Our theme for December is Wintering
This Sunday’s sermon: Christmas Eve – Rev. Aaron White of UU Dallas.
The Work of Christmas
by Howard Thurman
When the song of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to hear the broken
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the brothers,
to make music in the heart.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
December is National Human Rights Month
LUNCH: Join us at Athena’s for lunch. Lunch coupons available.
The Inn Ministry. We are still collecting donations. Cash donations are always needed for bus passes. The emergency bags continue to be needed for the homeless (See below). Last Tuesday there were at least 10 people who will be homeless after Jan.6, 2024. So, keep stuffing the bags!
EVENTS CALENDAR:
December is National Human Rights Month (Note – 1/23/2025: this used to be a link to a White House page about this event, but the current administration only believes in rights for White men, so the page was removed) and Spiritual Literacy Month
December 21 Winter Solstice
December 23 Solstice Party at Linda and Bob Schaller’s home at 6 PM (RSVP if attending)
December 24 Christmas Eve Service
December 25 Christmas
December 25 Christmas dinner at Morris & Linda Hoagland’s home at 2 PM (details below — RSVP if attending)
December 26 Kwanzaa
December 31 Service “Burning Bowl”
The INN MINISTRY – “Emergency Bags”
In preparation for the coming cold weather, The Inn Ministry will continue to prepare “emergency bags”. If there is a hard freeze, Catholic Charities will provide shelter for the homeless for a certain number of days – but shelter only. The emergency bags would contain foods that are easily prepared or heated in a microwave, or eaten without cooking. Small containers of shampoo and small bars of soap are needed. Cloth bags are good, because whatever is left over when they are evicted can be hauled away in the bags.
The bags might include:
- 2 sleeves of crackers
- a jar of peanut butter
- pull-top edibles such as tuna, spam, Vienna sausage, beans
- Pull-top fruit cups and cereal
- pop-tarts, granola or protein bars
- Shelf-stable milk (the milk can be found at $ Tree)
There is not much equipment in a room. So, a bag might include a microwavable bowl and plate and a few plastic forks, spoons, knives. If those are included, then ramen noodles, pull-top beans, chili and soups (these are things they often ask for); quick-cooking or instant rice, grits, oatmeal. If they are being evicted from the Inn, the friends they have made there will often let them return to use their microwave and bathroom.
If a can opener is included, then the above need not all be pull-top, thus increasing variety, decreasing costs. Condiments: salt, pepper, mayo & mustard packets, sugar packets, jam
In the spirit of community, why not invite friends and family over for an Emergency Bag Get-together.
Solstice Gathering and Bonfire
The Celebration will be at the home of Bob and Linda Schaller, December 23,2023, 6PM. Fire Lighting will be sometime after. Bring some food for a Potluck Dinner. Bob and I will serve roasted chicken. Bring your drink of choice.
There will be singing and playing bells; Mary will lead us. Call me 337-351-6585 or send text to make plans for more to do. Bring a chair to sit by the fire.
Our address is 3075 Highway 754, Sunset LA. Use GPS to find us. Parking to either side of the driveway.
Hope to see you all, and you may bring a guest. You will all be welcome, even if you have not been to UU for a while.
Christmas Dinner at the Hoaglands’
If you have no family in the area to visit on Christmas Day, we would love to have you over to our place for Christmas dinner. We will be serving ham, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes, and if you are up to bringing a potluck dish, that would add to our menu greatly. We plan to eat around 2 pm, but arrive early for wine, spiced (or not!) eggnog and jovial conversation. Just RSVP so we know how big a ham to get! Text at 337-446-5599 (or call) or e-mail me at linda_hoagland2012@yahoo.com. (Just title it Christmas dinner in case it goes to spam.) Hope to make the holidays a bit brighter!