Fear not, the angels would text me. Hallelujah, I’d write back.

Pause here, and be renewed and restored.

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

December seventh, "Eight Candles" (1970). Malvina Reynolds was a 20th century Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, socialist, songwriter, and performer who is best known for her song “Little Boxes.” In 1970 she recorded the Hanukkah Song “Eight Candles.” It has since become a holiday favorite.

Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.

May we continue to find ways to connect while keeping safe this holiday season.

Each Advent, my empathy for Mary’s situation returns.

The stories remind us there is still and always joy in this world, but it usually comes right alongside the struggle.

This is a "love saves" story.

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

Minister: At this time, we would like to introduce a special ritual. The holidays can be an especially poignant time of year. Alongside the joy in these present moments, we may recall fond memories of past celebrations with our loved ones....

[Written for two voices, here set for Worship Association (WA) and Minister (M)] WA: Perhaps some here have outgrown mystery. Maybe you have doubts about Santa, Or have forgotten the magic of a newborn child. M: One might easily lose touch with awe, In the struggle to do it all, Or simply to...

Every year, I tell the congregation not to worry about mistakes because there aren’t any; there is only us, telling an old story about love getting born into this aching world.

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.

In real life, sometimes grief looms largest in December. Sometimes there's one too many dress-ups and the gold tulle makes your legs itch. “I just needed it to stop for a minute. Next time I will take calm breaths.”

Each week until Christmas, we light a new candle on the Advent wreath, a circle of evergreens.

Once upon a time, a baby was born. Even before that baby was born, there were people waiting and wishing and hoping for that baby. The people who were waiting and wishing and hoping for that baby didn’t know exactly what that baby would be like. And so, they wondered: Would the baby have a smile...

It’s been said that it’s easier to untangle a string of lights if you plug them in; it’s no different for people. Humans, just like strings of lights, are wired for connection.

We lean in expectation into all that is being born in us at this Holy time of the year...

An adequate Christmas would have you calm and open, taking it in, accepting whatever is. Slow it all down like you might be, in some way, attuned to the pace of the Eternal. If you need, you can fake it at first.