The following is an excerpt from an article in Salon.com. If you are not a Salon member, you may still view the entire article by watching a brief ad first. In the heart of the Bluegrass, a Bible Belt preacher is rallying people to political action around what he calls "basic religious values." Think you can describe his politics? Think again. This man of the cloth wants "regime change" in Washington. The Rev. Albert Pennybacker, a Lexington, Ky.-based pastor, is head of the Clergy Leadership Network, a new, cross-denominational group of liberal and moderate religious leaders seeking to counter the influence of the religious right and to mobilize voters to change leadership in Washington. Pennybacker, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a pastor of 35 years, is tired of the conventional wisdom that equates religiosity with conservatism. Nationwide, he says, the religious right often squeezes out the left in public debate. The group is 1,000 members strong -- and growing.

If you haven't read it before, I recommend reading Marcus Borg's essay "Christmas in the Present Tense." Some who grew up celebrating Christmas, now finds their feelings about the holiday complicated by doubts that the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is really literally, factually true. This essay might help you find a new, deeper meaning to the holiday. Beliefnet.com: "Sometimes we find ourselves focusing on whether Jesus' birth stories are historically factual. Was Jesus really born of a virgin? Was there really a special astronomical phenomenon at the time of his birth? Did wise men bearing gifts really come to the place of his birth? For some Christians, whether or not these stories are factually accurate is crucial. In their minds, the stakes are high: the truth of the Bible and the divinity of Jesus. But this debate puts the emphasis in the wrong place. For the truth of these stories is not dependent on their historical accuracy. Rather, these stories are 'poetry plus, and not science minus,' to echo a Swedish proverb. As 'poetry plus,' they use the language of poetry, and yet they are more than poetry in that they also make a truth claim. At the same time, the language of these stories is not inferior to the language of factuality because it says more than such language can. "

In church on Sunday, I learned that, in addition to being the 4th Sunday in Advent, it was also St. Thomas Day. I had not been aware of this before, but it also fits in with the other "light in a time of darkness" holiday themes at this time of year. St. Thomas' Day: "The Day of St. Thomas, celebrated on December 21, is also the day of the winter solstice, the year's longest night and shortest day. St. Thomas is commemorated on this day because he was the last one of the apostles to become convinced of Jesus' resurrection -- he was the one who for the longest time remained in the 'night of unbelief and doubt.' " Father Art noted in his sermon that, in a book by Jennifer Hecht entitled Doubt, the author quotes a Zen master: Little doubt, little insight. Big doubt, big insight. No doubt, no insight. Interesting. I've seen those bumper stickers that say "Feed your faith--starve your doubts." The implication there seems to be that doubt is something we need to avoid, or at least shake off quickly. I don't agree. I think we need to pay attention to all of our internal stirrings, positive and negative, and find out what they are trying to tell us. And as I am trying to think of how to finish this comment--sleepy, but not wanting to have to pick up and finish the thought tomorrow, what keeps popping into my head is the text refrain from a story my kids heard in preschool. Every time the bear hunters encounter a new obstacle, be it long wavy grass, thick oozy mud, or a big dark forest, we find: Can't go over it Can't go around it Got to go through it Doubt is kind of like that. Going over it or around it is not as useful in the long run as actually going through it.

In the PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly there is an interesting interview about the origins of Christmas and how the celebration has changed over time: KIM LAWTON: Americans can often have a romanticized notion of a "traditional" Christmas. But you might want to give that old-fashioned Christmas wish a second thought. ACE COLLINS (Author, STORIES BEHIND THE GREAT TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS): It was a horrible holiday. Women and children couldn't go in the streets. The New York City police department in the 1800s had to add extra people to their police force just to combat the looting and violence on Christmas. LAWTON: Ace Collins is author of the new book STORIES BEHIND THE GREAT TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS. This year, he was telling Christmas stories at the Louise Mandrell Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. He says up until about 200 years ago, Christmas celebrations in America largely reflected the pagan origins of the holiday. Mr. COLLINS: It was a time of Mardi Gras on steroids. LAWTON: The raucous Christmas partying is rooted in a time when pre-Christian cultures marked the winter solstice -- as many pagans still do. Romans, for example, had a week-long festival of self-indulgence, dedicated to Saturn, the god of fertility and the harvest. Saturnalia was a time of orgies, drunkenness, and plunder. The earliest Christians, meanwhile, didn't generally celebrate the birth of Jesus. They focused on his death and resurrection. The Bible itself doesn't indicate when Jesus was born. Click here to read the rest of the article.

