A Christmas Eve Prayer (December 24, 2011)

There shines from that child’s face
the greatest miracle of all:
Life in all its glory,
all its story, all its history,
its mystery; divine grace
made human and come to dwell among us;
perfect splendor of dust and stars.

In every child’s face there lies an epic
of tragedy and joy, laughter and tears
flowing freely through all the years
the Hand of Life will bring.
In every child’s face there still abides
the sign and signal, emblem and symbol
of every betrayal, every sacrifice,
every friendship, every love,
every season a life has seen,
each song a life will sing.

In that Holy Child’s face we know
the pain that can never let us go.
In every human face we trace
the evidence of God.
In that face the light
of life shines through darkest night;
in that face the holy dark
descends, blessed mystery eternal,
with no beginning, with no end:
endless alleluia the universe will sing.

jbs
1/16/02     12/24/02     12/24/07     12/24/11

Christmas Greetings 2011

The Universalist Parsonage

Stoughton, Massachusetts

                                                                               

Christmastide 2011

Dear Friends,

At Christmas, we are called upon to believe that the most glorious things are possible.

With every child that is born, our hope is born anew.

With every Christmas Eve, we remember the true and deepest meaning of why we are here. 

Perhaps something is happening, at last, in the Bethlehem of our hearts that will finally change us, and change our world. Perhaps the sound waves (the age waves) of that first gloriously impossible Christmas are stirring our souls at last, and the glorious music of a heavenly host sings forth, at last, the wonder of our own new birth—our own nativity—upon this Earth.

The real song of Christmas is all about the divine gifts inherent in our human living—those gifts of the Spirit, waiting for us, buried beneath the hard and crusted-over snow of human experience.

Christmas shows us that when night is darkest, we see the shining of the stars most gloriously. When we are most empty, the abundance of God can fill our souls. When we are poorest in spirit, a divine inheritance will be ours.

And when, at last, we are still—and silent—and all the noise of life has been hushed, and if we really listen, we may yet hear that angel chorus; and hear the Blessed Mother’s lullaby of peace; and hear that Holy Infant’s cry-- persistently, patiently, lovingly—calling us, at last, to follow him down the blessed pathway of compassion.

May your Christmas be touched with the truest gifts of the Spirit. And, at Christmas and always, may you sing boldly, yet gently,  your own blessed song of Life. 

                                                                                    Peace be with you all,

Rev. Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz

A world within each moment (Sunday, November 27, 2011)

A world within each moment

Every moment is a yes or no to life,
we utter from deep inside ourselves
that somehow makes
all the difference in the world.

Every time we meet another soul
we choose to love, or not;
to join hands or build a wall;
see a brother or sister, or a robber in disguise.

This little bit of energy we each are
created no vast galaxies or whirling constellations;
but each day we create so many smaller worlds--
worlds of each moment, each love;
worlds of possibility or limitation, 

worlds in their own ways empires
of our immortal, eternal souls.

jbs
2/15/00        11/12/00       11/27/11