On November 18th, the sun set in Barrow, Alaska. There’s something special about this particular sunset. When the sun went down that day, it was the beginning of what’s called “polar night.” In places so far north and so far south on the globe, the sun will set and it just won’t come back up. In Barrow, they won’t really see the sun again for 66 days.1
Perhaps some of you have experienced these days of night only or day only. For the rest of us, though, it’s hard to imagine, right? How much of our lives are structured by the simple, dependable signs of every day? There’s even an old Jewish legend about Adam and Eve. It says that when the sun set for the first time, they didn’t know it would ever rise again. They were afraid – they thought the darkness was their fault. Would it become chaos? Was the world over? Had they done something to displease God? But, eventually, the sun came up again. It sets and rises and sets and rises. They learned that this is just what nature is like. There are things they do not and cannot control.2
… Adam and Eve were probably incredibly scared that first sunset, but their fear didn’t change God or the path of the sun. Traveling to Barrow would probably be pretty jarring if you’d never lived through polar night before. That much darkness can make people anxious and depressed, even knowing that it will not last forever. The polar night is serious and yet…the sun returns. Here and now, so many of our usual signs and rhythms are different. And yet… our hope is alive.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/11/18/polar-night-utqiagvik-darkness/
[2] http://www.jtsa.edu/adams-fear-of-a-darkening-world