From Your Minister

Dear Ones,

As we move into December and further into the darkness, we find ourselves confronted with a tension or a contradiction between ways of being. Society – the human world – seems to beckon and draw us to ever more busyness, being with ever more people, and ever greater commercialism. At the same time, the natural world is inviting us to come into the darkness with it. It’s inviting us to times of quiet and meditation. To times where we move more deeply into our own spirits and explore our relationship with Mystery, our December theme.

Sometimes, feeling the pull of these two, we feel caught between them, not knowing which one to move towards, where to deepen, where to build relationships, where our spirits will be nourished. Sometimes we need the quiet dark, the stillness, to deepen our relationship with Mystery and with ourselves. And sometimes we need companionship and community to find new ways of experiencing Mystery and learning ourselves.

This month we’ll be practicing welcoming, hospitality, and homecoming; nourishing our resilience as a community; and practicing care and compassion (our 2023-24 vision of ministry) in many ways. We’ll be creating spaces for those who are having a hard time with the holidays at a special vespers service on December 6, celebrating winter Solstice on December 22, and joining together in two Christmas Eve services at 10 am and 9 pm on December 24. We’ll also have a special performance from Gamelan Pawisik on December 2, some other musical community-building opportunities, be continuing our monthly Free Lunch Program meal and other social justice offerings, and be engaging in discernment about our congregation’s journey at the December 17 congregational meeting.

As we move into December, into the darkness, may we hold the two poles of quiet and companionship in delicate and creative tension. May you, may we find ways of being together that help us deepen and connect even as we allow ourselves to be nourished by the quiet darkness. May we deepen in our relationship with mystery as the darkness grows. May we find in the deep stillness what our spirits need, individually and as a community.

Love and Blessings,

Rev. Diana