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| Image by Mark O' Cúlar |
A GREETING
Let my prayer rise up, like incense before you,
the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.
(Psalm 141:2, as adapted in Holden Evening Prayer)
A READING
Why is one day more important than another,
when all the daylight in the year is from the sun?
By God’s wisdom they were distinguished,
and God appointed the different seasons and festivals.
Some days God exalted and hallowed,
and some God made ordinary days.
All human beings come from the ground,
and humankind was created out of the dust.
In the fullness of God's knowledge God distinguished them
and appointed their different ways.
Some God blessed and exalted,
and some God made holy and brought near.
(Sirach 33:7-12)
MUSIC
Today's music is the whole of Holden Evening Prayer.
Music and lyrics are provided on the screen for you to sing along.
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
And the people of the Lord Most High offered their prayers before the Merciful One,
until the order of worship of the Lord was ended, and they completed the ritual.
(Sirach 50:19)
A POEM
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- The Peace of All Things by Wendell Berry
VERSE FOR THE DAY
I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches hidden in secret places,
so that you may know that it is I, the Lord God,
who calls you by your name.
(Isaiah 45:3)
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A moulting red deer allows jackdaws to comb out its excess fur to build nests.
Video by Lawrence Chatton, @lawrencechatton, found on @birds_perfection on Instagram.
Today we begin the slow return of increasing daylight. For the ancient Celtic people, the solstice marked the beginning of a new year, nine days before the western calendar begins a new year. The church marks the change of year on Advent 1. And the Eastern Orthodox will mark it on January 14th. In diverse cultures and traditions, the days and weeks leading to the solstice offer a chance to review the past year, let it go, and commit to a new year of new beginnings.
Ritual plays an important role in the way in which we mark the transitions of our lives, from the mundane to the profound. We have small habitual rituals around getting up and going to bed. We have family rituals to mark certain holidays of the year. In our church lives, we have weekly worship, and the special events in the seasons of the church calendar. These rituals help keep us connected to our faith and to those faithful who have come before us.
At Newgrange, Ireland, there is a cairn that is approximately 5000 years old. Built in 3200 BCE by ancient Celtic people, its stone walls and slender opening have been precisely measured for the sun to fill its small space at the first moment of its rising on the day of the solstice. These days, people join a lottery for a chance to stand inside the small space and witness that first moment of the sun on the solstice.
In English, the word 'ritual' is hidden inside 'spiritual.' Holden Evening Prayer is a short evening ritual that was created by Marty Haugen for the Holden Village community in the mid 1980s. It meditates on the movement between day and night, and the shifting of light. You are encouraged to sing along with the video today, and discover that ritual experience. Although it was conceived as an evening service, It can be sung at any time of the day as a way of reminding ourselves of the rich relationship between light and darkness.
How will you deepen your understanding of holy darkness and holy light on this second day of the sun's return in the northern hemisphere? How will you renew your commitment to your own faith rituals?
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| Newgrange, Ireland. Image by Daniel Mennerich. Click on the image credit to learn more historical detail about this monument. |
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LC† Come Holy Darkness is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help to support extended offerings throughout the year.
Thank you and peace be with you!