Ever notice how the Sunday gospel readings start to get grimmer and grimmer at this time of year just as the daylight is retreating so rapidly, particularly here in the north country?

In Isaiah we read, “For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples” This passage is heard in Advent, but the autumn serves as a kind of “pre-advent”, foreshadowing the crucifixion, the annual observance of the first coming of Emmanuel; God-with-us, and the second coming, the eschaton, the end times.

Each of us has our own personal “end times”. When we die we lose everything that we value in our lives. Possessions. Relationships. Memory. Reputation. Everything will come to an end. Thick darkness will, indeed cover us.

But for us, just as for Jesus, what follows is not the impending disaster that our readings and the diminishing daylight might suggest. What follows for us is the rest of Isaiah’s verse ”…but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you”.

Darkness is therefore not something to be feared. For even Moses entered into the thick darkness … where God was.