The 7th Day of Christmas. A Blessing at the turn of the year

May you walk into this night "by gracious powers wonderfully sheltered" as Bonhoeffer has it in his hymn sung from the rubble.

Surrounded by such true and gentle powers.
So wondrously consoled and without fear,
Thus will I spend with you these final hours
And then together enter a new year.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dear fellow pilgrim,

With this image of the moon gazing over our Moravian star at yesterday’s dawn we greet you one last time this year from our home in Minnesota. Today we woke up to a soft blanket of snow and a sky heavy with more white to come (so no moon this last dawn of the year).

Today I offer you a blessing which has become for us a tradition here at our 12 Days of Christmas Contemplations. It borrows from the tradition of the “watch night” service I grew up with. These services have probably been started by the Moravians in Germany around 1732 as a service at the end of the year. Ever since I can remember, the consoling words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer have eased for me these hours where the old and the new year meet.