Reflection
December isn’t only about Christmas. It is also about the Winter Solstice, when light begins to grow again; it is the last weary lap in the year’s calendar until we reach the eve of a new year; and it holds numerous other festivals in world faiths. I mark personal anniversaries in December: of my wedding, and of my late sister-in-law’s birthday. You probably have your own commemorations.
Yet there is a mystique about Christmas that marks it out. Whether it derives from childhood memories of mysterious parcels beneath a decorated tree, later experiences of familiar carols sung by candlelight, or a belief in the Doctrine of the Incarnation (or all these) is difficult to determine. The cultural chain of memory unites with our own repeated experiences to tell us that Christmas is not just another day in December.
The Nativity Story is one that most of us have known ever since we can remember. At its heart, for me, is the message that the Divine is with us even when we are at our most helpless and vulnerable, and that God’s constant wish for us is peace and joy, however often we lose the plot and forget our lines. There is something very special about that.
Kay Millard
December isn’t only about Christmas. It is also about the Winter Solstice, when light begins to grow again; it is the last weary lap in the year’s calendar until we reach the eve of a new year; and it holds numerous other festivals in world faiths. I mark personal anniversaries in December: of my wedding, and of my late sister-in-law’s birthday. You probably have your own commemorations.
Yet there is a mystique about Christmas that marks it out. Whether it derives from childhood memories of mysterious parcels beneath a decorated tree, later experiences of familiar carols sung by candlelight, or a belief in the Doctrine of the Incarnation (or all these) is difficult to determine. The cultural chain of memory unites with our own repeated experiences to tell us that Christmas is not just another day in December.
The Nativity Story is one that most of us have known ever since we can remember. At its heart, for me, is the message that the Divine is with us even when we are at our most helpless and vulnerable, and that God’s constant wish for us is peace and joy, however often we lose the plot and forget our lines. There is something very special about that.
Kay Millard
A Poem to Think About . . .
The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach
pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement
through everything we’ve made
a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
stripping the sacred from everywhere
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway,
its questions,
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend
God isn’t the easiest thing
in this Universe
available to every soul
in every breath.
By Chelan Harkin, in the poetry book 'Susceptible to Light'
Submitted by Peter Hawkins
The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach
pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement
through everything we’ve made
a hard commitment to see as ordinary,
stripping the sacred from everywhere
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway,
its questions,
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend
God isn’t the easiest thing
in this Universe
available to every soul
in every breath.
By Chelan Harkin, in the poetry book 'Susceptible to Light'
Submitted by Peter Hawkins
For Younger Members of Any Age
We are lucky if we can enjoy Christmas with family and friends. But Christmas is also a time when we remember those who are especially in need. If you were sending a Christmas card to a child who has come to England as a refugee at Christmastime, what would you say to them?
We are lucky if we can enjoy Christmas with family and friends. But Christmas is also a time when we remember those who are especially in need. If you were sending a Christmas card to a child who has come to England as a refugee at Christmastime, what would you say to them?
Moon Landing
We went to see the Museum of the Moon’s display in Bath Abbey on the evening after the opening. A massive and accurate model of the Moon, lit from inside, hangs over the central crossing. In the background, some sound-tracks from the Apollo 11 mission. It is quite wonderful, awe-inspiring in fact, and it was lovely to see the Abbey in use as a civic and cultural centre. Lucy and Toby went up the tower to see the night sky with Bath Astronomers. I would love to have gone up too but high towers with tiny steps don't appeal to me.
It was a clear night, a very bright Moon (the one in the sky) with great views through the powerful telescopes of the moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, and Uranus, a planet of particular significance for Bath as it was from his observatory in the city that William Herschel, assisted by his sister Caroline, discovered the planet. I'd recommend The Moon in the Abbey if you can visit, especially one of the evening openings.
Tim Powell
We went to see the Museum of the Moon’s display in Bath Abbey on the evening after the opening. A massive and accurate model of the Moon, lit from inside, hangs over the central crossing. In the background, some sound-tracks from the Apollo 11 mission. It is quite wonderful, awe-inspiring in fact, and it was lovely to see the Abbey in use as a civic and cultural centre. Lucy and Toby went up the tower to see the night sky with Bath Astronomers. I would love to have gone up too but high towers with tiny steps don't appeal to me.
It was a clear night, a very bright Moon (the one in the sky) with great views through the powerful telescopes of the moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, and Uranus, a planet of particular significance for Bath as it was from his observatory in the city that William Herschel, assisted by his sister Caroline, discovered the planet. I'd recommend The Moon in the Abbey if you can visit, especially one of the evening openings.
Tim Powell
All I Want for Christmas
This is a time of year when we ask – and are asked – what do you want? Shall it be another tie, a new pair of gloves, a book? We ask and we answer. We shop, we wrap, we ship. And the season usually comes and goes without us ever really answering the question: What do you want?
Some of the things we want we might be afraid to ask for because we can’t be sure what we would do if we got them. Many things we want we don’t know enough to ask for. Most things we can’t ask for because we know no one can give them to us.
Most people ask the question without any interest in really knowing, yet it can be a question for each of us to hold on to for a time in mind and heart. What do we want? Not what would we like, but what do we want to give us a deeper connection with life and to help us give expression to our love? Not a long list of things, but a sense of clarity that illuminates what it is we are doing and why. Not outward signs of generosity, but an internal sense of caring that guides us to give in any season. Not just the reflex of always giving, but also the courage to truly answer some of those people who ask us, “What do you want?”
Dare to answer. Think of the things you want, and the things that others close to you would want. Imagine the ways they might be given and received.
What do you want?
By David S. Blanchard, UUA Minister
From “A Temporary State of Grace”
This is a time of year when we ask – and are asked – what do you want? Shall it be another tie, a new pair of gloves, a book? We ask and we answer. We shop, we wrap, we ship. And the season usually comes and goes without us ever really answering the question: What do you want?
Some of the things we want we might be afraid to ask for because we can’t be sure what we would do if we got them. Many things we want we don’t know enough to ask for. Most things we can’t ask for because we know no one can give them to us.
Most people ask the question without any interest in really knowing, yet it can be a question for each of us to hold on to for a time in mind and heart. What do we want? Not what would we like, but what do we want to give us a deeper connection with life and to help us give expression to our love? Not a long list of things, but a sense of clarity that illuminates what it is we are doing and why. Not outward signs of generosity, but an internal sense of caring that guides us to give in any season. Not just the reflex of always giving, but also the courage to truly answer some of those people who ask us, “What do you want?”
Dare to answer. Think of the things you want, and the things that others close to you would want. Imagine the ways they might be given and received.
What do you want?
By David S. Blanchard, UUA Minister
From “A Temporary State of Grace”
And Last but not Least
A Very Happy Christmas and New Year to Everyone
A Very Happy Christmas and New Year to Everyone
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