Greetings, Chalice!

As we enter into January and leave December behind, I hope you experienced many joys during the holiday season. We celebrated and worshipped well at Chalice, with a fun Winter Party, a beautiful Solstice celebration, and a joyful Christmas Eve service – not to mention the meaningful and thought-provoking sermons on each Sunday of Advent.

And yet … at home I was off my game. Everything felt like a struggle and I just wasn’t feeling it. My kids (well, my adult children) expressed similar feelings. By evening of Christmas Eve not even half our decorations were up, the tree was barely decorated, the living room was cluttered as always, and no presents had been wrapped. On Christmas morning, in a last ditch effort to fix that tree, my daughter, Leah, started hanging more ornaments. It looked beautiful! And then  – the tree fell over! Many decorations fell off, a few breaking. Well, when something like that happens you just have to laugh to keep from crying. And that’s when it hit me: this year we needed to have a  “Buddhist Christmas” – we needed to practice the art of Non-Attachment. Letting go of needing to feel a certain way, do things a certain way, or having the house (or tree) look a certain way.  None of our extended family of 10 really cared about all that, we just wanted to be together. In the evening as we lit candles on the first night of Hanukkah while listening to Solstice music in the glow of the Christmas tree lights, I made a New Year’s resolution to learn more about Buddhist philosophy and Non-Attachment. I have a whole lot of things to let go of.

I would like to wish you bright blessings for this New Year of 2025, but I myself am filled with uncertainty and considerable trepidation. Which makes our Chalice community all the more important. To quote our UUA President, Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, “These are heartbreaking and uncertain times, and this moment needs us – people of faith who put love at the center, work boldly to widen the circle so that all might feel that expansive love that held us for so many generations, and do it all with a commitment to communal care.”

So I wish for all of us strength, fortitude, and many many moments of wonder, joy, laughter, and love as we navigate the new year together.

Lara Brown

President, Board of Trustees