My first year of seminary was 1974-75 and my first sermon was in February 1975, fifty years ago, at the UU church in Hayward, California. I was twenty-four. It was not a very good sermon. I still work each week to prepare for a Sunday service, knowing my limits. I think of T.S. Eliot who wrote in one of his poems,
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.
At the end of fifty years of writing sermons, I give thanks for being here in Arizona. As I visit places in Prescott that I visited as a child, I think of other words from Eliot.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
It is good to be with you.
I like this New Years Prayer by Rev. Sylvia Howe.
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We gather with part of us looking backward
    and part of us looking forward.
We gather on the edge of the New Year
    Saddened by our losses,
    Cherishing our joys,               Â
    Aware of our failures,
    Mindful of days gone by.
We gather on the cusp of this New Year
    Eager to begin anew,
    Hopeful for what lies ahead,
    Promising to make changes,
    Anticipating tomorrows and tomorrows.
Knowing that life includes both good and bad, both endings and beginnings.
During holidays I remember those who are not with me. I recall friends and relatives who live far away. I think of those with whom I have lost contact or who have died. I remember all the persons I have celebrated with in the past, and whom I will not be with this year. The memories are mostly mixed with a little sadness for times now gone.
Still, in December, for me, the present merges with the past. When I sing "Silent Night," I am not just singing it with those who are with me here in 2024. I am singing it also with friends in Phoenix when I was an eight-year-old and in a Christmas play. I am singing it with friends in college, spending Christmas together on a beach in Mexico. I am singing it in Unitarian Universalist Churches I have served in
Kentucky, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland and Florida. I feel connected to my past.
Again, this year I will sing the carols. I light the candles and share gifts and eat special foods. In these moments I feel continuity with the past. The ritual, the songs, the lights, are all openings that allow me to feel part of a common experience. This year's celebration merges into all Christmas celebrations.
Whatever holy days you are observing this December, be it Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Solstice, Christmas or New Years, I hope you will have this experience of connection and unity. Join in the singing. Taste the foods. Touch the hands of those around you. May your December be an act of meditation on the underlying unity and connections of all life. May 2025 be a time for reconciliation and peace for all peoples.