I am going to start by talking about hibernation! I have been fascinated with the process of hibernation since moving to Colorado.
My first year here, a bear came into my yard every evening during the fall. I loved watching this bear. Having just moved from Florida, a bear seemed very exotic. I was afraid to go near him, so I watched from my kitchen window every night.
One night he did not come by. Another night passed, then another. I began to worry, until someone told me he had probably gone into hibernation. I did some research on hibernation and learned that although hibernation is often thought of as a deep winter slumber, it is quite different from sleep.
Hibernation is a state of dormancy, caused by huge drops in heart rate, body temperature, and metabolism. The body temperature of a bear in hibernation is only a few degrees above freezing…just enough to keep it alive. The heart rate drops from 300 beats a minute to just 3 or 4 beats.
The biological processes that allow hibernation are masterminded by two genes, which have been identified in bears for some time. What’s really interesting is that in the year 2000, scientists discovered the exact same genes in humans! At one time our ancestors may have hibernated, perhaps during the deep winters during the ice age.
We will never know for sure if and when humans hibernated, but the discovery gave birth to the new field of hibernation technology within the medical sciences.
The Army first funded the hunt for hibernation genes in humans in hopes of finding a way to put wounded soldiers into protective hibernation until medical help arrives.
British researchers have looked into the possibility of helping hibernating humans lose weight. Can you imagine getting to sleep all winter and waking up thin at last?
However, transplant surgeons will probably make the first practical use of hibernation technology. The goal is to preserve organs donated for transplant surgery by putting them into a state of hibernation.
Hibernation technology holds great promise in the future. But, the real topic today is spiritual hibernation not a biology lesson.
By spiritual hibernation I mean, creating a time to withdraw and renew ourselves spiritually. We can think of this as hibernation theology!
Hibernation theology is not nearly as complicated as most religious studies. Hibernation theology claims only that we all work hard and we all deserve a time to slow down our heart rate, and enter into a cool darkness where we can rest and renew
Hibernation theology teaches us to welcome dark. Darkness, which many of us shun as synonymous with evil, is actually an opportunity in which we can connect with our subtle senses and give rest to our physical ones. It is soul tending time.
Scottish Monks withdraw every Fall into a place they call the House of Darkness. This dwelling is a long, low hut divided into cubicles. The rooms are completely dark. For a full 24 hours, they lie on their cots with a stone on their belly, and a soft pillow beneath their heads. With their eyes covered, they compose offerings of praise and adoration to God. Before they emerge from the dark hall, the monks recite their compositions. The Scottish Monks retreat to the darkness because they believe that inspiration is sparked more brightly in the darkness.
Jesus is the model for hibernation theology. He often withdrew into the darkness to commune with His Father and remerge with a renewed flame. Jesus knows we must rest awhile. Jesus taught that renewal and restoration are not luxuries.They are essentials. Being alone and resting for a while is not selfish. It is Christlike. There is absolutely nothing enviable or spiritual about driving ourselves into exhaustion, nor is an ultra busy schedule necessarily the mark of a productive life.
Although it is not over yet, its been a long year and we have been utra busy. We have worked hard and many of us find that our flames are flickering. Some of us have struggled in jobs we hate. Our kids and grandkids worry us. Money is always an issue. Some of us have been juggling school, a family and a career. We have lost loved ones and are still grieving. Others have met up with serious illness and confronted the inevitable. This has been a challenging year.
Yet, along with the hard work and challenges, we have had many blessings. We have celebrated births, graduations, weddings, engagements, and birthdays. Several of you have fallen in love again and are living a new beginning. Others have moved into new homes or found fulfilling new jobs. We have our wonderful church family. We have been to neat places on vacation and visited with family and friends.
I spent time this summer feasting on the grandeur of the Tetons and Yellowstone. I collected wildflowers near Crested Butte
But now, as the days grow longer and I can feel the breath of winter, I think only of lighting a candle, building a fire in my new fireplace, and curling up with a soft blanket while I drift off into a time of rest like the bears. The autumn color lures me into a peacefulness. Compared to the rest of the year we are in a quiet moment… a brief pause between the last of autumn and the first snow.
But, the holidays are coming and we will again be busy. So let us use this fleeting moment, before the leaves blow away for good and winter settles in, to slow down and to invest a few extra hours in quiet reverence.
Lets reconnect with God and call upon the Holy Spirit to renew our inner light so that we may continue our lives with renewed energy and purpose.
Our scripture for today refers to a restored Zion, but is also serves as a metaphor for our own renewal.
"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
Our flame only burns so long and in the last, darkening days of autumn we can find a new spark through the working of the Holy Spirit.
