To the New Year

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

BY W. S. MERWIN

Our own innocence

"There is a type of child-like innocence which we must not allow to be corrupted or destroyed. It is the innocence which believes that love can conquer evil; that torture is always wrong, that the earth must be cared for.
If we lose our innocence we lost our faith
And if we lose our faith there is no hope.
We are (like the Christ child) surrounded by forces that wish to massacre our innocence.
The Christ child is a sign to us of the survival, and power of that innocence and the power of love.

May these days of Christmas be times of looking outward, seeking the family which has been left outside, bringing home those who have been refugees, aliens and strangers, and looking inward to maintain and build the power of our own innocence."

protect the vulnerable and the needy.

"Here is our call, our responsibility this Christmastide and all through the year. God with us, Emmanuel, encourages us to face down the power of this world in order to protect the vulnerable and the needy. This Love made Flesh challenges us to see the face of God in each refugee, each alien, each immigrant, every stranger. The Prince of Peace calls us to look away from the comfortable and the pastoral to see the stark reality of suffering and terror in our world. We are called to see with the eyes of the Word of God – eyes which see everyone as relatives, tribal members, kin, family, equally welcomed at God's table. We are called to see those who scare us the most as those who are sought by the family of God – those who can help us all to carry the Love Incarnate to the world."

https://frsimon.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/sermon-holy-family-year-a-2013/

the possibility of surprise

The readings for this New Year's day are challenging. The Gospel in particular faces us with the reality of the cruelty of the human race and our capacity for fear and violence. Yet in the midst of that there is the promise of a Divine presence that persists and will not go away. 

The New Year season teaches us to be prepared for unexpected results – to be open to the possibility of surprise. The new year is always a mystery. But in an odd way, this new year thing is really important to us, so that we can have punctuation points in time for us to forgive and make new. We want and need new beginnings. In fact that is why I believe we celebrate it. We want new beginnings; a new start. Each year we discover that a song or prayer, long ignored, could touch us in unexpected ways; a long lost friend may turn up in the next row, and a wound that we have been carrying throughout the year, may just start to heal.  We should be prepared to face a different world, and that we must look at this world, and all her people with new and different eyes.

Rabbi Harold Kushner was stumped once when asked a question about the Torah.  He was asked, “What command is repeated more than any other in the Torah?”  Kushner thought and responded that it was the command to help the poor.  I would have thought that the answer was to remember the stranger.  We both were wrong.  The answer is: “Fear not – do not be afraid.”  God said it to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to the Israelites at the Red Sea and when they prepared for battle. Jesus repeated it endlessly to his followers. The message of New Year is: Fear not – do not be afraid.  God is here, and we are not alone, but surrounded by God’s people.  One of the lessons of the past year, is despite what so many try to tell us is that we cannot live our lives being afraid.  

The New year

A new year has begun. During this year, too, all the paths from east to west, from morning until evening, lead on and on as far as the eye can see, through the deserts of life, with all its changes. But these paths can be turned into the blessed pilgrimage to the absolute, the journey to God. Set out, my heart, take up the journey ! The star shines. You can't take much with you on the journey. And you will lose much on the way. Let it go. Gold of love, incense of yearning, myrrh of suffering – these you certainly have with you. He shall accept them. And we shall find him.

-Karl Rahner
The Great Church Year 

Green, and full of life

 

Perhaps each new year

is a reincarnation of the last,
a recycling of failed days
and disappointing moments.

Throw the left-over frustrations,

the kitchen-scrap resentments,
unwanted stinging weeds and discarded
bitter clippings of the old year
into the cosmic compost bin.
Wait, then, for gentle processes
of judgement-warmth,
grace-filled mould,
welcoming worms
and the good bacteria of forgiving decomposition,
to be made complete,
reducing unpleasant corruption
to timely dark humus.

Spread it over the naked and freshly-dug year

with a quiet prayer;
trust in the divine unfolding
of seasons, sometimes painful,
always new,
and never quite expected.

Watch with wonder and delight

as hopeful shoots emerge to be nurtured,
green, and full of life.

© Ken Rookes

How Long?

Advent’s aching cries

are answered liturgically

by Christmas’s declaration

that the Christ is born among us.

It is a momentary reply;

by New Year the complaint has been renewed

as we mark the passing and the weepings

of another twelve months.

The world still waits.

In comfortable lands people are encouraged

to make worthy resolutions

towards a better future,

usually for themselves;

while corporate and national intentions

seem incapable of positive resolve.

The wealthy still cleave to their riches

while the poor are bought and sold;

resources are hoarded;

fearful armies are marshalled and deployed;

and involuntary wanderers search in vain

for a welcoming embrace.

The planet grows warm and sad

while clever fools peddle their fearful doctrines

to ensnare their eager acolytes.

How long?

We cry once more, and again,

as we face a further fifty-two weeks

wherein our tears will swell to a flood

to carry our relaunched supplications

floating before the Almighty.

With this fragile hope we seek

that the God Who Comes will take notice;

and that our yearnings might be echoed

in divine spirit, and find substance

in our breath.

© Ken Rookes 2011