I just love being a Unitarian Universalist. It's so much fun that, if Unitarian Universalism didn't exist, I'd invent it. Wouldn't you? And like other loved ones in our lives, we need to take the time to celebrate their company -- and to tell them we love them.

Jesus suggested that we love our enemies. But is it our enemies or we ourselves that is transformed by the power of love?

Rev. LoraKim Joyner guest preaches. The Beatles sang "All You Need Is Love" back in the sixties. Why on earth would anyone say such a thing?

If we are hostile and suspicious toward anyone who appears to be different, if our instinct is to bolt our doors and protect the ones we love, we are in need of a remedy for this hatred, fear, and suspicion. That remedy is hospitality -- and it is both comforting and challenging.

Spiritual grounding: don't leave home without it. Examples from the lives of great social activists illustrate the spiritual connection. The energy for justice work so often comes from anger -- but justice must be grounded in compassion and love.

Anti-immigrant sentiment has been growing in the US. Let us wonder together what became of our nation's vaunted Judeo-Christian heritage ("You shall not

oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" - Exodus 23:9) -- and what became of our secular heritage of liberty ("Send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free?" -Emma Lazaurs, plaque on the Statue of Liberty).

Unitarian Universalists adopted a Statement of Conscience on Ethical Eating at our last General Assembly. It's a study in our 3rd principle: accepting each other where we are in our eating choices, yet at the same time encouragement to choose with greater ethical awareness. Rev. Garmon is joined by Rev. LoraKim Joyner. Read the Statement of Conscience at www.uua.org/statements/statements/185320.shtml.

What we celebrate in celebrating Christmas: reflections by Rev. Garmon and Renee Zenaida.

God is traditionally conceived of as a noun. In the 20th century, a school called "process theology" suggested thinking of God as a verb. God as an adjective might also be a helpful perspective. God in pronoun form raises issues of theological sexism and appropriately acknowledging the feminine divine. Is there a preposition proposition? A conjunction function?

"God" is a difficult topic among Unitarian Universalists. Some of us resist any use of the word or concept. For others of us, God is a central part of our understanding and our life. Is this an ontological disagreement (involving competing claims about the nature of reality and what reality does and does not include)? Is it a semantic disagreement (involving competing claims about what words do and don't mean)? Or is it neither of these so much as a matter of identity and group loyalty?