[JTWNews] A Holiday Message

[Susan Leslie]

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Journey Toward Wholeness (JTW) News
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Dear JTW-News Readers:
 
Thank you for all the work you do to help our congregations contribute to creating a just and equitable world.  I draw inspiration from your stories, I love getting your reports, and from knowing that you are out there.
 
I am sending you UUA President Rev. William G. Sinkford's holiday message.  
 
And I wish for you that you experience all the many blessings of the season.
 
Faithfully, 
 
Susan
 
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A Holiday Message from the UUA President

[To view this message on the UUA website, please visit
http://www.uua.org/president/051222_holiday.html ]


Dear Friends,

In this holiday season, as we approach the New Year, we pause to look
back over the year past. For so many it has been so hard.

I traveled to New Orleans just a few days ago and saw the physical
devastation left by the hurricane. Mounds of debris on virtually every
street. Many thousands of houses destroyed or standing empty, too
severely damaged to ever be homes again. I heard stories of the trauma
of these last months.

The people of New Orleans, hundreds of thousands of them, had to flee,
becoming travelers often with destinations out of their control. A
modern day diaspora. They had no choice but to rely on the hospitality
of strangers.

But I also saw our congregations in the city coming together for worship
and support in a Presbyterian church which opened its doors to us.
Planning has begun for a vital Unitarian Univeralist presence in a
rebuilt New Orleans. I am profoundly grateful for the outpouring of
support from Unitarian Universalists for our New Orleans churches and
for the citizens throughout the Gulf Coast. We will use some of those
funds to encourage long term change in that region.

In November I went to Chad in north-central Africa with Charlie
Clements, President of the UUSC. Charlie and I visited the refugee camps
for those who had fled the genocidal war in the Darfur region of western
Sudan. The refugees fled most often with only the clothes on their
backs, and it was three months before United Nations aid arrived. But
the people of the terribly poor villages of eastern Chad found it in
their hearts to welcome these travelers. They opened their granaries and
shared with the refugees all that they had.

In the Christian story of Christmas, a pregnant woman and her husband
are forced to leave their home, becoming travelers in this season,
relying upon the generosity of others. There is no room at the inn; the
only hospitality offered was a place in a stable.

As we look back on this last year, we must hold its tragedies in our
hearts. But we can also hold the reality that our response to those
tragedies has been open-hearted and generous.

As we end 2005, Unitarian Univeralists will celebrate Hanukah and
Christmas, Kwanzaa and the Solstice. These are celebrations of hope and
light in the days of long darkness. May we remember that hope can be
found not only in the faith that the days will once again lengthen into
light, but also in our response to these recent dark days. It is the
work of Christmas.

    The Work of Christmas
    by Howard Thurman

        When the song of angels is stilled,
        When the star in the sky is gone,
        When the kings and princes are home,
        When the shepherds are back with their flock,
        The work of Christmas begins:
              to find the lost,
              to heal the broken,
              to feed the hungry,
              to release the prisoner,
              to rebuild the nations,
              to bring peace among the brothers,
              to make music in the heart.

Blessings of the season.

In faith,

William G. Sinkford
President
Unitarian Universalist Association



 
Susan Leslie
Director for Congregational Advocacy & Witness
UUA, 25 Beacon St., Boston MA 02108
617-948-4607; sleslie at uua.org
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