Holiday Video Script 

Beloveds, 

As we enter into our holiday season once again, I am suffused with gratitude for all of the ways that UUs have been living their faith boldly in the past year –in your congregation’s ministries, in worship on Sundays, during our historic Climate Justice Revival last September, and in sharing our values with voters across the United States through UU the Vote. These and other faith practices form a counter-cultural resistance that is needed desperately in these times. My prayer is that all of us will reflect on what our faith asks of us in these days and respond accordingly in community.  

Life in community is not always easy, and periodically we are asked to reassess our commitments, deepen our engagement with our values, and move forward together in new ways, as we did when we adopted the new language for our Shared Values at General Assembly in June. Those Values, of Equity, Transformation, Pluralism, Justice, Interdependence, and Generosity, all centered around Love, move our living tradition forward to promote liberation, radical inclusion, and communal care both within our congregations and across society. Our work to promote dignity, to recognize and celebrate the worthiness of all - that faithful labor lives at the heart of most holiday teachings.   

Unitarian Universalism has long worked to be more whole, more inclusive, and more reflective of communities that have experienced harm and oppression – BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities, in particular. We will continue to advance these goals by creating models of communal care and collaborative leadership that center those most impacted by the trials of this time. As we respond to ongoing election-related instability and dismay, and catastrophic ongoing violence across the globe, I, along with your hardworking UUA staff, continue to encourage congregations and leaders to center the leadership and wisdom of those directly impacted by identity-based violence and exclusion, and to prioritize the protection of the most vulnerable.   

These are heartbreaking and uncertain times, and this moment needs us – people of faith who put love at the center, work boldly to widen the circle so that all might feel that expansive love that held us for so many generations, and do it all with a commitment to communal care. As we gather for holiday celebrations with friends and family and our wider communities, may we carry with us a sense of love, communal care and connection. May we cherish moments of joy and pleasure among those we love, and may we continue to connect with those who struggle with isolation and loneliness during the holidays. May we reflect on our renewed commitments to justice and compassion in 2025 together.  

Wherever you are and however you mark the coming holidays of Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year, and more, I send you my love and I send you good wishes from all of us at your Unitarian Universalist Association. 

Be well, Beloveds.