I jotted down a few notes for this column on Christmas Day. It was a slow morning and I had time to reflect in the afterglow of Christmas Eve. The sanctuary had been packed and alive with the energy of the evening.

There were members and visitors and guests. There were extended families. In the congregation were people I didn’t know, and many faces I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was a heartfelt joy to be together. I wanted to wish Happy Holidays to everyone, but more importantly to share my delight with each person that they were there.

Of course, there was no way to do that before some people left, but I smile as I remember the room and so many new and familiar faces. I began my notes with “I’m so glad to see you.” Every time I spoke those words it was because that was what I truly felt. And I wanted to convey how much I meant what I said.

It was all good.

I add “all good” because, as the minister, what I say and how I say it has different meanings to different people on different days in different moments. There were no unspoken dangling negatives attached to anything in any way, but I got the sense from a response or two that someone might have heard one.

Some people think that I say things like “I’m so glad to see you” because it is my job as a minister. I don’t do that.

Long ago I made it a personal practice to make sure when I said that it was real. A few people followed my greeting by saying it was good to be here and then apologized for not having come in a while. No apology was needed.

I say: “I’m so glad to see you” because we are looking at each other and it’s true. It was wonderful that you were there and we were all together.

As I sat in the quiet that morning, the familiness of this congregation came alive for me. It wasn’t so much a thought as an embracing feeling. On Christmas Eve we were this big group filling the sanctuary to overflowing.

I looked around and thought, Yes, this is the vibrant extended congregation the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville is and strives to make ever better: People gathered across distance and time, separations and other choices to be together—gathered in response to the tugs from diverse strands of unseen connections to form a community of belonging and affirmation of “Yes, life is like this.” This is good and possible in a challenging world and time. This is a community of hope—an inclusive, inspired, engaged, open, welcoming family.

Here I use the word family with more our Universalist understanding of life and love and justice and less the misunderstandings so often a part of personal family experiences; “one human family,” a large feeling of belonging beyond words and issues. There we were on the eve of Christmas Day—yes, less multicultural than we are called to be, and at the same time definitely multigenerational and more diverse than we usually notice. In that moment, we embodied the good we hope for.

This month’s holiday is Valentine’s Day, where we notice and appreciate our loves and love. Let’s bring Christmas Eve forward with Valentines to the larger embrace of the family of being, the familiness and right relationship we seek, the larger sense that the world needs and that we are called to build and grow and share. It’s right here. I felt it. I looked around and I saw it. I’m so glad to see you. Happy Valentine’s Day!

— Rev. Jim McKinley, Minister