Happy Hanukkah! Some reflections for you to peruse: USCJ: Hanukkah:The Gift of Hope: "What can we possibly give one another this year that will be meaningful in times such as these? No one person can bestow peace, although it may well top most of our wish lists. Likewise, no one person can redress the economic disparities in our own communities and throughout the world. So just what gift would make a real difference in someone's life? After 9/11 we all began to feel significantly less secure, less trusting. We now look twice at fellow passengers on buses and trains, and we say a silent prayer when driving our cars over bridges and through tunnels. Many have watched their investment accounts shrink and have stopped imagining blissful times in which their retirement funds, together with social security, will carry them comfortably through their golden years. The world political situation seems to worsen on a daily basis, from continuing violence in Iraq, to bombings in Turkey, to increasing anti-Semitism in Europe. In addition, while the informal Geneva agreement crafted recently by Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo demonstrate that dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians is still possible, the official situation in Israel continues to be grim. So what can someone give me what can I give others? that will make a difference? One of the commodities in shortest supply this year is optimism. We read in Psalm 30: Ba'erev Yalin Bekhi V'la'boker Rinah -- Tears may linger for a night, but joy comes with the dawn." This is this message we must spread " the gift of hope." From a homily for Hanukkah at Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Chandler, Arizona: First of all, the lights of Hanukkah have nothing to do with the sun's return. Instead they remind us of another kind of inner light, the hope and courage of our human hearts. We may have banished the darkness of the night with our cities of light but we have not banished inhumanity, terror and cruelty from our world. It is because of the other darkness, that of the human heart, that we must light candles. To remind us that it does not have to be so. Some years we light the Menorah in peace and good will celebrating our gifts, our sacred community, our family and the joy of the human heart. Other years we have to light the candles in protest against the cruelties and violent darkness that is found in the human heart. The Grander View: "Rabbi Michael Lerner reminds us that the Hanukkah story, like so many of the stories from both sacred and secular traditions, is about people recognizing that they have the power to transform what is to what ought to be. 'What is,' in this case the 'what is' as depicted in the Hanukkah story, was the life of a people controlled and isolated by a government that feared diversity - the Greeks wanted homogeneity. But as we have seen from the legends of old all the way up through the challenges of today, the depth and diversity of life cannot be stymied, the complexity and variety of life will never stay stagnant." Tikkun Chanukah Supplement - a reflection guide in Adobe PDF format (396K). You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

I have looked up some links, which you may pursue further if interested, that describe how solstice is being celebrated: Becoming | Calendar | Winter Solstice 2003: "In this, the darkest time of the year, we come together in silence to meditate on the past, honor the present, and look to the future. The Winter Solstice ritual will be followed with food and socializing (talking allowed). We may also take the yule story-telling tradition to heart... there will be a semi-organized sharing of stories/poems/whatever." Winter Solstice 2003 with Starhawk Winter Solstice 2003: "This special moment reminds us of the miracle and wonder of our place in the universe, and calls us to recognize & honor the universal forces which make us One with the spirit of Divine, Cosmic, Earth-Nature, and all Living Beings. Feel the energy which links us and which creates a miraculous Whole circling the entire globe. This inter-connecting psychic energy creates a clear, luminous circle of trust and love, and permits us to have an intentional contact with the energies of Solstice & other participants. Thru this ceremony" -- Beliefnet.com: "Seeds of Light 1. Place a large candle unlit in the center of the table or floor. 2. Sit in front of it, or if doing this in a group, have everyone sit in a circle around it. Everyone present should have their own small candle. 3. Turn all lights out. Experience the feeling of sitting in utter darkness--the silence, the stillness, the inwardness. If children are present, have them say out loud what it feels like (soft, scary, cold). Ask them to imagine what life would be like without the sun, and share their answers aloud. 4. Now consider all the gifts the sun brings us. Again, if children are present, have them call out what comes to mind. 5. Contemplate how the seed of light is even now being born within the womb of darkness. (An adult can explain to children how the wheel of the year is now turning towards the light.) Light the central candle with a taper. 6. Now each person in turn lights their taper from the Sun candle and wishes out loud for three things they would like to have happen in the coming year: make a wish for yourself, a wish for someone you know, and a wish for the planet. 7. Now the room is filled with light and warmth. Finish the celebration with seasonal song, circle dance, or food. 8. At the end of the gathering, individual candles can be snuffed out with the reminder that the flame continues to burn brightly within our hearts. If possible, let the central candle stay alight throughout the night (with obvious safety precautions!) to welcome back the Sun."

