We've come to the end again.

We've come back to the beginning.

We always need a blessing and a benediction, a challenge and a hope.

We always need to be comforted and disrupted and comforted again.

Thanks be to God who is the Father, Jesus who is the Word, and Spirit who is from the beginning.

Now receive the benediction, the blessing, the challenge and the hope.

As certainties have shaken loose this year, may you believe in your bones that the unshakable

things will remain strong in time.

And when you can't believe that, know that someone is believing on your behalf.

As the gauzy shadows of loss, of questions, of confusion or disappointment drapes low across

your soul.

May you discern the difference between a breaking apart and a breaking open to make room for

something new.

If there is absence at your table, may it be not emptiness, but may it be held space,

saving a seat for hope.

As you wait for clarity, friendship, affirmation or next steps, may God bring peace and comfort

as you hold everything up to the light.

Whether we're carrying the heaviest load or if we're counting down to something good,

a celebration, a starting over or a second chance, may we come to terms with what we've

lost, make sideways peace with what remains, and continue to trust the Word who is Jesus,

even when we're in the shadows, even when we're in the dark.

What you hold at an ending will be brought forth into every beginning, not because of

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