Colleen Appel reads some heart wrenching messages from real homeless people in Springfield. View this video by clicking the link below.

https://express.adobe.com/video/yVUsEwoyJJ9uj/embed

The opening words, “Why Celebrate Christmas?” are from Robert Edward Green.

Why Celebrate Christmas?

To reflect upon the miraculousness of birth:

For with the winter solstice, the sun has turned about to begin again the process of the rebirth of nature, and so we may once more marvel at the regeneration of plant and of animal and of human.

To celebrate the living of life:

For in this life is our one and only opportunity to laugh and cry, to sense and appreciate, to feel and think, to accept and create, to do and give, to live and love.

To recall the spirit of the great prophet, Jesus:

For he preached no greater commandment than love of God and love of thy neighbor.

To join in the fellowship of giving:

For this is a time for us to come together and give of our friendship and of our love and thus of ourselves.

Sock Puns

From AJ Fox, director of Religious Education:

I do a lot of laundry, and there are a lot of little socks at my house, scurrying off under couches and behind toy boxes. When I find the missing sock from the pair, I always feel like I have reunited lost soles!

Vonnegut goes Shopping

Vonnegut shows us what to buy to donate to the supplies drive for the homeless.

Joy to the World
Traditional English Christmas Carol
Public Domain
Performed by the First UU Choir

Duermete, Niño Lindo
Traditional Mexican Folk Lullaby
Public Domain Work
Performed by Ruth Jenkins and Eva Riebold

We close with “A Humanist Christmas Exhortation” by Roger Greeley
That there may be love
I will be loving
That there may be peace
I will be peaceful
That there may be joy
I will be joyous
That there may be warmth
I will be warm
That there may be kindness
I will be kind
That there may be friendship
I will be a friend
When the candle is spent; the yule log, ash –
[the] wreath removed, and the tree-stand put away,
I shall keep alive in my life
Love – peace – joy – Kindness – friendship – and warmth.
(At least I hope that I do,
for if I don’t, the season passed me by without my even knowing it.)