Thought for Today
Genesis 1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Psalm 104:19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
Acts 14:17 yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good-- giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy."
Galatians 4:10 You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.
“The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on June 21, 2026, at 02:22 UTC (which is June 20 at 10:22 PM EDT for North America). This marks the longest day of the year and the official astronomical start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky and daylight hours peak before gradually declining.” (universaltimedate.com)
This year, the summer solstice occurred last Monday night. I wonder how many of us even noted its occurrence. Did yesterday seem discernably shorter to you? Will today seem even shorter, beginning a pattern that will inexorably continue until the winter solstice on “December 21 at 20:50 UTC” (ibid), the shortest day of the year?
Greta and I spent most of our lives much closer to the earth’s equator. There, the differences between the duration of day and night are much less discernable. Yes, along the Texas Gulf Coast, summer days are longer and winter days shorter. Actually, irrespective of season, every day everywhere is 24 hours long. However, the length of sunlight and darkness are markedly different in Texas than in New England.
I first noted how different when I worked on a project in western New York state. During the winter months, I went to work in the dark and came home in the dark. During the summer months it was still dusky when I went to bed.
For most of my life, however, the summer and winter solstices were of little concern beyond the fact that those dates were my brother’s birthday and my maternal grandfather’s birthdays respectively. My family has been removed from agriculture and other labors dependent on daylight and/or seasonal changes for several generations.
History does tell us the importance for our ancestors in determining the solstices. Many of us are familiar with Stonehenge. “Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England . . . The whole monument, now in ruins, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice.” (en.wikipedia.org) There are other similar structures throughout England, Europe and almost every region of the globe.
Early humans, whether hunter-gatherers or agriculturalists, were dependent on knowing the cycle of the seasons, when to plant, when to harvest, when to anticipate the migratory birds, buffalo and other game animals. Not only wealth and success but life itself was reliant on such knowledge.
For most people today, life is much less dependent on the cycle of the seasons. Engineers can engineer in any season. Doctors can doctor in any season. There are still some professions where the cycle of the seasons is critical, farming, commercial fishing and others. Regrettably, our modern technology means that springtime is no longer “2 Samuel 11:1 the time when kings go out to battle.” We have progressed (?) to having the ability to kill each other in any season.
Is it no longer meaningful to track the solstices? Can we safely ignore the cycle of the seasons and just go about our daily lives year around? Yes? No? Maybe?
Christians do still track the seasons of the year. We have a liturgical calendar with designated holidays. We celebrate our faith and our history in special ways, on special days and specific seasons. Interestingly, some of our commemorative holidays are tracked on a solar calendar and others on a lunar calendar. Various Christian faith traditions may celebrate our common holidays on slightly different days, harkening back to earlier calendars and different interpretations; but, seasons and solstices are important in our faith lives. We do not celebrate the solstices as did some of our ancestors. But, keeping track of them is important for us . . . even if the solstice is not our birthday.
Stay safe, celebrate the seasons, trust God,
Pastor Ray