Winter Sunrise

“A light has dawned!” (Isaiah 9:2)

It is written into the rhythm of our Earth. Every day, darkness is dispelled. A miracle of colour is carried to our eyes by the rising sun. The gift of a new day.

A new day - this is what God gives.

Since I last wrote, golden autumn has faded. I picked the last lone raspberry from the garden on November 15, startlingly late, swiftly followed by a flurry of snow. Winter is here now with grey days, and the sun rises before I do. The trees are silhouettes, their branches dry bones. If I didn’t know better, I would think they had died.

But spring will come and all will be renewed. On grey days, we remember that Jesus is only in heaven for a little while before “the renewal of all things” (Acts 3).

As Advent begins, we look forward to Christ’s second and final arrival, when Christ the King will evict all pain and make all new. And as we look forward to the renewal of all things, we remember the promise that God offers to renew our lives today.

I spoke recently on that beautiful line in the book of Ruth, when Naomi, who has known tragic loss, is surrounded by her friends as they place her grandson in her lap. They tell her, “Naomi, he will renew your life!”.

In that child lay the promise of Christ, his descendant, who came to renew all our lives, so that we can know a new day, with new mercies, every day.

God visited a dark earth to be our new sunrise. The aged Zechariah held the baby Jesus and worshipped because of the tender mercy of our God through which the rising sun has come to us from heaven (Luke 1:78).

I love that verse because it reminds me of the line in God’s blessing given in Numbers 6 -

“The Lord make his face shine on you”.

Christ gives us a new day, in which God’s face shines on us with love and delight.

This new sunrise is a promise for all of us - the promise of a new day.

It is a promise for all of us who have grieved like Naomi.

It is a promise for all of us who have sinned and feared nothing would change.

It is a promise for all of us who despair over wars and poverty and pain - God calls us to bring his renewal today, filled with hope in the day of his Second Advent when all will be made new.

It is a promise for you - God will renew your life.

Every day, this Advent, let’s rejoice in wonder that Christ is our Sonrise, who died and rose to make all things new. l