I have yet to meet someone reluctant to say good-by to 2020; in fact, good riddance is what one hears most often. That said, in the major shifts and changes in 2020 there are seeds for renewal and new life. In striving to say good riddance to a world framed by race and injustice, we may be entering a new and life-giving space. In losing the casual ability to connect in person, we may prioritize seeing one another more fully with compassion, empathy and joy. We may come to see what church really is all about: loving one another as deeply as oneself.
Here are two blessings to carry us into the New Year.
On the day when The weight deadens On your shoulders And you stumble, May the clay dance To balance you. And when your eyes Freeze behind The grey window And the ghost of loss Gets in to you, May a flock of colours, Indigo, red, green, And azure blue, Come to awaken in you A meadow of delight. When the canvas frays In the currach of thought And a stain of ocean Blackens beneath you, May there come across the waters A path of yellow moonlight To bring you safely home. May the nourishment of the earth be yours, May the clarity of light be yours, May the fluency of the ocean be yours, May the protection of the ancestors be yours. And so may a slow Wind work these words Of love around you, An invisible cloak To mind your life. John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us THE YEAR AS A HOUSE A Blessing Think of the year as a house: door flung wide in welcome, threshold swept and waiting, a graced spaciousness opening and offering itself to you. Let it be blessed in every room. Let it be hallowed in every corner. Let every nook be a refuge and every object set to holy use. Let it be here that safety will rest. Let it be here that health will make its home. Let it be here that peace will show its face. Let it be here that love will find its way. Here let the weary come let the aching come let the lost come let the sorrowing come. Here let them find their rest and let them find their soothing and let them find their place and let them find their delight. And may it be in this house of a year that the seasons will spin in beauty, and may it be in these turning days that time will spiral with joy. And may it be that its rooms will fill with ordinary grace and light spill from every window to welcome the stranger home. Jan Richardson
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