As we move into the month of June, the month when we in the Northern Hemisphere are gifted with the greatest amount of sun light, I am reminded of a phrase that I came across recently in the writings of spiritual writer Barbara brown Taylor. Taylor speaks of some worship communities she has encountered as “full solar churches.”  Her reference here has nothing to do with solar panels or “going green” or saving the environment. A “full solar church,” she says, “focuses on staying in the light of God around the clock, both absorbing and reflecting the sunny side of faith. You can usually recognize a full solar church by its emphasis on the benefits of faith, which include a sure sense of God’s presence, certainty of belief, divine guidance in all things, and reliable answers to prayer. Members strive to be positive in attitude and firm in conviction.” The problem comes, she notes, when darkness falls on our life—which inevitably happens in one way or another--and keeping a positive attitude does not always fix it. Are we then not welcome in church? Is the darkness my own fault because I did not have enough faith? . Taylor says she finds “lunar spirituality” more realistic. For many of us God’s presence is more like the moon. It waxes and wanes as the month goes by. Sometimes we feel a strong sense of God’s presence and our faith is firm; other times we struggle.

What Taylor is describing is in essence a different take on the Paschal Mystery that we just celebrated in its fulness. Pain, suffering, and death are very real on Good Friday Like Jesus on the cross, the only prayer that sometimes comes to us is, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”  (from Psalm 22). In fact, the sky itself grew dark. Yet out of the darkness of Good Friday, light and hope dawned on Easter Sunday morning. Darkness is often a better teacher than light. When we let go of some of our certainties, we grow in faith and trust.  Our faith has room for both darkness and light. Allowing Jesus to ascend into heaven, letting go of his physical presence, enabled the Apostles to receive a new Spirit at Pentecost. It was this new Spirit that enabled them to go forth and make disciples of all nations.

In fact, to embrace a full solar spirituality at the present time (or any time) really runs contrary to the life of Jesus, the Light of the World, who lived his entire life surrounded by darkness. He lived in a harsh social and economic milieu. Between the Roman officials and the Roman Legions who ruled with an iron fist and the Jewish leaders who aligned themselves with Rome and shared Rome’s distaste for anyone who questioned the rules or stirred up the masses, he was under constant threat and no amount of positive thinking would have changed that. His preaching appealed to so many people precisely because real hope was in such short supply. He offered a vision of the world called the Reign of God which was very different from the world in which they lived, and he invited people to become part of a movement that could ultimately change the world. His life and his death were about helping people find light in the darkness.

So, unless we live in a fully solar household or a fully solar country or in fully solar times, fully solar spirituality does not work in the long run. Bad things do happen to good people of great faith (say, for example, Jesus). We certainly do not live in fully solar times; and the Christianity that we offer the world has to be able to accommodate suffering, pain, loss, and grief. It must be able to offer people hope in their struggles, when they feel overwhelmed by family issues, financial struggles, overwork, and a general feeling of helpless about the way the world is going. When the world is spinning out of control, as it often seems to many people today, we need to be able to offer the world a place on which to stand: Jesus Christ has overcome it all. Stick with him. And stick with your brothers and sisters in the church, many of whom are struggling with some of the same issues as you are.

So, by all means, enjoy the fully solar season in Chicago. Treasure it because, as we know, the brightness and the warmth only last for a brief season. But don’t forget about the moon, which provides light in our darkness, sometimes a lot; sometimes only a sliver. Yet we know from experience, that if we are patient, the light of the moon does grow. It never leaves us completely in the dark.

                                                                  Fr. Joe