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.
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Here are two blessings to carry us into the New Year.
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On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.
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John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
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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.
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