Next Sunday, we begin our Extended Advent season at Bethlehem with the theme, Words for the Beginning. May this blessing sustain us as we watch and wait for Christ’s birth.

A Blessing for the Chaos (from Barn Geese Worship)

Word from the beginning,
you’re all about words with us,
and we pour out words to you;
love passes between us in letters.

But what do we do when our words seem tired?
Hope.
Peace.
Joy.
Love.
These words seem too worn
to support the weight of our need
in this season,
in this week,
when in the turmoil of politics,
words seem bent to breaking.

And yet.

Hope,
peace,
joy,
and love;
care,
faith,
and justice, too;
they still beckon to us,
promising more.

Word-Made-Flesh,
sanctify to us the words that will take wing
as we prepare for your coming;
words in emails,
words in texts,
words adjusted for the screen,
words printed large for faithful eyes to perceive,
words printed in outline for crayons to fill,
words spoken, strong and clear,
for straining ears to hear,
words shut up in our bones,
the Beloved’s life in us.

Spirit, teach us to trust your stirring.
Translate your words into our flesh,
into actions that inscribe
your love
onto the world.

Amen.

As we face seasons of endings and beginnings in our own lives, we carry the reminder that Jesus is our Word from the Beginning, the Alpha and Omega, our beginning and ending, the one who weeps with us and walks with us through all things.

Thanks be to God!