Dear Friends,

With Advent, Solstice, Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, this time of year has been called the Season of Light. Light, of course, is only half the story. In our neck of the woods, this is also the season of darkness and cold, a season that calls us inside to places of warmth and rest. Some of us long for the return of the sun, and that tipping point is on its way. Some of us will revel as well in the call to inwardness promised by the dark. Here is a poem that captures a sense of how light brings gentle compassion in a time of sorrow, “Nothing to Say” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer:

So I light a candle                                       Then I hold silence for you

and though I am hundreds                          the way the earth

of miles away from you,                              holds the ocean,

I say your name                                          the way a canyon

into the flame—                                           holds wind,

your name                                                   the way a broken heart

and the name                                              holds another

of your beloved                                           broken heart.

who is gone—

these the only

syllables worth saying.

May you welcome this season of light and of darkness, a time for inwardness, remembering that in this religious community you face neither joy nor sorrow alone, remembering always that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.

 

Blessings and warm wishes, Rev. Rita