A few days ago, I posted about the holiday card my husband and I created. Here is the text of the card: "Ages ago, our ancestors, cold and fearful for their very survival, watched the winter skies for signs of the sun's return. Each winter, we are still reminded that even in dark times, hope is waiting to be reborn inside each of us. And, just as the flame of one candle ignites another, so does hope become stronger and more brilliant as it spreads from one heart to another...until a better world is not a distant hope but a reality we have the power to create together." Here are the outside and inside images of the card. Part of what inspired the creation of that card, was the desire to expess a theme that was common to a number of different winter celebrations--the idea of light and hope returning to the world in a dark time. But it was also inspired by a connection we made to world events. For many of us, the Bush administration has seemed like a "long, cold, lonely winter" (nod to George Harrison). Personally, I would love to see a real celebration of hope at solstice time, one which could be shared by all those who are working towards the end of the "Bush winter". Especially with the recent events (the capture of Saddam Hussein), it would be wonderful to see a clear, positive expression of hope and unity. I'm thinking something along the lines of the candle light vigils that took place around the world before the war in Iraq. But the focus, rather than protesting any one thing--saying what we are against--would be our shared hope that we can do better. This year, Winter Solstice takes place on Monday, December 22. I wonder how one could get such an idea to catch on...

It was certainly surprising—surreal, even, to wake up this morning, look at the Yahoo home page, and see the headline that Saddam Hussein had been captured. Alive. What would this mean? Would this actually help George Bush enough that the world might have to suffer through four more years of his “leadership”? And why was I so focussed on the political aspect of this? Why was I not thinking of the troops who are in danger, away from their families? Was I going to remain glued to internet news sites and blogs today, and, if I did, what would be the effect, really? I need to go to church, I thought. But, oh, look at all that snow. It’s cold out there, and slippery. And, did I mention cold? Lots of snow to brush off the car, and I’m not sure where the snow brush is. But, I really do need to go to church. I need the time to contemplate, to step back and see the big picture. And, the kids have colds and are cranky and won’t stop screaming at each other. Okay, I’ll admit it –that last part is what clinched it for me. When I arrived at church, I discovered that today is the day they are doing the Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols. This is something I only learned about for the first time last year. According to Wikipedia: The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format of Christian worship service celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and traditionally celebrated at Christmas. The story of the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols and hymns. The most famous version is broadcast annually from the chapel of King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve. My first thought when I realized we were doing the Lessons and Carols today was not very mature or spiritually lofty. "Oh, great. Lots of readings. Lots of "pew aerobics!" But, I quickly realized that I needed this right now. I needed to slow down, be still, step back and look at the bigger picture. This series of readings is good for that. It starts with fortelling of Jesus' birth in Isaiah, and moves through the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel, Jesus' birth, to his baptism in the River Jordan, when he proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God. What are the "take-home" lessons here? Change happens, but it takes time. God often moves slowly--more slowly than we would like. Political change is also slow and difficult, and, if you focus on the actual moment to moment ups and downs, can be really discouraging. What else? The caption for lesson three was "God promises that a child will be conceived who will be known as "God with us." The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." I read these words, and looked at the little baby in the row in front of me. Actually, I had been looking at him the whole time he was awake--his wide blue eyes and big smile. I can't help myself, if there is a baby near me, we always have these silent conversations. Eyes wide, smiles, eyebrows raised... God promises that a child shall be conceived who will be known as "God with us." Looking at babies, it is so easy to see God with us. Looking at bigger kids, or at adults, it gets harder. But I guess that means we need to try harder. In the past few years I have begun to examine the meanings of these stories more closely. Of course, I have had a little help from the writings of Marcus Borg, and the writings and sermons of Unitarian Universalist ministers. One sermon that really stayed with me was one by Mark Belletini, entitled, "Turning the World Upside-down": "The way I see it is this: when you worship a poor third world baby in a cattle-feeder, instead of a muscular and violent head of state on his throne, you begin to turn philosophy on its head, and certainly all theology. And, to say (as the Christians eventually did), that this weak child nursing at its mother's breast is a wonderful picture of G-d, you get another upside-down image…not the common image of G-d as Caesar in the sky, controlling the weather, the fates of individual human beings, and meting out punishments and rewards according to bribes, but G-d, or the Ultimate, if you will, as a helpless child in a dirty, splintery cattle feeder. Luke turns the world upside-down again for us by saying that the first people to whom this birth is announced are shepherd lads. Shepherds in those days had the same reputation as heroin addicts have in our own day…they were desperate, shady, sad and not-to-be-trusted folks, ready to sucker you at any moment for all that you are worth. Yet Luke says that even if, in Caesar's world, folks like this usually end up in prison on a cross, in the world imagined by Jesus the Chosen One, each person has intrinsic worth, worth that cannot be earned, bought or bribed or destroyed by prejudice or circumstance. Thus, giving the news to the sheep-herders totally turns convention on its head. " Mark referred to the Magnificat, which is the prayer/song of Mary in response to the angel Gabriel's message that she would bear a son who would be called "Son of the Most High": My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden, For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm: He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree. He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent empty away. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever. For many years I heard or read the words of the Magnificat without really thinking about the meaning. One gets used to a certain rhythm and cadence, and expects it year after year, and sometimes it is easy to just let the words wash over you without having them actually "sink in". And, until a few years ago, I had no idea that shepherds were held in such low regard--in the Christmas books they always looked so holy. And Mary always seemed so serene and other-worldly. I never really had a sense of her as a young (teen-age), poor girl who was truly amazed that someone of "low regard" like herself was being lifted up. But that is the story, and I long for it to be true. I mean, true today, in our own lives. Some things need to be turned "upside down". I want to see the lowly lifted up, and the mighty taken down a rung or two. Can it--will it--happen? I think so. But I think it will be important to keep stepping back, looking at the "big picture", being patient, and always keeping "God with us." Sometimes it means looking a little harder to recognize God's presence in those around us. Even in cranky big kids.

