Author: Nick Laux

As the holiday season approaches, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for this vibrant and caring community. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix has been a source of light and love throughout this eventful year, and I am continually inspired by the ways we support one another and live out our shared values.

Our dedicated staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that our services, programs, and outreach efforts reflect the spirit of our congregation. To honor their commitment and provide an opportunity for well-deserved rest, the UUCP staff will be taking a break between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. During this time, our offices will be closed, and we encourage everyone to take this season as a chance to slow down, recharge, and connect with loved ones.

After our cherished Christmas Eve services reminded us of the hope and peace this season brings, I hope you will embrace the quiet magic of the days ahead and have time to reflect on the joys and challenges of the year past. We will be able to continue doing that at our annual New Year Labyrinth and Meditation service on Sunday, December 29th.  

On behalf of the entire UUCP staff, I wish you a very blessed holiday season. May it be filled with some sense of peace, and hopefully a dash of joy. We look forward to beginning the new year with love and a continued commitment to our shared mission.

Christmas is almost here! Each year, the staff and I go through all the services that we are having, figuring out the order of the service, placing the best music in the right place, figuring out what our themes are, and getting all the details in place. Each year, we set a date that we will have all the services ready to go so that we can individually enjoy the holidays ourselves–this year that date is December 19th–we’re almost there.  

This year, we are excited by a couple of changes we made in the Christmas schedule. This past Sunday we had our Holiday pageant as a Sunday worship service, instead of as the first of two services on Christmas Eve. While having the pageant on Christmas Eve has been tradition, we have heard many comments that most people can’t come to both services and they end up choosing one or the other and that they wish they could see both. Also, both services are two of our most complicated of the year and having them both on one night was a lot for everyone involved. I heard terrific feedback from attendees on Sunday; folks loved having a big crowd for it, they loved having the choir involved and they loved how interactive it was. We are considering it a big success.  

This year for Christmas Eve, we are still having two services–partly because it is tradition to do so. Our first service is more of an informal service of UU Christmas readings and a bunch of Christmas carols. It will be followed by cookies and cider, as is tradition. Then our traditional, more formal Christmas Eve service will be at 7:30, complete with the singing of Silent Night by candlelight at the end.  

We always appreciate your feedback, input and wishes whenever we change anything, especially anything that has been as much of “tradition” as Christmas Eve. Thank you for everything you do to make this holiday season so special. 

I had two profound experiences that led me to the same conclusion. 

First, on Monday morning was the Arizona Faith Network’s annual gathering. Over 200 Interfaith leaders, lay people, and community leaders were present to share the good works that we were each doing and to celebrate the accomplishments of the interfaith community. Each year, I know more and more of these wonderful people and each year, I am adding a few more as trusted colleagues and friends. AFN truly works to be diverse in its leadership, membership and faith traditions—with Indigenous, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist colleagues being just a few with whom I spoke. We had the opportunity to talk about what unites us in these divided times: justice, peace, equity, and love. 

Second, on Tuesday evening was our Blue Holidays service. Each year, this is one of my favorite things that we offer. It is easy to offer joy and peace to those for whom the holidays is joyful and peaceful; it is a true gift to offer comfort, acceptance, solidarity and grace to those for whom the holidays are complicated, grief-filled or difficult. Each year, I am reminded that we have no idea what is happening in each person’s inner landscape and that we all just need to be kinder to each other. 

What is the conclusion? That as many of us start to head into the bustle of the holiday season, to remember that many don’t celebrate this holiday or can’t celebrate it as they would wish. As someone who hasn’t even started Christmas shopping yet, it was a good re-calibration for my own expectations and understanding.

“Are we a concert venue now?” 

This is a question I asked our Music Director Benjie Messer about a month ago. Within the last year, we’ve had musicians reach out to US to do concerts at our facility, including Urban Nocturnes (which made sense because of their connection with Glenn Stallcop), Joe Jencks, Crys Matthews, Emma’s Revolution, and Peter Mayer (may be coming in the spring).  

Unlike other trends that we can’t explain, we don’t know why we are on national touring folks’ radar, but it is a big compliment. UUCP has often been seen as a Flagship Congregation in the UU movement and musicians with social justice messages have always known UU congregations to be welcoming places of like-hearted people.  

Having a concert or an event is not easy. Each performer has different needs, we have to set up a different payment for each one, and we need folks to help welcome them, manage tickets and help them to set-up. But each one has had a special way of touching my heart, especially in these complicated times.  

This weekend, we’re having a fundraiser for UURise that features Emma’s Revolution. They are a nationally known duo of progressive songwriters and singers that are known very well across UU circles. People from all across the country will be tuned in for it. It is an incredible privilege that they’re coming here. We’re using the opportunity to have a separate meeting with some of our immigration and refugee partners to share information on what each of them know so that it can have local impact as well.  

I hope you’ll come and join us for the Emma’s Revolution concert on Sunday at 3; you can find the link to tickets in Compass and on the webpage.  

And maybe next time someone asks you what your favorite concert venue is, you can say “UUCP!”