December is upon us, and with it the holidays that we love and we dread and we do our best to get into the spirit of. And this year, with December comes the first anniversary of the Thomas Fire and all those memories. Yet so much has happened since then, for me the memories are already fading. It’s all a part of a new normal or, as our soon-to-be twice ex-governor has called it, “the new abnormal.”
Part of this new reality is a deep reminder that we are in this together. After the shootings and the Woolsey Fire, it was so heartening to see how people stepped up to offer help and hospitality. We can’t know what’s next, though we can know that there will be people offering help and comfort, support and celebration as each is called for.
The theme for December is Mystery, which is my favorite part of this season. Lights twinkling in the darkness, the turning of the year, a spirit that can still catch us unawares. Even as these are holidays that can make us feel even more lonely, with them can also come reminders that
We are not alone.
You are not alone.
So I offer you one of my favorite poems for this time of year by Rebecca Parker. May it carry you into and through all that this December brings you.
Perhaps
for a moment
the typewriters will stop clicking,
the wheels stop rolling
the computers desist from computing,
and a hush will fall over the city.
For an instant, in the stillness,
the chiming of the celestial spheres will be heard
as earth hangs poised
in the crystalline darkness,
and then
gracefully
tilts.
Let there be a season
when holiness is heard, and
the splendor of living is revealed.
Stunned to stillness by beauty
we remember who we are and why we are here.
There are inexplicable mysteries.
We are not alone.
In the universe there moves a Wild One
whose gestures alter earth’s axis
toward love.
In the immense darkness
everything spins with joy.
The cosmos enfolds us.
We are caught in a web of stars,
cradled in a swaying embrace,
rocked by the holy night,
babes of the universe.
Let this be the time
we wake to life,
like spring wakes, in the moment
of winter solstice.
Happy Hannukah! Blessed Solstice!
Merry Christmas! Happy and Hopeful Holidays!
With love, Rev. Dana