Bishop John Shelby Spong to speak at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio: January 24, 2004 I just put up a web page with the information about Bishop Spong's speaking engagement at St. Stephen's. Please feel free to bookmark the page linked above, and pass it along to anyone who might be interested.

Yesterday I posted that December 8 is Bodhi Day, the anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment. I almost forgot, until someone mentioned it in an online discussion group, that December 8 is also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church. I wanted to at least post briefly about this Feast Day, if for no other reason than to clear up a common misconception (didn't mean for that to be a pun, but there it is!) Unitarian Universalist minister Mark Belletini described the confusion about the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in a sermon in 2001, when he related: "This week, I have gone around asking all my friends, and asking members of this congregation I met in the halls, a simple question. I asked everyone to tell me what a certain Christian religious doctrine called "the Immaculate Conception," means in plain English. Without exception, I was told that the phrase Immaculate Conception refers to the idea that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born, his conception occurring without male seed. But, you see, this is completely false. Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me. The doctrine has nothing to do with Jesus or sexuality. Only Roman Catholics teach this unusual tenet, and then only for the last 150 years. It refers only to the state of Mary's soul when she was conceived, conceived through the ordinary sexual intercourse of her parents, Hannah and Joachim. The doctrine asserts, however, that she had no stain of original sin on her soul, unlike, apparently, the rest of us. This is an arcane teaching, certainly, for those of us who have decried the whole strange concept of original sin for centuries. Yet everyone I talked to this week--and please believe me when I tell you that all of them are well educated indeed--told me otherwise. " So, what does the Church teach about the Immaculate Conception? I will include some excerpts here for people who are interested in learning more. But I will do so without comment for now. I have a hard time with the concept of "original sin", as well as many other points of doctrine related to Mary, yet she is still profoundly meaningful to me. I have always, for as far back as I can remember, felt drawn to the Blessed Mother, and although the content of my beliefs has changed over time, Mary's significance to me has not. But I would like to devote some thought to that in another post... --- The Immaculate Conception, a solemnity, is the patronal feast of the United States. It is one of the few Holy days of obligation on the Church calendar -- that is, all Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on this day. As this feast occurs early in Advent, it is a perfect time to consider Mary and her important role in the celebration of Christmas. In 1854, Pope Pius IX's solemn declaration, "Ineffabilis Deus," clarified with finality the long-held belief of the Church that Mary was conceived free from original sin. In proclaiming the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a dogma of the Church, the pope expressed precisely and clearly that Mary was conceived free from the stain of original sin. This privilege of Mary derives from God's having chosen her as Mother of the Savior; thus she received the benefits of salvation in Christ from the very moment of her conception. (The picture above shows her mother, Anna, with the infant Mary within her womb.) This great gift to Mary, an ordinary human being just like us, was fitting because she was destined to be Mother of God. The purity and holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a model for all Christians. --- Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati writes: But the same Immaculate Conception of Mary that served to underline the universality of sin in the past serves today to teach us about the universality of redemption. The same Christ whose love and obedience to the Father preserved Mary from sharing in the universal human disaster, this same Christ makes Himself available to the desperate world of 2002. The redemption that kept Mary sinless is still there to take away the sin and the failure and the aimlessness of every human being who is willing to accept it. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception implies the universality of original sin, but it also reflects the doctrine of the efficacy of Christ, of the universality of redemption.

