Here’s a hymn text I wrote a few years ago, offering it here for winter solstice today. When I started my ministry career as a parish pastor, in a yoked parish in southern Delaware, I learned to love this hymn tune, Foundation. But I always felt that there was a dearth of Advent hymns. So, thinking of darkness and light and healing, I wrote these words for the tune. (it’s posted on the national United Methodist Church website, but it takes a lot of maneuvering to find it!)
In the Still of the Winter
- In the still of the winter, the dark of the year,
there’s a watching and waiting for God to come near.
My heart, like a traveler who’s lost in the night,
feels a yearning for comfort, and longing for light.
- From the silence of evening, from shadow and sleep,
comes a numinous star like a voice from the deep.
How long must I wander, how far must I roam?
I am here, I am with you, and I’ll lead you home.
- I am here in the stars, in the dark of the night.
I am always within you, and I am the light.
I am who I am, sings the God of my soul.
In your waiting and hope I am making you whole.
Suggested Tune: FOUNDATION
12.12.11.12 (529, United Methodist Hymnal)
Sung slowly, meditatively.