Minister’s Message

Dear Friends,

In the midst of the business and the busy-ness of this holiday season, I invite you into rest, into quiet contemplation and reverie, if only for a few minutes. I invite you to purpose toward a time, even a very brief time, of repose.  To purpose toward repose as if it were the last batch of cookies, the final stitches in a sweater, the decisive conclusion to your pile of gifts to wrap. To rush toward repose as if it were the last TV set, the last Star Wars figurine, the last carton of eggnog on the store shelf. Rest. Quiet contemplation and reverie. You deserve such a moment, now more than ever.

You deserve such a moment as you welcome joyously all the bustle and fuss of this season. You deserve such a moment if all you want to do is settle into your blankets and pull them over your head. Whatever you feel about this season, whatever your response, give yourself a rest and partake of the true spirit of the season—the spirit of giving, compassion, and acceptance that is manifest in everything from tacky plastic toys to the most exquisite decorated cookies to the call to love reverently and tenderly the most fragile and helpless among us.

Settle into rest, and, in the words of Rev. Donna Morrison-Reed, “fill your heart like a vessel with the Christmas spirit. Take the time to let your vision clear and your concern deepen. Allow your heart to overflow with all the authentic gifts that this season has to offer. The blessings and the wealth of Christmas can overflow from each of our hearts, if we take the time to fill our hearts first. [. . .]

But let us stop the rush and allow the spirit of the season to enter our being. Let us clear our vision and deepen our concern. Let it move us away from an isolating anxiety for self to a relationship of love and care and wonder and joy with all of life around us.”

May you feel held in caring relationship, as you remember, today and especially at this complex time of year, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May it be so, and Amen.

Blessings, Rev. Rita