This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA at the Christmas Lessons and Carols service on the First Sunday after Christmas, December 29, 2019.
On the first Sunday after Christmas, I like us to prepare for the new calendar year by reflecting prayerfully on what we have learned and explored over the last year. In preparation for the year 2020, I invite us to let the following prayers wash over us like blessings, prayers that summarize some of the messages we have heard this last year in Scripture and in sermons.
May we make our plans for the new year but hold them lightly, always ready to discover our real ministry and the glory of God in life’s inevitable interruptions.
May we, in the words of Episcopal poet Mary Oliver, be dazzled at least ten times a day.
May we listen to the heartbeat of God in the redwood trees, in the candlelit silence of Compline, in Centering Prayer, in the spiritual treasures of Celtic Christianity, in the music from our organ and choir, in the person sitting beside you, in our friends and loved ones who are sick and suffering, and in the bread and wine made holy so that our heart can slowly become God’s heart.
May we learn to repent as individuals, as a nation, and as Christians, as we walk the way of the cross; and may we experience, with St. Patrick, the presence of Christ before us, behind us, beneath us, above us, and within us.
May we discover our heavenly identity in Christ and learn, in the provocative words of Jesuit theologian Teilhard de Chardin, that “we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
May we, like St. Columba of Iona, let go of what needs to be released and hold on to what needs to be embraced, including God’s promise of new beginnings.
May we practice hospitality, with a slice of humble pie; and may we bask in the delight of a God who loves us more than we could ever imagine, who speaks to us often in the silence of our hearts and sometimes in the compassionate instincts of our gut.
May we untangle webs of unrighteousness by using our financial gifts to invest in love and friendships and community, which will last forever while monetary wealth withers away.
May we practice patience as God continues the creative work he began in us, 150 years ago.
May we lift high the cross and embody its enduring message of Christ’s self-giving love.
May we paint our lives with the vibrant colors of persistent prayer.
Knowing that the secret to joy and happiness is thanksgiving, may we cultivate an attitude of gratitude every day and every moment, as we pray the following words of the Anglican poet George Herbert: “Thou that has given so much to me, give one thing more—a grateful heart; Not thankful when it pleaseth me, as if thy blessings had spare days; But such a heart, whose pulse may be thy praise.”
May we make all God’s saints and all the faithfully departed proud of us as we join them in worship, in gratitude, in love and generosity; and as we learn to embrace the ineffable joys God has prepared for us in this life and the next.
May we rest in God’s steadfast love which never ceases and his mercies which never come to an end, which are new every morning.
May we claim the joy of the “already” and reach prayerfully in hope and longing towards the “not yet,” towards all the good things that God has prepared for us.
Finally, may God’s love that overcomes hatred, God’s life that overcomes death and God’s light that overcomes darkness be revealed through us and through our vulnerable selves as we give glory to God, follow Jesus Christ, and serve all people through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We ask all this in Christ’s Name. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 