During the last few months, there was little to cheer in the outside world beyond our church doors. Even the weather tended toward the drab and some of our church organizations reflected the general uneasiness of the country in their reports about the elections, the war in Iraq and nuclear proliferation. And just when we thought that the holidays might inject some joy into the public malaise, nature struck with such ferocity in Asia that it was hard to maintain a festive mood in the face of so much suffering.

Still, All Souls carried on as energetically as ever during the Fall of 2004. Committees met and initiated programs, Task Forces provided information and leadership, Adult Education and various lectures and workshops helped to relate through poetry and history what was happening now to what had happened in the past. Members of the Congregation looked inward and concentrated on the meaning of our Bond of Union; we, as a congregation, ordained one of our own into the UU ministry; the church school spent weeks on the production of a joyful Christmas Pageant; and the Nuclear Disarmament Task Force looked beyond despair over the disintegrating situation towards positive proposals for a solution to the problem.

Perhaps the Tsunami of December 2004 will serve to shock our quarrelsome world into the spirit of Peace and Good Will that the holiday season is supposed to provide. Water is a cleansing medium. Perhaps the huge waves in the Indian Ocean will, in the end, wash away much of the hate and strife that we, as UUs, have been working to eliminate here at home and all over the world. Let’s start 2005 with a Tsunami-washed clean slate.

—Marietta Moskin

Contributors to this issue:
Lois Chazen
Mary-Ella Holst (Crossword Puzzle)
Mark Leeds (Christmas Pageant photos)
Marietta Moskin