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Inspiration for this litany is drawn from the texts for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, Year C.
God, we are becoming more mature,
More capacious in our inward hearts,
Able to bear witness to our hardships and sorrow,
But still keep hold of gratitude and joy.
We know that a great deal of inner space and nuance is required,
If we want to be happy and healthy in these times.
Y’all, I couldn’t decide which Lectionary Proper to focus on for this litany, so I drew from all 3! Hence the more-than-usual number of citations.
The final (not penultimate, just the last left to discuss here. Some of us have to repeat stages here and there, hello) stage of grief is Acceptance. In acceptance we, at least temporarily, move into a place of non-resistance to our reality, and from here we find that we can actually function, do some good, find some relief, move forward with building a life in the New Normal.
And what’s the New Normal that Christ points us to? Now that we have done all this preparation in Advent; now that we’ve let ourselves feel sorrow and grief, and taken a hard look at our world and our own responses to it? How will we live now?
What we longed for has arrived. With the arrival of Christ - this cohesive force, gathering up all the world's suffering and pronouncing it No Longer Necessary; showing us a different way to be in the world, new structures and systems available for imaginative people - we are looking at a New Normal.
So the question for us is: Will we live in the New Normal that Christ points out for us? Or will we revert back to living in our old ways, our old harmful structures, re-living our pain and trauma in a loop? Will the Word, as John calls the Christ, become flesh among us? And will we enter into the joy, gladness, and gratitude offered to us in the world that Christ envisions and embodies?
I hope we will. Merry Christmas, friends.
God, at times we become so identified with our pain
That we can’t even imagine a different experience.
We hold onto trauma and suffering like a life-raft,
Thinking it will take us somewhere we haven’t been before.
See also “Litany for Simeons and Annas”
Friends, this is the final litany of 2020. You'll see one for New Year's here in the next couple days, and I'll post Second Sunday After Christmas (Jan 3) soon also. Then I'm going into hibernation for a couple weeks :)
Thank you all for being on this liturgy journey with me during this crazy year. Y'all keep me going.
Now, in the fullness of time,
God has sent the Christ (1).
The Christ has been born into the world,
And into our hearts,
And his imagination goes out everywhere
Bringing salvation and redemption,
Goodness and praise (2),
Healing and blessing. ..
This Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day litany is based in Isaiah 9 and Luke 2.
And now…Now the angel has brought us good news of great joy,
Which shall be for all people (1).
Now the incarnation of God has arrived (2),
Sharing in the Divine Image.
Now the grace of God has appeared,
Bringing salvation to all (3).
This year's Christmas litany is perhaps more poetic and abstract than others I've supplied. I like to lean into the poetry and metaphor of the major holy days. If your community is not down to poeticize, you can peruse my selection of Christmas litanies from prior years. But I hope you'll use your imagination and go with me here to a silent night filled with feminine energy and imagery, love and light finding embodiment and beginning in a human woman's belly.
Christmas blessings to you and your community.
Silent night.
A feminine hollow
Filled with Divinity,
Demonstrating humanity’s worth.
Today I’m offering my patreon subscribers an extra-special Christmas litany. If you’d like to get extra content from me, you can join the fun on Patreon for less than the price of a latte!
And if you haven’t ordered yourself (or your pastor, priest, worship leader, small group leader, or bestie) a copy of THE BOOK, there’s still time to get it before Christmas.
cheers y’all,
Fran