Walk Boldly Yet Gently...

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 into 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.
            —"Beannacht–A New Year Blessing” by John O’Donohue

Let us walk boldly yet gently into this new year. Let us claim and hold onto joy in defiance of any forces that would deny it. And let us use our joy to uplift and release joy in others. Let us offer our solid commitment to peace as a feisty and blooming alternative to the rising, dingy voice of violence and oppression. Let us believe and generate faith in the abundant possibilities for this new year, rooting ourselves firmly in the justice that is always waiting to be born into our world. And when that justice knocks on the doors of our hearts, let us welcome the vulnerable, the powerless, the voiceless, the homeless, the hopeless, the lonely. And together, let us create a new world where love is the expectation not the exception.
    
Newness meets us everywhere we turn—as the days and light lengthen. These days are ours.  And it is our sacred work to live into beauty and to create hope with all our days. I look forward to this new year of ministry with you!

See you in church,
Christy