Tomorrow is Bodhi Day Bodhi Day--Usually observed December 8 or the Sunday immediately preceding, is the date, according to Mahayana tradition, of Siddhartha Gautama’s realization and presentation to his fellow seekers of the Four Noble Truths: 1. All beings are subject to suffering. No one escapes... suffering is universal. 2. The cause of suffering is Ignorance. And Ignorance of oneself is the greatest Ignorance. 3. Ignorance, the cause of suffering, can be overcome, and 4. The way to overcome Ignorance is the Eightfold Path.

Happy St. Nicholas' Day! Saint Nicholas ::: Who is St. Nicholas?: "Widely celebrated in Europe, St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6th, kept alive the stories of his goodness and generosity. In Germany and Poland, boys dressed as bishops begged alms for the poor—and sometimes for themselves! In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas arrived on a steamship from Spain to ride a white horse on his gift-giving rounds. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe. For example, in the Netherlands St. Nicholas' Day is celebrated with the sharing of candies (thrown in the door), chocolate initial letters, small gifts, and riddles. Dutch children leave carrots and hay in their shoes for the horse, hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them for small gifts. Simple gift-giving in early Advent helps preserve a Christmas Day focus on the Christ Child."

Since holidays are approaching and many of us will be doing more shopping than usual--thus probably hoping to save money whenever we can--I feel that I probably should have a little "soapbox moment" here to suggest that there are some good reasons to bypass Walmart's "Always Low Prices". Jim Hightower, back in April of 2002, wrote and aritcle entitled "How Wal-Mart is Remaking Our World". He describes the contrast between Walmart's public image and the reality how the way the corporation does business. "Wal-Mart cultivates an aw-shucks, we’re-just-folks-from-Arkansas image of neighborly small-town shopkeepers trying to sell stuff cheaply to you and yours. Behind its soft homespun ads, however, is what one union leader calls "this devouring beast" of a corporation that ruthlessly stomps on workers, neighborhoods, competitors, and suppliers. Despite its claim that it slashes profits to the bone in order to deliver "Always Low Prices," Wal-Mart banks about $7 billion a year in profits, ranking it among the most profitable entities on the planet. Of the 10 richest people in the world, five are Waltons—the ruling family of the Wal-Mart empire. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London’s "Rich List 2001" as the wealthiest human on the planet, having sacked up more than $65 billion (£45.3 billion) in personal wealth and topping Bill Gates as No. 1." Here are some of the specific concerns: "Health-care benefits? Only if you’ve been there two years; then the plan hits you with such huge premiums that few can afford it—only 38% of Wal-Marters are covered. Thinking union? Get outta here! "Wal-Mart is opposed to unionization," reads a company guidebook for supervisors. "You, as a manager, are expected to support the company’s position. . . . This may mean walking a tightrope between legitimate campaigning and improper conduct." Wal-Mart is in fact rabidly anti-union, deploying teams of union-busters from Bentonville to any spot where there’s a whisper of organizing activity." ............... "Using its sheer size, market clout, access to capital, and massive advertising budget, the company also is squeezing out competitors and forcing its remaining rivals to adopt its price-is-everything approach. Even the big boys like Toys R Us and Kroger are daunted by the company’s brutish power, saying they’re compelled to slash wages and search the globe for sweatshop suppliers in order to compete in the downward race to match Wal-Mart’s prices. " ............... "By slashing its retail prices way below cost when it enters a community, Wal-Mart can crush our groceries, pharmacies, hardware stores, and other retailers, then raise its prices once it has monopoly control over the market. " Clearly I do not want to copy the whole article, but there is just so much there. I strongly recommend reading Hightower's full article for all of the details. It is hard to try to tell people, "I know they are more affordable, but you shouldn't shop there." Many people are struggling financially, and they try to save money wherever they can. But the Walmart way of doing business insures that people's wages stay low, because they force competitors and suppliers to cut pay and benefits in order to remain competetive. I truly long for the days when I didn't have to think about things like this--maybe simply because I didn't know better. But now that I do know better, I can't in good conscience play even a small part in aiding and abetting the things this company is doing. For more articles on this topic, check out Walmart Watch.

