We let go of fear this day – at least as best we can-and affirm the expansiveness of God in all our understandings. Our minds, often untrusted and restless, are sound and able to imagine so much more of ourselves, this God-infused humanity, and our world in connecting with the infinite. We gather with all seasons, all weather, all states of mind and being under the sun. We slog and slice our way through ice, rain, wind,snow and slush –amazed at the variety and volume of it all, inspired by the beauty of it all, frustrated too in our impatience with winter inconveniences.

May everyone here right now be filled with the richness of what has been; may everyone here right now be filled with renewed expectation of what may be. We are an in-between people with 2008 ebbing away and another year in its wake. May we be open to the new, the untried, the un-dared so that we might be and become creative forces for compassion and inclusion and love.

Like a trapeze artist, we are at times flying and flung between the secure handholds of our lives – in the sea of change –precariously poised with anxieties and excitement at the threshold of a new year. In our fears and anticipations, may we be mindful of the next right or best thing to do; may we be aware not so much of our smallness or single and solitary voice and inability – but rather of our strength to do something, to do anything….to do the one small thing we can do – moment to moment, hour to hour.

Today we unite our thoughts, cares, intention, hopes and prayers with those we love…those we miss, those facing their earthly end, those recovering, those battling to stay sober, the near and faraway – in this community and those on the front lines. We remember government leaders in transition - whether it be in their jockeying for position and power or thoroughly setting the stage for renewal and hope and stability. We are one; we are connected; we all share in the hopes, encouragement and anxieties of this age. Let us not engage in the turning away, but rather in a full frontal and open-eyed look at all realities and all people - in their plights and passions. We are one.

As the year and earth turn, may we be aware of our own amazing evolution and turning. And, that we are extensions of the most mystical, mysterious life-giving quality of the universe – the God of all our understandings. We humbly pause to honor the year just past and celebrate the dawning of new possibilities; we reverence all the days of our lives and the examples found in Jesus and other saints, saviors and teachers throughout history who guide us still. Amen.

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