The Longest Night ~ And Still We Wait

October’s Full Moon
Bethlehem ~ Separation Wall
Photo Credit: Dawn

It’s December 21 ~ the shortest day that ushers in the longest night of the year ~ and still we wait. According to one interpretation of the Mayan calendar, some were waiting for the world to end. But we woke, once again, to morning’s light ~ the gift of a new day we have never seen before.

Nonetheless, this talk of the end of the world has me pondering ~ Would it be such a bad thing if the world as we know it did end? We could certainly do with less violence, less greed, less hate, less corruption, less self-centeredness, less disregard for human rights, less abuse, less fear, less pain and suffering, less…  If December 21 could really signal the end of a tired, old, worn out, broken down, bankrupt era marked by all of these things ~ If December 21 could really usher in an new age of respect, faithfulness, honesty, peace, generosity, gratitude, love, and concern for all of creation and for the global community that we have become ~ This would be good news indeed ~ news worthy of the angels’ song!

Home Demolition ~ Haris Village ~ West Bank
Photo Credit: Dawn

In the context of Israel and Palestine, this would mean no more occupation: no more checkpoints and permit systems, no more home demolitions and evictions, no more settler violence and apartheid roads, no more second class citizens and denial of human rights, no more refugee camps and administrative detention, no more stones and teargas, no more rockets and bombs, no more war and bloodshed, no more us and them ~ All of the people in this ancient storied place would share this land and live together in peace, respecting the narrative of the other and valuing the differences that each brings to the whole. What a rich mosaic it could be!

Israeli Town Near Gaza ~ Mosaic Seeking to Transform
Separation Barrier into Netiv L’Shalom (Path to Peace)
Photo Credit: Nancy

And for us in North America, what would this great turning mean for us? What would die and what would come to birth? ~ We can sit by and say, “It is only a dream,” but John Lennon saw value in dreaming ~ Imagine all the people, living life in peace ~ Israel’s prophets too were dreamers. Surely the vision of Micah, one of Israel’s prophets 700 years before the common era, is a universal vision! ~ They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.

Bethlehem Team Lights ~ Handover Ceremony
Photo Credit: Dawn

How might we be instrumental in moving from dream to reality? ~ Lennon’s words come to mind again: You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one ~ Imagine what it would be like if all the dreamers joined together ~ Your light could join with my light and our lights join with their lights until there is no more me and you and us and them, but we all burn as one flame ~ And the world will live as one! ~ What is the risk? Transformation? The end of the world as we know it? ~ It just might be an idea whose time has come!