December Twenty-Twenty-One

 

At The End Of The Year

As this year draws to its end,

We give thanks for the gifts it brought

And how they became inlaid within

Where neither time nor tide can touch them.

The days when the veil lifted

And the soul could see delight;

When a quiver caressed the heart

In the sheer exuberance of being here.

Surprises that came awake

In forgotten corners of old fields

Where expectation seemed to have quenched.

The slow, brooding times

When all was awkward

And the wave in the mind

Pierced every sore with salt.

The darkened days that stopped

The confidence of the dawn.

Days when beloved faces shone brighter

With light from beyond themselves;

And from the granite of some secret sorrow

A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,

For all we loved and lost

And for the quiet way it brought us

Nearer to our invisible destination.

-John O’Donahue 

Hope is coming; love is coming. A shining realm of peace and wholeness is, truly, coming. We have a season in which to give our faith a workout, in which to exercise our hope muscles. Some years make that exercise more difficult than others. But it’s Advent now, and, as people of faith, we are called upon to exercise our hope. - Vinita Hampton Wright, Advent Again—Time for Practicing Hope

Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen: “It is Advent again. In his sermon this morning, Oscar Uzin said: ‘Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily papers. The Lord is coming, is always coming. Be alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord.’” –Gracias! A Latin American Journal

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

—Henri J.M. Nouwen

Joy requires us to hold onto the reality of the world’s brokenness in one hand and the love of God in the other”. To rejoice, he said, “is to lean into the longing for God’s perfect shalom to break into our suffering world and make things right, a longing that compels us to participate in God’s good work and that drives us to anticipate and enact shalom everywhere we can while also admitting our desperation, our helplessness, and need for a savior.  -Father Rich Weyls 

 Rather, we allow ourselves to be embraced by Advent’s true story. We trust the One who promises to be God with us, even amid our many searing pains. We relinquish our life into the hands of the One who promises to hold us tight–and to one day undo every sorrow, mend every wound, and make the whole earth aflame with love’s fire. -Winn Collier 

That is my prayer this New Year’s Eve. 

Bless you, 2021, for all we learned, loved, and even lost. 

We look with expectation to the gifts of 2022.

-Diana Butler Bass