This is not a typical rumination. I’m not even sure that this is the best venue for getting all of this information to you. Hopefully you’ll glance through this and feel well-informed.

In my experience, holidays take a lot of planning. That’s really what I’m ruminating on this week. Lots of planning goes into acting with intention. That holds true whether we’re talking about a big vision for the world or a holiday ceremony for several dozen of your closest friends. Here’s what our planning and collaboration have yielded for the weeks ahead:

This Sunday (December 19), we’re going to celebrate the winter solstice in an intergenerational ceremony outside (weather permitting). The way will be lit by luminaria you all will hopefully help create just after our morning worship service. We’ll consider mindfully what we want to release to a fire, welcome more light into our lives, and consider a practice of loving kindness toward others. I’m looking forward to this meaningful ceremony a lot.

But that’s just the beginning of our special holiday services. On Friday, December 24, we’ll have two amazing Christmas Eve services. At 5:30 PM, we’ll focus on the beloved Christmas tableau with the assistance of some younger members of our community. At 7:30 PM, we’ll have a more traditional service focused on embodying Christmas in our own lives.

You’ve probably already pre-registered for one of these services, but if you haven’t, please let us know which one you’ll be attending. You can pre-register here.

We’re doing this advance registration because we want to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible, and we also want to ensure that everyone who wants to be a part of our Christmas Eve services has the opportunity to do so. It’s a different level of planning than what we might have done in the past in order to maintain integrity with our pandemic precautions.

Even though we won’t have a potluck dinner between services this Christmas Eve, we will still have an opportunity for you to visit with one another outside (weather permitting), with some hot cocoa and a warm fire. Probably powered by propane. Nothing dangerous.

We’ll cordon off a stretch of pavement outside the East Entrance for a bit of socializing between Christmas Eve services. The West Entrance will still be available if anyone wants to be polite and pull the car around for somebody who doesn’t want to walk too far from the building.

As you might imagine, a lot of folks put a lot of time and energy into planning and collaborating for these holiday celebrations. And yet, the holidays are also intended to be a time when we rest and reenergize. So, after all the excitement of special holiday services and ceremonies, the building will be closed between December 27 and New Year’s Day. Some of the staff will still be working, but some of us will be taking a little time off.

During that week (December 26 through January 1), the Lay Pastoral Care Team will still be available should you have any pastoral care needs. Their email address is [email protected] I’ve always loved holiday celebrations. I always find the planning and preparation to be worthwhile, because it means I get to celebrate with other people. I’ll get some time of quiet and stillness, too, but there’s something really satisfying about gathering with people I care about during the holidays. I look forward to celebrating with you in the days ahead.

Rev. Randy Partain

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