Longest Night Service for Sacred Space 2021

Longest Night Service Sacred Space 2021 CALL TO WORSHIP In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth.

In him was life, and that life was the light for humanity.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overcome it.

OPENING PRAYER Let us pray together Holy God, whose creation includes darkness and light, be with us, in each one of our situations; live among us, live with us and in us; fill the distances that divide and separate us; reconcile us with You and with one another.

Open our hearts to the mystery of your love and the invitation of your grace. Let our complacency give way to conversion. Let our judgments give way to compassionate acceptance of others. Turn oppression to justice and transform conflict to peace.

You who are the light of the world, be light in our darkness. Amen.

A READING Reader: A reading from Genesis Reader: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Reflection: what has your experience of seasonal darkness been like? Is there an invitation to experience it in a new way?

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PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE In the darkness before creation, you made all that lives and breathes.

In the darkness of Mary’s womb, you formed Jesus, bringer of light.

In the darkness of our world your spirit sustains us.

O God, you are with us in darkness and in light.

Under the cover of darkness, Magi followed the star to the Christ-child.

We come from the East and we come from the West, following you on our different roads, following the same star to the same place.

O God, you are with us in darkness and in light.

In the stillness of the dark, we pray for all who need God’s presence in a special way— people who cannot find work, who cannot pay their bills, who have no place to live, people who are discouraged and hopeless, people who have become cynical and bitter.

O God, you are with us in darkness and in light.

We live in this world in our bodies, we rejoice in life and breath, yet when sickness or pain cripples us, we lose our bearings, we feel lost and bewildered.

We need your presence to keep us safe.

Be with those who are sick, especially _______________.

O God, you are with us in darkness and in light.

Thank you for moments of inspiration, for moments of clear vision where we see who we are and who we are meant to be, where we see where we are, and where you want us to go.

Give us courage to take the journey that you call us to, and give us strength on the road.

O God, you are with us in darkness and in light.

Your presence sustains us, help us to go from worship this morning, having seen your face, having done homage to your goodness, We are confident in the work you are doing in us and through us, for your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

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CLOSING REFLECTION L: Last night, Krista Tippet and others from the On Being project, held their second annual Midwinter Gathering on Zoom, with over 7000 people from around the world attending. Near the end of the session, Krista quoted Rainer Maria Rilke: “I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” She then asked us to ponder this question, and I’d like to ask you to do the same: What is a question you are holding as you cross the threshold from this year to the time ahead?

TIME FOR QUIET Would anyone like to share their question? It’s okay if your question doesn’t want to be shared.

CLOSING We close with a poem from Jan Richardson, “Blessing for the Longest Night” All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night.

It has practiced walking in the dark, traveling with its eyes closed, feeling its way by memory by touch by the pull of the moon even as it wanes.

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So believe me when I tell you this blessing will reach you even if you have not light enough to read it; it will find you even though you cannot see it coming.

You will know the moment of its arriving by your release of the breath you have held so long; a loosening of the clenching in your hands, of the clutch around your heart; a thinning of the darkness that had drawn itself around you.

This blessing does not mean to take the night away but it knows its hidden roads, knows the resting spots along the path, knows what it means to travel in the company of a friend.

So when this blessing comes, take its hand.

Get up.

Set out on the road you cannot see.

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This is the night when you can trust that any direction you go, you will be walking toward the dawn.

Amen. May you have a restful evening and gentle holidays.

—Jan Richardson from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

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