May all humanity be one, and we be one with them. And may we feel our kinship now with all living things, as well: with the creatures of the land and sea and sky, and feel our common bond with our Mother, the Earth we share together.

O Creative Spirit of Life, whom the people of the world call by many true names, we give thanks this day for the wonder that is all around us: for the human quest for meaning; for the poetry and myth of the human imagination; for the bright stars in the night; for the joyful sound of voices uplifted in song; for the company of friends; for the bonds of those we love.

We would be mindful, especially now, of the great pain still within our world: the loneliness, the poverty, the hunger, the disease, the injustice that yet remain. Just as in the solstice season, our globe swung back toward the light of longer days, so, too, we pray, may human history once again swing out of darkness and toward the light-- toward the light of peace and justice, reason and compassion.

We join now in the hope that in the midst of all that besets us and our world, we can yet be faithful to Life, and faithful to one another. The spirit of all the celebrations we have commemorated this season-- and other celebrations the world's people observe-- is the spirit of faith in the amazing possibilities that Life always offers unto us: possibilities of new light, new life, new freedom, new hope. May we plant the seeds of this hope deep within our souls this day. And through the winter yet before us, may we tend to these seeds, and nurture them, and care for them-- so that they, too, may come to flower like the spring that already beckons-- come to flower in those blessings we offer back to Life.

Amen.