We celebrated two of our favorite ceremonies to leave the old year behind and enter the new one with great expectations.

Burning Bowl You will have a chance to write down everything you want to leave behind in the old year and burn it later as you wish.

White Stone Ceremony In meditation, you may ask for a special word or phrase to help set your intention for 2013.

This podcast also includes a song, "On This White Stone," written by Sue K. Riley and performed by Kit Holmes. Thanks to them for permission to include this moving melody. Be also aware that it is helpful to have a piece of paper and pen to write down things to throw away and another(a white stone is preferable) to write down your special phrase.

For more information on Sue Riley, a Unity Minister in Florida, you can go to sueriley.com

For more information on Kit Holmes, our music minister and a Grammy-nominated song-writer and performer, you can go to: www.kitholmesmusic.com

For our Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service, Reverend Ellen Debenport completes her three-part series on the Women of Jesus' with the mother Mary and spiritual contracts in our lives.

Five women are mentioned by name in Jesus' lineage. The stories of Ruth and Bathsheba are among the most touching in the Bible.

Then Christmas Eve ... Our traditional candle lighting service at 7 pm Monday. And the fifth woman named in Jesus' heritage, his mother Mary.

Five women are mentioned by name. Rev. Ellen talks about the first two, Tamar and Rahab. Have you ever heard of them? Join Rev. Ellen for a fascinating introduction to two of Jesus' grandmothers.

As people of God, we are called to higher choices than we might want or feel we are capable of. In this season, we look to the One who chose to show us how it's done.

Rev. Jill Carey returns to Unity of Wimberley for the first time in nearly two years. We love her visits! Jill is the former minister at Unity Center in Austin and a regular speaker at Downtown Unity Circle.

We begin the Advent season, our preparation for Christmas, with another look at Ken Wilber's Three Faces of God. They are transcendent (God is All), immanent (I AM), and the I-Thou relationship with an outer God, which is where many of us started but now struggle. And where does the birth of Jesus fit into this?