Oh God, you are well aware that in a world filled with holiday lights and expressions of joy, our feelings tonight are mixed. The blue lights on the tree on Town Pond are closer to our emotions than the sparkly lights on the lampposts that line our streets.
We come before you this afternoon with feelings of grief and loss and sadness, wishing our loved ones were still with us, wondering how we are going to get through Christmas — especially having just navigated Thanksgiving — without them.
Some of us are lonely. Others are exhausted. Some feel a bit guilty for feeling relieved. Most are in a bit of a daze, just taking each day one step at a time.
We come to you, this day, to remember and honor our loved ones, to decorate and bless this tree, and to be with one another, with you, and with them.
We give thanks for the staff, the volunteers, and the supporters of East End Hospice, for the thousands of people for whom they have offered care. We pray for the past, current, and future residents of the Kanas Center. We give thanks for all caregivers, spouses, friends, and others who have walked with our dear ones as they have made the transition from this life to the next. Support them in their own healing, recovery, and grief.
Though we are calling this a Christmas tree, we recognize that the use of evergreen trees is an ancient pre-Christian tradition. Trees that stay green all winter long have across many faiths been powerful symbols of the resilience of life and the presence of hope.
In the Christian Scriptures, it says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. May the lights of this tree remind us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are now shining like stars in a place of eternal life. May those who see the lights of this tree be filled with the light of those they love and be inspired to become lights themselves. May your love and blessing be on this tree, upon our loved ones, and all who are gathered here.
Let us end with a traditional prayer for the departed. God of all, we pray to you for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.