I am afraid and exhausted from the constant fear. I don’t know who to trust for information about the virus.

This year, the Advent season seems particularly seized by a spirit of the expected, the longing.

Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.

Spirit of life and love, We gather together in different ways this morning, From computer screens, from telephones, from car radios, We gather, reaching out across the wires, waving from a safe distance, To come together in religious community....

I’m confident in our human ability to together muscle our way into renewing our world.

Here I am, God, here I am. Here I am with the dishes in the sink, the dust on the shelves, the skin on my hands which is drying out and starting to crack. My appetite has gone, without any other bodies to remind my body of itself. I can pray for salvation but my bones know this is all there is....

We light this flame For the art of sacred unknowing. Humbled by all that we cannot fathom in this time, We come into the presence of what we do know, Perhaps the only thing we can ever know: That Love is now and forever The only answer to everything And everyone In every moment.

In a time of uncertainty, when everything around us is changing constantly— each day new developments, rising numbers, changing guidelines; when the world we live in suddenly seems upside-down and topsy-turvy: We light our chalice to remind ourselves of our grounding in our faith....

We're grateful to Linda Hirschhorn for sharing her song, created in March 2020 and inspired a Bertolt Brecht quote: "In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing about the dark times.” Linda invites your feedback...