God who created the sun that gives us light and the plants who turn that light into energy, we give you thanks! Incarnate God who came to table, we give you thanks! Holy Spirit who fills us with wonder, we give you thanks!
Amen.

As we near the end of this Advent Journey, I invite you to pause...here in the fulcrum of the year: this turning point. This is the place where what has been gives over to what is becoming. We have walked, faithfully to Bethlehem, into the night of the year, and this is our turning around point. Dr. Alexander J. Shaia teaches that the goal of any pilgrimage is merely a turning around point: the point at which the good that was started along the Pilgrim's way is worked out in you. For out Advent Journey, Christmas is not the goal, it is the turn around point.

As the northern hemisphere gathers itself today for its long, slow return to daylight, we are captivated by this moment of return. We have journeyed once again. Now, let us begin the hard work of living out the change that the road will make.

We confess in our plenty or in our lack we have not remembered Jesus the Christ. We confess that we have turned our backs on the hungry. We confess that we spoken of scarcity in the presence of an abundant God.

This Advent Journey has been a strange one. It has been marked by fear of the stranger and isolation. We have faced uncertainly and death and frustration. Our loved ones are best loved from afar, and video chatting is just not the same as a warm hug. This has, indeed, been a strange road to Bethlehem.

Many years, we wonder if we will be changed by the moment in which we live. This year, we know we are different. This year, the natal star will shine on a night that is a bit more silent than usual.

But, you are not alone. You are called forth into being by love. Love that was not set down gently, but birthed. Through the maternal water and blood, love's first cry filled a night haunted by uncertainty and death and frustration. The agony of birth is harnessed to fierce joy. May you find the courage to turn around and walk, fiercely into the morning.

May the blessing of the incarnation be embodied in you, and may you find strength in knowing that God created you in love.
Amen