Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night. It is the official start of winter, even though we had our first storm this past week. This solstice marks the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. To celebrate the solstice, join us for a drumming circle. It will begin at 6 p.m. and end around 8 …no experience needed… bring a drum if you have one.

We are just days away from Christmas. The Christmas Eve service will begin at 5 p.m. It will include candle lighting. Bring your family for this traditional service that will include beautiful music. A great way to begin your Christmas celebration. There will not be a service on Christmas morning.

Sunday brought the four weeks of Advent to a close. We started with the first week’s theme of The Dark, and then the second week’s theme The Body; the third week was The Silence and this week ended with The Wait.

Just as the darkness has the capacity to hide things, so does the light. Watch the sunset and wait for the stars to slowly grow in number as the dark uncovers their light.

In the days leading up to Christmas, choose one morning to wake before sunrise. Sit and wait for the sun to pierce the darkness. Try not to keep watch of the time. Just rest in the waiting.

Here is a beautiful poem by Russell Kelfer called “Wait.”

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, “Wait.”
“Wait? you say wait?” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.
“My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.
“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.”
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, “Wait.”
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?”
He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.
“I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.
“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.
“You’d never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
“The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.
“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.
“So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.

The wait is almost over, and the birth is almost here… let us celebrate together the rebirth of the Christ consciousness in every one of us.

I am ending with a Christmas greeting from Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, sent in 1947. Exactly one year earlier, on December 25, 1946, the Soviets had created their first atomic chain reaction and the world knew it would be only a short time before they would have a nuclear bomb.

Christmas, 1947
Dear Folks —
At the very beginning of this letter I was warned “But let your speech be Yea, yea and Nay, nay.”
There are so many things I would like to discuss with you! What does the Lord say about the signs of the times, will there be another war? How about the prophets who say that our civilization is about to end?, etc.

Frankly, I have had no direct revelation on any of these points. I only know that our God, who controls this world through His people, is greater and far more powerful than all the destructive [folly?] of the universe, and that if only a few of us stand steadfastly for truth and righteousness they will prevail, and our civilization go right formed to its fulfillment in the Millennium.

United in this truth we shall have a Merry Christmas and Very Happy New Year.

In the Unity of the Spirit
Yours faithfully, Charles Fillmore

(Special thanks to Mark Hicks and truthunity.net for this letter)

You are a blessing in my life,
Rev. Patricia Bessey

P.S.: Just a reminder to take care and pay attention to what your body is telling you. If you feel great, join us in person; if you don’t feel so great, join us online.