We pause on this night of mystery, to tell the stories, to sing the songs, and to bring more light into the world.

Pause here, and be renewed and restored.

We light this chalice, here in the darkness of winter as we wait.

Let us bless these candles with our tender hopes for the coming year.

Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.

The story tells of a woman heavy with child, traveling with her partner to be counted in a census declared by a distant ruler unaware of the lives disrupted or the life that is to come....

Make sure, both at Christmastime and in other times, that you ask for that which you really want.

Everything is about to change. And it already has. It will be. It was. It is. The dawn you eagerly await to end the long, cold darkness is already full sun far off in the east. Yet even after light’s return spring is months away. Thirty long years pass after His birth before the Messiah comes.

The innkeeper isn’t part of most Nativity sets. No one sings carols about innkeepers. There don’t seem to be any paintings that include them. But we can imagine the scene: Bethlehem is crowded with people coming home for the census. It’s late at night when the innkeeper responds to a knock on...

They say a story can carry a truth far greater than the literal truth. We Unitarians* know the value of stories. We know they carry truth. We know they carry more truth than just the plain truth ever can. Maybe we can’t believe a virgin gave birth to the son of God: but we can believe that all...

This prayer's author suggests that for each paragraph of the prayer, an accompanist (on piano or some other instrument) softly play the hymn that's indicated at stanza's end. For clarity, these instructions are included below....

I am always in a bit of a shock when December 1st arrives on the calendar. I always feel like there should be at least another week beyond Thanksgiving before I can even contemplate the next holiday....

Tonight in this community, we have shared stories, sung carols, opened our hearts to the beauty of music. Tonight we have turned to one another, lighting each other’s candles in the dark. Tonight we have dared to hear a message of hope spoken once again against the challenge of the world. It is...