The trees do not care what we are celebrating, be it Christmas, or Kwanzaa, or Yule. We care. We argue. We party. Of course the trees notice, in their slow, silent, cellular way the shift of the sunlight on their bodies. They notice the freezing of water, and respond to the thaw when it comes. The rhythm of each year is written, visibly recorded, in the rings of trees and the layers of soil. They do notice individually if we cut them down for firewood, or to clear space for our living. But ultimately they are uninvolved in what drives us to plan and work, to spend and travel, worry and anticipate.

This is perhaps one of the most universal insights of all human religion, that there is always something larger than ourselves in which we move and live. Some people assert they have a special, and thus better, relationship with that larger reality. Some claim their nation is guided by God, some that the whole world has been turned against them and some people are certain that the Creator of the Universe expects them to piously honor the birth of Jesus on December 25th.

Unitarian Universalists naturally hold to humility about these things. It is good to celebrate the birth of Jesus, or a secular Christmas. But if you decide to celebrate on some other day, or to celebrate another holiday, or to not celebrate at all, that is good too. If you give gifts to your friends and family on one particular morning, or on another, the trees do not mind. All they ask (in their silent, cellular way) is that you act justly, love mercy and walk humbly within the web of all living things.

So, though the trees are beyond such sentiment, I hope that you have holidays which awaken you to the wholeness and goodness of life.

Peace, Thomas