Dear American Unitarian:

This is a time of renewed hope and reflection. Christmas is a time to be with family, to cherish the simple joys of children, and to embrace the good will and hope that the holiday brings out in us all. The story of the baby Jesus is a story of hope and possibility. It reminds us that things can be better and of our ideals—ideals that in no small measure spring from our religious understanding.

The new year should also bring with a period of reflection and prayer on how we have lived our life during the past year and offers us an occasion to compare our actions with our ideals. To paraphrase Frederick Eliot, we need to engage in deliberate effort to see more clearly God’s purpose and to consecrate our own personal powers more wholeheartedly to its fulfillment. Only by seriously and deliberately comparing the reality of how we are living with our considered hopes and aspirations can we hope to do better.

This Christmas, as the last, the United States is at war. Many Americans and Iraqis have lost loved ones or seen them maimed or injured. May God instill in all a love for peace and grant strength and safety to all who seek to do justice and preserve freedom. With God’s grace, we may hope, in the spirit of the season, that the day when the scourge of war becomes a dim but bitter memory is not immeasurably far off.

May God’s love be with you always

Yours in faith, freedom, and reason,

David R. Burton

President

American Unitarian Conference