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.
The Green Tau 