Evening and morning: A new day
Awaiting the light

Waiting longingly for the sun to rise is something I know well from my camping vacations in southern Africa and France. How often did we sit wrapped in blankets in front of our tent, hoping that the sun would soon rise high enough to reach our tent and warm us? 

The feelings of the early people must have been even more vital when the light and warmth of the sun returned after a long, cold night. I can empathize with the fact that they experienced this as a miracle and worshipped the sun as a god. 

These days, Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah, a festival of light that marks the end of a dark period in their history and the beginning of a new one. Advent and Christmas also celebrate the coming of light, and people await the winter solstice in the north. 

When I look at the political situation in the world these days, I wish for the approach of a new day. Like the poet of an old hymn, I hope for a time when justice, gentleness and mercy will prevail. 

And then I also hope that we, and the powerful of the world, will have the courage to look disaster in the face. To see that we must lead a more modest life if we do not want to leave our grandchildren a world that will be an actual hell. 

I wish the gods of greed for power, national selfishness, and profit maximization an early end in the darkness of history.

I wish us all a happy Hanukkah, a joyful Advent, a peaceful Christmas, and that reason, peace, and love will overcome the darkness in the end.