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....

Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless. Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem. On this night, when the darkness comes so close, We listen in the stillness for the songs of angels. Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening. We don't know why we are so expectant. We don't know...

Your first Christmas, your last Christmas, this Christmas, and the redemption of the whole world are all happening right now, forever.

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...

A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. ~ Matthew 2:18 I read those words aloud from the pulpit once a year, on Christmas Eve: a night when we celebrate the birth of hope and possibility and...

Like those shepherds who were on the hillsides with their flocks, like those wise ones in their observatories with their telescopes and astronomical charts, we find our daily work interrupted by these holidays. Like them, we can’t keep on working, we have to listen to singing angels, we have to...

Please join me in a spirit of prayer or meditation as you are moved. Blessed and holy night, silent night, full of truths too awesome to bend into words, we sit in the glow of ages, wound round stories that teach us some of what it means to be human, and some of what it means to see God. The...

‘Tis the Season . . . of advertisers run amok and ambitions amplified beyond belief . . . of Martha Stewart moments mixed with desert island dreams . . . when even the most dedicated holiday-hopper admits perfection isn’t possible and “good enough” is how the season ought to be. ‘Tis the...

This prayer was originally spoken while lighting candles in the following way: Begin with only the Chalice light in the sanctuary (no artificial lights). Light the first candle from the Chalice, and read the first part of the prayer....

On a foggy Christmas Eve, Santa realized Rudolph could make the difference in guiding the sleigh.

Emmanuel means "God is with us." Who is your Emmanuel? Who is your "God is with us," the one you were promised, the one you have been waiting for? For the ancient prophet Isaiah, he was a boy soon to be born who would guide the people of Judah back to peace and harmony with God....

Trees of Earth let bud your leaves let them open wide let them gently fall in annual cycle. Let fallen leaves make soft bed for Jesus at his birth and may leafy humus make renewal of our humanity....

Space-hanging Earth, fragile as a Christmas babe delicate as a Christmas Tree ornament: nurture us as a mother nurtures children, like Mary nursing Jesus. Forgive our hurtful ways. Help us to fairer sharing. And so may you sustain all earth's children and all earth's beings even your Earthly self...

No one is ever really ready for Christmas....

Let us join our hearts and minds together in the spirit of meditation and prayer. May these moments of quiet lead us to the heart of the season, which is peace. May we breathedeeply of peace in this quiet place, relax into its warmth, know we are safe here, and let us open our hearts to the...

Not gold, nor myrrh, nor even frankincense would I have for you this season, but simple gifts, the ones that are hardest to find, the ones that are perfect, even for those who have everything (if such there be). I would (if I could) have for you the gift of courage, the strength to face the...

Great Rainbow Arch your bright light your seven colours your cool dew link sky and earth above the Christmas stable. Hold us all in your encompassing arms. Forgive our exclusion of others earth and life and child. So may we too forgive those who have excluded us. Save us from the darkness of deep...

We are in the midst of the season of celebration. Celebrations: Of the birth of new hope, Of the festival of lights, Of the triumph of freedom. The darkness of the year is lifting and the time of light grows longer. We have gathered with an anticipation of hope for peace on earth and in our homes.

Now is the moment of magic, when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun....

When I was a child, the day after Thanksgiving was steeped in ritual. Every year my family would travel to Chicago for the holiday festivities. Our tour was always the same: We'd tromp up and down Michigan Ave., admiring store windows with animated mechanical dolls that served as actors for the...