Dec. 23, 2025

“Now is the moment of magic”
~Victoria Safford

Friends,

Today we are right in between the Winter Solstice and Christmas. Hopefully, as you read this, I am somewhere in between wrapping presents and opening them. (The space between those events can be quite short some years!) We are all in between the longest night of the year and the day when we are likely to actually notice daylight outweighing darkness. We are also in between in lots of other ways: some of them delightful and others more challenging: between hope and frustration, between joy and grief, between the past and the present. This is life. Each of these in-between moments is also, in the words of the Rev. Victoria Safford, “the moment of Magic.”

While I finish up preparations for tomorrow (see details below), I hope you enjoy her poem for this in-between season (from Walking Toward Morning): 

The Moment of Magic by Victoria Safford

Now is the moment of magic,
when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun,

and here’s a blessing:
the days will be longer and brighter now,
even before the winter settles in to chill us.

Now is the moment of magic,
when people beaten down and broken,
with nothing left but misery and candles and their own clear voices,
kindle tiny lights and whisper secret music,

and here’s a blessing:
the dark universe is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the menorah,
suddenly ablaze with the lights of the kinara,
and the whole world is glad and loud with winter singing.

Now is the moment of magic,
when an eastern star beckons the ignorant toward an unknown goal,

and here’s a blessing:
they find nothing in the end but an ordinary baby,
born at midnight, born in poverty, and the baby’s cry, like bells ringing,
makes people wonder as they wander through their lives,
what human love might really look like,
sound like,
feel like.

Now is the moment of magic,

and here’s a blessing:
we already possess all the gifts we need;
we’ve already received our presents:
ears to hear music,
eyes to behold lights,
hands to build true peace on earth
and to hold each other tight in love.

Yours in the magic and the blessings,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. I’m sending this  a day early this week, because tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I hope I’ll see you at church for our candlelight service at 4:30 pm (come early–Fran will be starting prelude music at 4:15). We will hear some holiday readings and sing some familiar carols, light candles in the dark, and more–I can’t wait! (And afterwards we plan to enjoy good food and good company in the back room at Asihi Hibachi and Buffet. Please join us; details below.)