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We are acting out of an abundance of caution and will return to remote-only services Dec. 26th through January 8th as we get through the post-holiday surge. We understand how frustrating and disappointing this news may be, but our community has a responsibility to act as faithfully as possible to protect public health. We hope that this return to virtual will be short lived.”

The celebration
has just begun.

Christmastide with Kwanzaa Service

Christmastide [also known as Christmastime or the Christmas season] is a season of the liturgical year starting on Christmas and ends on on the day before Epiphany [25 December to 5 January 2022].

For most people it means that Christmas is over. But for the UCRP, it means the celebration has just begun. We put a massive amount of effort into preparing for December 25th...then, the very next day, we feel a bit blue.

“It’s over,” we think. We take down our Christmas lights, drag the tree out onto the curb, and return to our everyday lives.

Don’t! Stop right there.

The carols, the feasting, the lights, the joy, have only just commenced. We are about to rejoice in a long celebration of the birth of Christ, the Messiah.

There is a reason why Christmas is called a season. It does not last for a single day. We have been preparing for it for four weeks with Advent, and the Church couldn't possibly start and end its celebration of Christ's birth in one day. After Easter, Christmas is the most important liturgical holiday in the Church calendar. Why? Because Christmas is what made Easter possible. Without Jesus Christ incarnation and birth, our redemption would not have been brought to completion, and there would be no hope for us in our fallen state. To make the circle complete, there would be no Christmas without Easter.

This year the first Sunday of Christmastide falls on the day after Christmas.

The twenty-sixth of December is also the start of Kwanzaa.

Join us at our regular Sunday morning time for a Christmas and Kwanzaa service. EdVette Jones will be preaching.

Kwanzaa History

DR. MAULANA KARENGA

Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966. After the Los Angeles Watts riots on 11 August 1965, Dr. Karenga searched for ways to bring African Americans together as a community. He founded US, a cultural organization, and started to research African “first fruit” [harvest] celebrations. Dr. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of Kwanzaa. One might say that Kwanzaa has similarities with Thanksgiving in the United States or the Yam Festival in Ghana and Nigeria.

How Kwanzaa is celebrated

Like the Jewish Hannakah, candles are used to represent concepts of the holiday. On each of the seven nights of Kwanzaa, the family gathers and a child lights one of the candles on the Kinara [candleholder], then one of the seven principles is discussed. The principles, called the Nguzo Saba [seven principles in Swahili] are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African-Americans. Kwanzaa also has seven basic symbols which represent values and concepts reflective of African culture. An African feast, called a Karamu, is held on December 31.

Five sets of values and the Seven Principles

Five common sets of values are central to the activities of the week: ingathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment, and celebration.

Each day of Kwanzaa emphasizes a different principle.. The seven principles of Kwanzaa utilize Kiswahili words:

Unity: Umoja [oo–MO–jah]
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Self-determination: Kujichagulia [koo–gee–cha–goo–LEE–yah]
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.

Collective Work and Responsibility: Ujima [oo–GEE–mah]
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.

Cooperative Economics: Ujamaa [oo–JAH–mah]
To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Purpose: Nia [nee–YAH]
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Creativity: Kuumba [koo–OOM–bah]
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Faith: Imani [ee–MAH–nee]
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.