A Natural Bridge – Monthly Letter from Our Minister
The worship theme fits December well: “Wonder: What Does It Mean To Be a People of Wonder?” It is a wonderful month; 
Christmas, Solstice, Hanukah, new baby, light and joy, goodness and hope. And then as every one of us knows, December can also be painful and difficult; this holiday, communal, festive season can be stressful, lonely and sad. And so we remember to reach out to each other; we share a hug and an invitation, a gift of comfort and understanding, compassion and community, amidst the preparations, decorations and sweets. Doing that is what will make the season really wonderful.
I truly believe that such practice is very important and at the same time, I write this column the morning after events in the news have taken that reflection much deeper for me. Last night, in Ferguson, Missouri, the prosecuting attorney presented the grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer in the shooting death of Michael Brown. The decision sharpens the focus on a lot of questions and issues that were in limbo as the country waited to hear. I watched the PBS Live Feed and every official who was interviewed encouraged nonviolent reactions to the decision and spoke about doing the work to correct the problems and fix a broken system. I wondered how and why the follow up could be different than so many other times when very little has changed.
Live streaming is different from TV: when they turn off the camera, they don’t switch to talking analysts: the screen goes dark. I wondered what would keep the focus on these problems and the hard work and commitment needed to make a difference when the lights and cameras were gone.
As I turned off the computer and went safely to bed, the camera feed was from high above the crowd that had gathered in the Ferguson night. Helicopter spots moved over the streets. The looting and damage that were to follow had not yet begun. Right after the screen went dark, the words ofHoward Thurman came powerfully to mind. “When the star in the sky is gone.”
That, he says, is when “The work of Christmas begins.”
We read and experience these words at the end of every Christmas Eve service: “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone… 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 brothers and sisters, to make music in the heart.”
Every year the wonderful month of December comes around and reassures us that hope and light are alive and possible, in ourselves and in our world; it then calls us to contribute our part to make such hopes real. Are we going to do the work of Christmas this year? Wouldn’t that be truly wonderful?
May your holiday season bring you light and joy and warm moments of wonder.
— Jim McKinley, UUFH Minister