We light this chalice, here in the darkness of winter as we wait.

Love this world, she whispers.

Darkness is as important as light.

December seventh, "Eight Candles" (1970). Malvina Reynolds was a 20th century Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, socialist, songwriter, and performer who is best known for her song “Little Boxes.” In 1970 she recorded the Hanukkah Song “Eight Candles.” It has since become a holiday favorite.

Grief is welcome, a sacred part of the mourning.

[Written for two voices, here set for Worship Association (WA) and Minister (M)] WA: Perhaps some here have outgrown mystery. Maybe you have doubts about Santa, Or have forgotten the magic of a newborn child. M: One might easily lose touch with awe, In the struggle to do it all, Or simply to...

Everything is about to change. And it already has. It will be. It was. It is. The dawn you eagerly await to end the long, cold darkness is already full sun far off in the east. Yet even after light’s return spring is months away. Thirty long years pass after His birth before the Messiah comes.

An adequate Christmas would have you calm and open, taking it in, accepting whatever is. Slow it all down like you might be, in some way, attuned to the pace of the Eternal. If you need, you can fake it at first.

As December opens up before us, we welcome in the gift of reflection.

This hymn text was written to accompany the tune St. Louis, commonly known as "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (#246 in Singing the Living Tradition). O Holy Darkness, loving Womb, who nurtures and creates, sustain us through the longest night with dreams of open gates....

I am always in a bit of a shock when December 1st arrives on the calendar. I always feel like there should be at least another week beyond Thanksgiving before I can even contemplate the next holiday....

Sheet Music (PDF) - In the darkness of the winter, quiet hearts beneath the sky, we are waiting for the daystar and a holy newborn’s cry. Friends and family here have gathered, gathered here from near and far, sharing hearts and...

December twenty-fourth, The Flaming Chalice (1965). The Unitarian Service Committee adopted the flaming chalice as their logo in 1941. Years later, in 1965, at the West Shore Church in Cleveland, OH the youth led a Christmas service opened by ritually lighting a chalice....

December twenty-third, “O Holy Night” (1855). The first English translation of "O Holy Night" was by Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight, who tweaked the original French author's socialist themes and images to advance Dwight's own abolitionist cause. Not only was the French author a...

December twenty-second, The First Unitarian Church Founded in Transylvania (1557). Despite recognition under the 1557 Act of Religious Toleration and receiving the king's patronage, the Unitarian church in Transylvania has faced frequent persecution....

December twenty-first, the Winter Solstice. (The point along the Earth’s annual solar orbit when the northern hemisphere is at its furthest point from the sun). The last harvest of the year is celebrated shortly before the Winter Solstice. In ancient times people would feast knowing the months...

December twentieth, first of Elliot’s Ariel Poems, “The Journey of the Magi” (1927). "Magi" is Unitarian T. S. Eliot’s first of 5 Christmas poems published after his ambivalent choice to join the Anglican church. Many believe that Eliot's feelings about his new church are reflected by the...

December nineteenth, "The Many Moods of Christmas” (1963). Robert Shaw was best known as the conductor of his namesake Chorale. In its day, "Many Moods of Christmas" was the quintessential sound of the season. Even today, the album sells well around the holidays and choirs continue to perform it...

December eighteenth, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (1962). Amid the anxiety of the Cuban missile crisis, Unitarian Noel Regney wrote the text for “Do You Hear What I Hear?” as a protest song. The music was composed by his then-wife, Gloria Shayne Baker. The song's allusions to the Bible stories of...

December Seventeenth, Rod Serling’s Christmas Specials (1963). Though Jewish, Rod Serling always loved Christmas (maybe because his birthday was December twenty-fifth). He became a Unitarian Universalist while in college and later joined the Unitarian Community Church of Santa Monica. He wrote...