My husband and I have been working to create a holiday card that could be appropriate whether you were religious or not...one that was not specific to any one holiday, but touched on the universal themes of light and hope. We have finally finished the card, and have uploaded it to Cafe Press. I have also uploaded the outside and inside images so that you can download them and print your own cards if you like.

December 6 is St. Nicholas Day. We know some people for whom St. Nicholas Day is their gift giving holiday, and on December 25, they celebrate Christmas by doing something for the poor, like helping in a soup kitchen. Sermon "Getting In -- Or Fighting -- The Holiday Spirit" "St. Nicholas, from whom the Santa Claus story evolved, was a real man. He lived in the fourth century, in the early part of the fourth century, before there was a Christmas in Christianity. He was a rich man with a generous heart, and he would go around unseen — because it was important to him that this be done secretly — and give gifts, little bags of gold, to some of the needy people in his town. Eventually he was discovered, it was learned where the gold was coming from, and the story of St. Nicholas and his generous heart spread like wildfire. When St. Nicholas died around the middle of the fourth century, he died on December 6, and December 6th became known then as St. Nicholas Day. It was a day when Christians were supposed to celebrate the memory of this generous man with his generous heart, by giving gifts to the needy. It had nothing to do with Jesus or Christmas. The gifts weren’t to be given on December 25th. The idea was to give them to the needy on December 6th, and to give them anonymously." More about St. Nicholas and his connection with Santa Claus: St. Nicholas of Myra: "The best-known story involves a man with three unmarried daughters, and not enough money to provide them with suitable dowries. This meant that they could not marry, and were likely to end up as prostitutes. Nicholas walked by the man's house on three successive nights, and each time threw a bag of gold in through a window (or, when the story came to be told in colder climates, down the chimney). Thus, the daughters were saved from a life of shame, and all got married and lived happily ever after. Because of this and similar stories, Nicholas became a symbol of anonymous gift-giving. Hence, if we give a gift to someone today without saying whom it is from, it can be called 'a present from Saint Nicholas (or Santa Claus).' Some parents explain this to their children and invite the child to join them in wrapping a toy (either something purchased for that purpose, at least partly with the child's allowance, or else a toy that the child has outgrown but that is still serviceable) or an outgrown but not shabby item of the child's clothing, or a package of food, and then going along to donate it to a suitable shelter that will give it to someone who will welcome it. This gift is then called 'a present from Santa,' so that the child understands that this is another name for an anonymous gift given to someone whom we do not know, but whom we love anyway because God does. (Presents within the family can be 'From Santa' or 'From Santa and...')"

