Maybe I should have nine months to prepare for the holidays like Mary had.

Do you feel like you can’t get everything done,
can’t do all you want to do?
It’s all rush and hustle and bustle and I feel so behind.

Who, ever, is ready for Christmas?

There are holiday greetings I’d like to send,
presents I’d like to make, or now purchase.
There are people I think of, and would like to reach out to with a call.

There are lights to put up, and popcorn and cranberries I want to string,
and holiday music I want to hear.

This was the year I was going to learn how to make my mother’s
chocolate toffee treats.

I was going to be good all the time so that when Santa looked over his list
and came to my name, he’d smile.

I was going to express only love,
but then sometimes I speak gruffly to people I love.
I keep setting my intention on love and compassion and I fall short.

I’m not alone in this.

No one is never naughty and always nice.
No one is ever perfect.
No one is ever ready for Christmas.

If we were, there would be no need for Christmas.
If we were perfect, there would be no need
for the ancient messages of the winter solstice.

So, instead, we make our way through the season.
And it can be a rough journey.

People are mourning loved ones who have died this last year.
The holidays don’t seem the same without them.

A friend is worried about his son.
His son is worried about money and the future.
He is miles away from his loved ones.
When he’s anxious, he drinks more beer,
and then, to get himself going, he drinks more coffee.

The sugary treats are available,
and he reaches for them instead of kale and broccoli.
All this causes him to spiral down.

Kaiser Permanente sends out email messages
on how to be healthy during the holidays.
They remind us to exercise,
to fill our stomachs with a glass of water before eating,
so we eat less.

Kaiser reminds us to eat our veggies,
to give to others,
to join in community events and attend religious services.

Congratulations! We’re all here.
We’re doing something right.

Ask a few people what makes the holidays meaningful.
They don’t usually mention perfect decorations, perfect gifts, and perfect meals.

They say being with people they enjoy,
carols, lighting candles and singing Silent Night.

Today we celebrate our Unitarian Universalist affirmation
of the divine spark in all creation.

How do we celebrate the divine spark in all creation
if our own fire seems only a dim ember?
How do we make a place for joy and peace
if we are feeling overwhelmed and anxious?

Maybe we feel like we’re the one in the family giving
and all we get back is criticism.
Maybe the gifts seem to be flowing in only one direction
and we are feeling depleted.

Maybe the people we are with
have very different ideas of how the holidays should go.
For the holidays maybe we wish we were there and not here,
or here and not there.

Families squabble.
Does an angel or a star or a light top the tree?
Is it a time to give to all or to draw names?
Do we eat at noon or nine?
Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

Demands are big.
How do I clean the house, shop, wrap presents, prepare the meal and work my job?
Feelings seem more intense.
How do we deal with loss, loneliness, longing,
whatever is troubling us?
How do we deal with feeling left out, or over extended?

What helps?

Buddhist Thich Nhat Hahn has a suggestion.
He says take three breaths before you eat.
Take three breaths as we hug, while we feel the sun, or behold beauty.
Whatever we are doing, take three breaths.

Breathing helps us take in and be present.

Take three breaths and give yourself compassionate attention.
Take three breaths and remind yourself
you are responsible for your own peace of mind,
not Uncle Al or Sister Sue,
not your parent or your child, your employer or your co-workers.

We are responsible for our own peace of mind.

Maybe we could be happy if we made room for
moments of spaciousness.
Sometimes in a minute of silence we can go very deep.
So take some deep breaths.

Maybe the spaciousness allows us to begin to understand why
someone is the way they are…
if not see a little divine spark in them.

When you awake some morning,
Touch your finger.
Be amazed at your toes.
During the day, look,
there are blades of green grass poking up after the recent rain.
And, there, the sunlight glistens across the Bay.

I am alive.
Amazing!
What shall I do with this moment that expresses my gratitude?
Hold up a mirror to the world.
Have I told you how magnificent you are?
You are a cosmic miracle.
It has taken just the right mixture of stardust and liquid
to mold you into this imperfect and beautiful creature.

If the essence of life is beauty,
let the divine spark, the living force within you,
shape words of astonishment
and let your lips and tongue proclaim them!

Yes to Life.
Thank You to the sun –
and distant galaxies
and this blade of green grass.

In this season of thanksgiving and gratitude
I long to live generously and graciously toward others.
May I remember heartache and its healing,
that when I see in the eyes of others
disappointment and despair
I may name them with a soft mirror,
tender in tone.

May I know deep gratitude for life and love and length of life.
The gift of this season is the reminder,
in each moment,
to see the candle light in the darkness;
to remember prayer,
to recall the deep love that holds All,
and in the turning of the year,
to rekindle commitment
to living in Love.

Maybe, to celebrate the divine spark in all creation,
we begin by looking within ourselves.

What is divine?
Forgiveness.
Can I forgive myself and others?
Can I forgive my failings and disappointments?
I’m not perfect. No one is perfect.
Let us forgive ourselves and each other.

What is divine?
Love.
Can I love my self, and open to love those around me?
Why not try.

What is divine?
Music.
Melodies climb the scale.
Harmonies make tender the tone.
Lyrics illuminate life.
Musicians offer gifts of spiritual enlightenment.

Music enters my being
and I am lighter,
like climbing the upgrade of a coastal mountain.
The horizon looks further away the higher I climb.
My vision increases.
Music does that.
I ride its rhythms to higher overlooks,
and then another step, and then another.

Praise be the flutist, the pianist, the organist, the violinist.
Praise for the strings’ vibrations and the breath’s reverberations.
And, oh yes, the steady rhythm of the drum;
The crashing wake up of the cymbal.

Praise be the voice, reaching ever higher,
Alleluia, Praise the Light, Amen.

Open your ears to the sounds.
Open your eyes to the sights.
Lift your hands in praise to sun and moon and stars.
Feel at-one in this beautiful moment.
This is our calling; this is our home.
This is the message of this ancient season.

When the days grow short
And darkness comes early,
When the chill of winter
reminds us of life’s changes,

It is time to light a candle.

It is time to settle in,
to renew the spark of life
deep within us.

What is divine?
Light.

Around this fertile Earth
we human beings have worshipped
the warmth of sun, the light illuminating our way.
It is time to wait in the darkness
to wonder at the Miracle of Life,
to breathe in and out,
and in the flow of energy
to know with deeper gratitude than ever before
this magnificent Gift.

Then light a candle.
Watch flames flicker, dancing in delight.
Energy caught fire,
Transforming dark to light, chill to warmth
Inspiring us forward.

Light a candle, then another.
O we know pain, and loss.
We have come by way of sorrow.
We know disappointment and grief.
We have come the way of tears.

Light another candle.

Remember the light within you,
Kindle it. Breathe deeply that the fire can grow:
that spark of divinity, that knower of Love
that yearning for freedom and commitment.

Light one more candle
that the radiance fills your heart.

Diwali, Advent, Hannukah, Solstice, Christmas Eve…
Strike a match.
Light a candle.
Feed the flame.

Feel the warmth
See the light
Know the touch
that warms the soul
and lifts the spirit.

Make a promise.
Light a candle.
Be the light.

Amen.