As we enter into our holiday season once again, I am suffused with gratitude for all of the ways that UUs have been living their faith boldly in the past year –in your congregation’s ministries, in worship on Sundays, during our historic Climate Justice Revival last September, and in sharing our values with voters across the United States through UU the Vote. These and other faith practices form a counter-cultural resistance that is needed desperately in these times. My prayer is that all of us will reflect on what our faith asks of us in these days and respond accordingly in community.

As is our annual holiday tradition, I have recorded a video message with holiday greetings and good wishes for our congregations and communities. Please share it widely during worship or at other times in your community and beyond.

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.

As we gather for holiday celebrations with friends and family and our wider communities, may we carry with us a sense of love, communal care and connection. May we cherish moments of joy and pleasure among those we love, and may we continue to connect with those who struggle with isolation and loneliness during the holidays. May we reflect on our renewed commitments to justice and compassion in 2025 together.

Wherever you are and however you mark the coming holidays of Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year, and more, I send you my love and I send you good wishes from all of us at your Unitarian Universalist Association.

Be well, Beloveds.

Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, UUA President