In this season of holidays and holy days, many of us gather to share sacred and traditional rituals that reconnect us with community and mark important moments in our lives. Rituals at this time of year, from Kwanzaa and Christmas, Hanukkah and Solstice and New Year’s - these celebrations and more - connect us to the strength of our history and ancestors, inspire us with hope for what is possible, and remind us of passage of time and tradition over generations. 

This season can be a time of both joy and sorrow. Memories of loved ones and loss can be especially present in these days. The feeling of “forced cheer” can also have the opposite effect.  And let’s just be honest that we come to the close of another year marked by loss, by pandemic, by war and violence and with so much still on the line - from our planet to our human rights.

One of my favorite rituals from my own growing up in a Unitarian Universalist family that celebrated Christmas is singing carols. And my favorite Christmas hymn is “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” written by Unitarian minister Edmund Hamilton Sears. 

The song imagines a chorus of angels hovering over the earth, always singing to a weary world  “Peace on the earth, to all good will.” But humanity never hears the song through the sounds of war and strife and thousands of years of wrong. The hymn ends, imagining the day when humanity will stop our acts of war and wrong, and then finally, in the stillness, we will hear the song, and then humanity will join voices to sing back that song that now the angels sing. 

For me, this song captures the essence of beauty and peace that is possible, that is present, if we might tune our hearts to listen. That rather than perfecting the world, recognizing that there is a peace and goodwill among us waiting to be revealed if we would listen.  

This holiday season invites us to be present and attuned to the blessings and wonders of life around us - to family, friends, community, to sun and moon, to the trees and animals, to the rivers and the seas, to all of the beauty of this planet, and the goodness and compassion in the human heart. Let us all make time in this season to pause, to nurture love and care for each other. And to find joy in the many gifts we already have and the peaceful moments wherever we find them. 

Happy holidays to you all. May you be loved and held in light. Blessings to you all.