At the Solstice 

21st December 2024 

And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. Genesis 1:14-15

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Isaiah 45: 7-8

I form light and create darkness,
    I make weal and create woe;
    I the Lord do all these things.

Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
    and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
    I the Lord have created it.

A response:

A turning point in the year is reached, 

and as the longest night reaches its peak

and the shortest day 

recedes to its briefest span –

so the sun’s year turns again.

The dark draws back 

its day time occupation, 

and gradually reframes itself once more 

as night.

But before we rush on, 

let’s take time to embrace the dark 

that gives us rest – and time to pause – 

with long evenings when books and loved ones 

can calm our souls.

And before we rush on, 

let’s take time to ponder how 

the Advent days of expectant waiting 

have kept pace with the darker nights – 

and how even now 

the mornings’s dawn still holds off 

as if waiting for that greater light.

And those of us who have walked in darkness 

will see that light, the dawning 

of the day that ushers in new beginnings, 

new life, the sun reborn, 

the birth of the Christ child.

As the sun-shaped days take hold, 

it is the evenings that first draw back 

releasing the season’s extra light,

the assurance of the Son’s salvation.

From now on the days will lengthen, 

extending once more the working day. 

As we look up to the skies and down to the earth, 

let righteousness sprout forth. 

As seasons turn and new years begin, 

together we shall journey on into God’s kingdom.

May God bless us in the darkness.

May God bless us in the light.

May God bless us in each season.

May God bless us with salvation in the birth of the Son.

Amen.