December brings us Advent, the winter solstice, and if we happen to live in the southern hemisphere, high summer. Rituals abound. Special music, special words, special gatherings that don’t happen any other time of year. Humankind has always needed reassurance that light will follow the darkness, that the cycle of seasons will continue and spring will come again.

So winter was an apt analogy for Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

Worship Materials: Christmastime/Christmas Day

If we allowed ourselves to meet God everywhere, each day would become a Christmas. Christmas is not so much a season of the year as a season of the human heart.

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Christmas Midsummer

In the mild mid-summer pleasant winds can blow; Balmy zephyrs soothe us; wafting to and fro; Christmas has its beauty; Mary’s pain is past; Lullaby her first born; parents’ joy at last.

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Exquisite Darkness: A Winter Solstice Liturgy

The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the calendar year. This liturgy invites participants into a time of rest and reflection that counters the frenetic pace of the secular Christmas season.

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