Centering (5 minutes)

This is a time to make the transition from the busy world to the group experience. A member of the group may read these words from Hymns of the Spirit, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook that was published in 1937:

O Thou who hast mercifully and patiently led us through the busy year, giving us more than we have deserved or even desired, give us at this Christmas time the grace which was in [Jesus of Nazareth]. Let the spirit of the little child, as it knocks today at the hearts of [humankind], enter our life and bless it. Let duty become touched with delight, and justice be [tempered by] love. Let our ears hear the cry of the needy, and our hearts feel the love of the unlovely. Give our hands strength to do all things graciously. Let our gifts today be not a sacrifice but a privilege, and let us accept kindness with humility. Heal the wounds of misunderstanding, jealousy, or regret, with the gentle breath of the Christmas spirit. As the old year ends, and the new year begins, grant us peace with the world, and peace in our own hearts, that those we love and those whom we may help may have sweet joy and rest. Amen.

Check-in (10 to 25 minutes)

Each person in the group has the opportunity to share something about his or her life. What significant events have taken place recently in your life? Have you accomplished something meaningful to you? Have you experienced any losses or setbacks? Have you had any insights or new ideas?

Group Discussion (45 to 70 minutes)

Our spiritual theme for this month is Advent. The traditional Christian calendar includes a preparatory season called Advent which precedes the arrival of Christmas. The stillness and darkness of the natural world at this time of the year may complement the anticipation and preparation associated with Advent. How might we cultivate a spiritual appreciation for waiting, for emptiness, for living with aspirations that are still in the process of being fulfilled?

For group discussion, please consider the questions associated with one or more of the following numbered sections. You need not address all of these sections, and you need not address them in this order.

1. Someone has said, “God grant me patience, but please hurry up!”

Do you find waiting easy or difficult? For example, how well do you handle slow traffic at rush hour or at a construction zone? Would you say that you have more patience now than you did ten years ago? Have you found ways to cultivate greater patience in your personality?

2. Advent turns waiting into a spiritual discipline. Advent suggests that intentional spiritual preparation can lead to a deeper appreciation of the stories and symbols of holidays such as Christmas. Have you been able to do this in the busy holiday season of December? If not, how would your experience of the December holiday season be different if you were able to set aside some time for spiritual preparation?

3. Unitarian Universalist minister Gary Smith wrote, “I was raised in a New England Congregational Church… . I was ordained into the United Church of Christ and professed Christ as my Lord and Savior. I served for eight years of my ministry as a Christian minister… . But somewhere in my ministry, as I preached from the Bible each and every week, I actually heard the words I was saying, and I began to doubt some of them… . At the wise old age of thirty, I knew there must be many ways to God, many ways to understand what is holy. And then Unitarian Universalism came into my life, and I knew I had found a home… . But I had also left behind the story of Jesus’ life, there in between the birth story of Christmas and the resurrection story of Easter. Jesus’ life story is a story of courage and of hard teachings and of compassion and of revolution … This is a man who waged war with the powers and principalities of his day, and who tried to turn the world upside down: The poor and the persecuted enter the kingdom, those who mourn will be comforted, the meek will get it all, those who hunger and thirst will be filled, the peacemakers will finally be recognized… . I am wondering these days what it would mean to reclaim some of my Christian background and to preach from the Social Gospel of a revolutionary Jesus.”

In what ways does Gary Smith’s spiritual journey resemble your own spiritual journey? Would you agree that the Social Gospel of a revolutionary Jesus could be a significant and appropriate source of inspiration for Unitarian Universalists?

4. What have you found helpful with regard to living with aspirations that are still in the process of being fulfilled? How do you maintain energy for a project that may take six months, or six years? How do you maintain energy for working on a social justice initiative – racial justice, for example – that may not be accomplished until many years after your lifetime?

5. In her poem “Chanukkah,” Unitarian Universalist minister Lynn Ungar wrote:

Come down from the hills.
Declare the fighting done.
Be bold – declare victory,
even when the temple is wrecked
and the tyrants have not retreated,
only coiled back like a snake
prepared to strike again.

Come down. Try to remember
a life gentled by daily acts
of domestic faith – the pot
set to boil, the bed made up,
the table set in calm expectation
that when the sun sets
we will still be here.

Come down and settle.
Unlearn the years of hiding.
Light fires that can be seen for miles,
that dance and spark and warm
the frozen marrow. Set lamps
in the window. Declare your presence,
your loyalties, the truths
for which you do not expect to have to die.

It would take a miracle, you say,
to carve such a solid life
out of the shell of fear.
I say you are the stuff
from which such miracles are made.

What do you find meaningful in these words?

Conclusion (5 to 10 minutes)

What will you take away from this discussion? What would have made this time together more meaningful or satisfying to you? What did you enjoy? The entire group may share this responsive reading from Unitarian Universalist minister Robert Eller-Isaacs:

For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For falling short of the admonitions of the spirit

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For losing sight of our unity

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.

For those and for so many acts both evident and subtle which have fueled the illusion of separateness

We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love.