What follows are some poems and liturgical elements from a Longest Night worsip at Trinity South Paris ME...
“First Coming” by Madeleine L’Engle
God did not wait till the world was ready, till...nations were at peace.
God came when the Heavens were unsteady
and prisoners cried out for release.
God did not wait for the perfect time.
God came when the need was deep and great.
God dined with sinners in all their grime, turned water into wine.
God did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy God came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame,
God came and God’s Light would not go out.
God came to a world which did not mesh;
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh,
the maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
or to share our grief, to touch our pain,
God came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Prayer:
O God of all seasons and senses, grant us the sense of your timing
to submit gracefully and rejoice quietly in the turn of the seasons.
In this season of short days and long nights, of gray and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of endings;
children growing, friends leaving,
loved ones dying, grieving over,
grudges over, blaming over, excuses over.
O God, grant us a sense of your timing.
(Time for silent prayer)
In this season of short days and long nights,
of gray and white and cold,
teach us the lessons of beginnings;
that such waitings and endings may be the starting place,
a planting of seeds which bring to birth
what is ready to be born--
something right and just and different,
a new song, a deeper relationship, a fuller love--
in the fullness of your time.
O God, grant us the sense of your timing.
(From Ted Yoder, Guerrillas of Grace)
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