I want to share an excerpt from a Solstice/Christmas sermon. The author describes how looking at the historical and cultural connections between Christmas and Winter Solstice as well as other winter celebrations, can give the Chrismas a new and deeper meaning. This can be especially true for people who, like the author, feel a little hypocritical celebrating the holiday when, like the author, they "did not buy into the modern Christian package (virgin birth, 12/25 birthday, Jesus as the only son of God, all the miracles..." UUS > Sermons > 2002 > December 22 - "Modern Meaning from Winter Solstice Ancient Mythology and Ritual" by Becky Fockler, Worship Associate: "It is so interesting to me that religions and mythologies are so similar, here are common themes and archetypes that I’ve noticed in all these stories and rituals: Honoring Goddesses and Gods and God/men or other spirits/archetypes who come from “heaven: or the spiritual world often from a “Virgin” birth at the time of the Winter Solstice Celebrations of renewal, hope, change for the better in all of us and that we honor as a natural cycle within our lives. believing that there are multiple God and Goddess images or Jungian type archetypes representing the sacred or the collective unconscious, multiple aspects of some kind of heroic journey Cycles of life as represented in nature with a parallel to the human experience An appreciation of all of life as sacred and that the sacred can be represented in a multitude of ways OK, so back to the point. How has all this saved Christmas? For me, in 2 major ways: the commonality of the mythology and the earth based symbols). By looking a the big picture, the commonality of the meaning of the mythology, I can appreciate and honor the Christian story as another ancient myth celebrating the birth of the sacred in all of us that is commonly done at Winter solstice time. I can expand Christmas to celebrate all the Goddess births of God/men such as Jesus, Osiris, Thor, Saturnus, the Sun God, not as a literal birth, but as one of many of the never ending metaphorical and mythological hero stories that has existed for all times; I can see this as the same story that all of us participate in our personal journeys of rebirth of spirit, hope, and sacredness. This celebration honors and validates that we all are on a sacred journey and that it is wonderful. We can look to the ancient myths (including the Christian story) to help us along the way. "

This information is from the Candlegrove web site: Ancient Origins: Solstice: "Winter solstice this year. Winter solstice for 2003 will occur at 11:04 pm PST on December 21. If you want to be precise about it, please be sure to correct for your time zone. Planning for upcoming seasons? Here's a chart through 2020, but it's based on Universal Time, so you'll need to adjust it for your time zone. " The site also offers a deeper look at the meaning of Winter Solstice, and the ways it has been celebrated in different cultures: Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration. Click here to learn more.

More thoughts on the beginning of Advent: Sermons That Work - Advent 1 Sermon: "Happy New Year! Indeed, this is an appropriate greeting on this the first Sunday in the liturgical calendar of the church. And we mark this beginning with the season of Advent-meaning 'arrival.' It signals for us the dawn of a new day." Click this link to read the rest of the sermon, but I wanted to draw special attention to this paragraph: "Despair and hope go hand in hand. Luke's merger of the full despair of reality and the unbridled hope of faith is the message of the Gospel. In the midst of this life and the many events that evoke despair, it is the seed of hope in a bright future, a future in which God is made manifest, that provides a sense of confident faith. Remember, faith is not a vaccine that prevents the disease of despair. Faith is the seed of new life from which hope can grow out of a winter of anguish and desolation." To think of despair and hope as going hand in hand may be especially fitting since tomorrow is World AIDS Day. "Do you have time?" is the National AIDS Trust's World AIDS Day 2003 campaign to increase awareness of HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Stigma and discrimination are recognised as major factors fuelling the global HIV epidemic, creating a climate of fear and ignorance and a reluctance to confront rising infection rates. It's a growing problem. UNAIDS has targeted HIV-related stigma and discrimination in a two-year initiative to reduce the harmful effects faced by people living with HIV. Earlier this year, NAT launched an ongoing campaign - "ARE YOU HIV PREJUDICED?" - which aims to combat HIV stigma and discrimination in the UK and beyond. It only takes a moment to learn the real facts about HIV. Do you have time?" Click here to learn more about World AIDS Day, to take the quiz mentioned above, and to find out how you can make a difference.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent. Beliefnet has an interactive Advent calendar, and introduces the calendar and the season here: Advent Calendar: "Advent, a four-week period during which many Christians anticipate Jesus' birth, begins on November 30 this year. Those who celebrate Advent spend time preparing spiritually for the coming of the Jesus. The Advent calendar is a popular tradition springing from this observance. Made of stiff cardboard, an Advent calendar is a large picture dotted with 25 numbered windows, representing December 1 through Christmas Day. The picture is often of Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in Bethlehem, though it can also show a Santa scene. Each day, one window is opened, usually revealing a Bible verse or a small piece of chocolate. For maximum spiritual and physical refreshment, a combination of the two is recommended. Though we can't promise you chocolate, each day of our interactive Advent calendar will focus on one aspect of this spiritual season. Click on the picture for today's date (or any date preceding) and find a package of special treats--music, articles, quizzes, and more. Just don't try to peek ahead! You'll have to come back tomorrow to see the next batch of offerings. " Of course, I still am a sucker for those food-based traditions--which is why I spent this evening making one of Grandma's banana cream pies to share with family this Thanksgiving weekend. So I will probably head out tomorrow to pick up a couple of those chocolate Advent calendars for the kids. Maybe a couple for the grown-ups too. ;-)

