Sunday marks the beginning of our Festival of Lights series, which will culminate on Christmas Eve. We’ll look at some of the things we might do to shine more fully in the world around us. And curiously, it’s often the same things that allow us to receive the light of joy and hope into our lives.

We’ll begin this week with a focus on forgiveness, followed by an exploration of gratitude. Mike Carney will lead a service about creativity and finding light in unexpected places. Then, we’ll consider how we might shine light with one another in unity.

It’s interesting that so many religious traditions use light as a metaphor. Light represents deep knowledge, hope, faith, vision, joy—and probably a few other things. We turn to this metaphor during a time of the year when there is less sunlight and longer periods of night as a way of encouraging one another and lifting our spirits.

And yet, there’s something valuable about darkness too. The darker time of the year has traditionally been a time for introspection, being more deeply connected with the core of our being. It’s a time of rest and stillness, when we care for ourselves and gather energy for important work ahead. For some, it may even be a time when we more intentionally define what that important work will be in our lives, charting a course for the future.

Nature takes a sort of sabbath in the winter. It can be a reminder that we also need to rest. We need times of stillness. We need opportunities to create new beginnings.

Even as we long for more light in our lives, it’s important for us to create space so that we are ready to receive that hope or delight or inspiration. Even as we commit to shining light more purposefully in the world around us, it’s important for us to take time to breathe in and restore our energy.

We’re going to celebrate light over the next several Sundays, and we’ll follow that up with a series on our Unitarian Universalist principles—a series affectionately known as Chalica. In the midst of all this talk about light, though, may we also remember the value of darkness… of rest and stillness and inward work.

May you create space to welcome the spiritual lessons of winter—Nature’s sabbath. And may your intentional times of rest energize you and connect you more deeply with yourself and the world around you.     

Rev. Randy Partain