For the Winter Solstice

In Wholeness

There is no competition between this light
and the darkness which holds it.
Both the light and the darkness are holy.
 
We light our chalice not to defeat the darkness,
but because, for a time, we need the gifts of flame:
warmth and light to guide and help us in our endeavors.
And when the time comes, we will embrace
again the gentle dark which allows us rest.
 
And so, we kindle this light with awareness and gratitude
for light and dark and all that lies in-between.
Each with its gifts, each with its beauty,
each part of a sacred and necessary whole.
 

—- Sean Parker Dennison
Breaking and Blessing: Meditations (2020)

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Rev. Sean Parker Dennison is the minister at Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ashland, Oregon. Ordained in 2000, Rev. Dennison has served congregations in California, Utah, and Illinois and cofounded TRUUsT, an organization for transgender UU religious leaders, in 2004. They are also an artist, parent, poet, and grandparent.