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Come join us for a time to see and talk to one another. It's the next best thing to being there!

Click on the Coffee Hour Zoom Link  at 11:00 am this Sunday.

Some people love to decorate for the Holidays. As the boxes come out from the basement or attic, they are joyful about the whole process. With each ornament hung or candle placed, an old story comes to mind. Transforming the room is integral to their holiday experience.  

Others prepare (most years!) by planning for travel, parties, or concerts, or by baking, or wrapping gifts.

Is there a way you traditionally prepare for the Holiday? What are your preparation routines?

When our children were young my sister made us this Advent calendar below. It takes up the better part of a wall. Each day a felt ornament is taken from its pocket and is added to the tree. While our kids are long gone from the house, we still hang the calendar; at least we have in the past. It’s still our visible countdown to December 25, and it's a reminder of years when our children needed a chair to add ornaments to the tree.

I considered not bothering with the calendar this year. It’s awkward to hang, and few, if anyone, will be visiting this Christmas. In the end, it went up. It was a sort of shrug, and "why not" choice.

I sense my own ambivalence around Holiday preparations is shared by others this year. There never is a right or wrong way to prepare. Maybe this is a good year to change a routine; to simplify some preparations, or to take a break. On the other hand, maybe this is a year to decorate more; to try something new, or to take extra time on some detail to make the season feel special.

This is a good year to reflect on our "getting ready" routines of the Holidays. What parts of the preparation process have the most meaning? What is it we prepare for? How might our steps to prepare for the Holidays, in whatever form they take, open our hearts over the upcoming weeks?

Sending good thoughts to all during this Holiday season of 2020.

After tallying the incredibly generous response to Holiday Sharing, the UUCR Social Concerns Social Justice Committee set out to distribute funds totaling $1,258! We have now purchased gift cards, and a few gifts, for the Department of Social Services for holiday programs in Kent and Queen Anne's counties totaling $900. The remaining funds will be sent to the Feed the Children and Elderly Initiative administered by the Social Action Committee for Racial Justice and the Kent County Community Food Pantry. Thanks, once again, for your generous contributions to add some joy to this year's Holiday Season. Hoping to see a tree abundant with gifts next year.

PROC is assembling a task force to look for ways to better connect our beloved community during this stressful time — perhaps forming small support groups? Let us know if you have ideas; contact PROCC chair John Ramsey at [email protected] or Jan Whitney at [email protected], 410-778-3440.

Stay tuned for more information about a gathering to celebrate the season.

Join the Green Sanctuary in our annual environmental book read! We will be reading As Long As Grass Grows by Dina Gilio-Whitaker and discussing it in February, most likely on Zoom! This book is available on Amazon new or used as well as at the library. BookPlate is another source that is always accommodating. Happy reading and I hope to see you in February.

“Through the unique lens of “Indigenized environmental justice,” Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores the fraught history of treaty violations, struggles for food and water security, and protection of sacred sites, while highlighting the important leadership of Indigenous women in this centuries-long struggle. As Long As Grass Grows gives readers an accessible history of Indigenous resistance to government and corporate incursions on their lands and offers new approaches to environmental justice activism and policy.

Throughout 2016, the Standing Rock protest put a national spotlight on Indigenous activists, but it also underscored how little Americans know about the longtime historical tensions between Native peoples and the mainstream environmental movement. Ultimately, she argues, modern environmentalists must look to the history of Indigenous resistance for wisdom and inspiration in our common fight for a just and sustainable future.”

Go to the link on the UUCR webpage here and enter either Amazon or IGive to make your purchases; .05% of what you spend will end up in UUCR’s coffers. Yes, it’s only a half-cent on the dollar, but these “ha’pennies” turn into dollars and then into scores of dollars.

Happy shopping!

Deep gratitude for Words and Music from Eamon Peach, Sue Browning, Sana Saeed, Patty Rubin, Dick Doughty, Bozena Lamparska, Dave Moore, Ellen Barry Grunden, Philip Dutton and The Delmarva Cluster Virtual Choir. Our grateful thanks as well to the Tech and Communications Team of Mark Peach (editor), John Ramsey, Don Barker, Bozena Lamparska, Jane Hardy and Jan Whitney.

Rev. Sue Browning, and the Pastoral Care Associates: Kevin Brien, Gayle Folger, Nancy Holland, and Vida Morley

Jan Whitney (Office) p: 410-778-3440 | e: [email protected]