in the northern hemisphere) when the place of the sunrise and sunset reached its point furthest south before moving back toward the north and its place at the spring equinox. It was a time when people looked at the sky and (ironically in our scientific age) knew the motions of the heavens much better than we do. Unlike those living centuries ago, we keep our time in our pocket or on our wrists.

The solstice was significant because it was a visible marker of being in the depths of winter but also a reminder that, even when all is darkest and coldest, spring is on the way. I live in Florida now, so this connection to the seasons is less pressing than it was when I lived in central Kansas or western Michigan. For people who did not have central heat or electricity, warmth and light were at a premium at this time of the year.

And so the winter solstice was a time of celebration – in the pagan culture, a celebration of the annual rebirth of the sun. In northern European cultures, which often involved nature worship, the rites of winter solstice reflected this view of the world – decorating trees with lights, burning a yule log, hanging mistletoe, and feasting.

There are Christians who have a visceral reaction against the idea that some Christmas traditions have their origins in these pagan celebrations. I have seen it a bit differently since reading and reflecting on the ways that Christian missionaries worked to reach the pagan peoples of northern Europe with the gospel. They did not seek with blunt strokes to destroy everything in the culture that had been tainted by nature worship. They absolutely rejected the worship of trees and immoral pagan rites. But instead of trying to wipe out deeply embedded practices, they saw the potential to redeem them. In a famous episode from 8^th-century Germany, Benedictine monk Boniface chopped down a sacred oak in Elijah-esque fashion with the help of “a blast from above.” The splintered oak was then used to make a prayer chapel. Similar attempts to transform sacred spaces and practices into faithful Christian worship are numerous, including the building of churches on hills that had once been the site of pagan rites.

Thus, the accommodation of decorated trees, candles, and feasting at the time of winter solstice was not a compromise with evil. The employment of these practices into a season of Advent, including the Feast of Christmas, may be seen instead as a reclaiming of a true understanding of the hope of light and life. For Jesus was the “light of the world,” whose birth was accompanied by a gloriously shining angel announcing his birth to shepherds and the brightness of a star guiding the magi. Yes, Jesus came to humanity “in the bleak midwinter” of its existence. The midwinter cultural practices therefore resonated meaningfully with the Christmas story and were powerful ways of communicating Christ. This is one of those times that God surely revealed a touchstone that existed in a culture, as still happens in missionary encounters in the world today.

The success of this Christian adaptation of the winter festival is astounding. So much has the holiday been repurposed that in our world the symbols previously linked to pagan rituals are wedded instead to a celebration of Jesus entering into the world. Is it not a sign of the success of this baptism that a Christmas tree in a public space could be seen as an expression that might violate the religious establishment clause? Christmas was an incredibly creative and winsome response to the problem of a paganism rooted in culture.

In a time in which many Christians find the only way to interact with the world is to be cultural warriors always fighting against culture, winter solstice reminds me that there is much in culture that is ripe for redemption. There are certainly things that we must vehemently reject– misguided sexual ethics, the worship of money and fame, self-centeredness, the hunger for power – but I see Christianity as more about constructing than destroying. I believe in the powerful attraction of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its positive and challenging contribution to conversations and situations. I am reminded that “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4) but I hope that this is shown best not by defeating the world but by winning it.