Blessing of Evergreens.

The Blessing of the Evergreens.

The blessing should happen after nearly all deciduous trees are bare.  The people gather outdoors near a prominent evergreen tree.

We come to the time of bare trees.

Branches shaking stiffly in the pale air 

and whistling in the cold wind.

The leaves have turned brown and dried up,

falling to the earth,

disintegrating into the soil. 

The trees have gone dormant,

their life hidden within,

waiting for the stronger light of resurrection.

And yet some trees refuse to go into the cold unadorned.

Some trees brazenly shine a continued hope 

into the barren, gray landscape.

Some trees stubbornly stay green

even into the dead of winter.

Some trees refuse to surrender

to a season of indifference and hostility.

God has placed these trees among us as a sign.

A sign of life.

A memory of warm abundance and joy.

A sign of hope.

An anticipation of the distant spring.

A sign of abiding.

A bold act of resistance.

We call them “evergreen.”

The Light shines in the darkness

and the darkness did not overcome it.

The green persists in the cold

and the cold does not overwhelm it.

The icy darkness of bigotry, vulgarity, hatred, exclusion, and fear

cannot overcome Christ’s warm light of compassion, justice, peace, and welcome.

In the face of a harsh season:

some stay green.

In this season of waiting

as the darkness deepens

as the colors drain from the world

fading into the grays of winter:

We lift up the evergreen.

Pine, fir, cedar, holly, ivy, juniper, hemlock, 

spruce, cypress, rhododendron.…

We give thanks to the Creator

for the witness of the evergreens.

We cut and distribute sprigs of evergreen.

God of Life and Light:

you fashioned this Earth in love

and placed among us in nature

reminders of your abiding Presence.

Your life shines through your creation

and every living thing points to you.

Your Word echoes in everything you breathed into being.

So today we lift up in recognition

our sister and brother evergreen trees

whom you place among us as a reminder

that in your economy nothing is ever lost.

Life always remains.

Love always wins.

Keep us ever green as well, O God,

ever witnessing to the power of your verdant love

shining in all you have made.

Amen.

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