Wow--that is gorgeous! I found this image posted in the Nmazca blog.

Todays posts are excerpts from various writings about the meaning or Thanksgiving. Enjoy--and if you find anything new, inspiring, or challenging here, so much the better. And Happy Thanksgiving, however you celebrate this day.

Looking for Something More: " But let's say you have given your thanks. Let's say you have taken stock of your life and you do have a pretty good idea of what you want. What then? Well, then I would say we look around us and see who can help in our searching. I often invoke the principle of synchronicity in my faith; the belief that solutions present themselves when we need them most. So we look around for the solution. Solution. Oh, solution where art thou? Nay not for thee I sing, but not until grace takes wing. The funny thing about the solution business is that they come when you aren't looking. I have found in the search for more that it goes better when I stop looking and start helping. So after thanks, I would saying helping another is the best way to moves us towards meaning. How? Remember the story of the good Samaritan? The good Jews pass the wounded man by but the Samaritan, the one who by all other standards would be least likely to help a fallen Jew, picks up the beaten man brings him to an inn, binds his wounds and pays the inn keeper to look after him. Finding more in our lives means that we must often look for it in unfamiliar places. Treating the stranger to our hospitality. Pulling out a chair. Building a road into the unknown. We have all done good deeds. In our time, this story would look like any one of us stopping to help someone who had nothing, giving them some first aid, driving them to the nearest Holiday Inn, getting them a room, with breakfast in the morning, and putting it on our Visa Card. In fact, I do this sometimes on your behalf. We are told this is the right thing to do and it makes us feel good. You get double green stamps because you are one up on the karma scoreboard for helping someone out. It does feel good! Do good and feel good! Praise be! No wonder this story is so popular!

We can learn from first Americans The free pamphlet (available online at www.ajc.org) also discusses the struggles of immigrants and the ongoing responsibility that all Americans have to uphold freedom, justice and unity within our multifaceted communities. The American Jewish Committee hopes families will read from the booklet as a new tradition at their Thanksgiving tables. This acknowledgement of our nation's historic burdens reminds me of a different Native American tradition. Jeanne Marie Brightfire Stophlet, a 63-year-old descendent of the Shawnee Cherokee and of Irish immigrants, explained it to me. In tribal council after harvest, Native Americans would sit in a circle around a ceremonial fire. They'd each write little notes, listing the year's problems and ongoing worries. Each would throw notes into the fire, releasing the burdens "to the four winds,'' she said. Then they'd pray for future generations and for peace. This Thursday, Mrs. Brightfire Stophlet says, members of her council will visit "elders" in nursing homes and give away food, blankets and gifts. "It's a matter of remembering the true meaning of thanksgiving,'' she said, "the gathering of people together around a table and of what everybody brings to the table. "Everybody brings something to the table of giving."

From a sermon about Saying "Thanks" in Difficult Times: "What concerns me most, as I read the papers and listen to the news, is the hardness of heart that is so often evident in our national life. The well-intentioned reform legislation that is quickly watered down before it is ever voted on, the campaign rhetoric that is designed to appeal to our deepest hopes and then goes nowhere. The hardball "me first" or "my interests first" attitude that is so much a part of our political language. Where is the compassion and gratefulness of a thankful people in that? Of many possible examples, I chose but one: as a nation, we are faced by increasing global hostility from Islamic fundamentalists, a small percentage of the over a billion Muslims scattered around this planet and in this nation, one out of every five persons in the world. We also face growing discontent among the peaceful mainstream of such peoples, many of whom have been our traditional allies. What is our response? To declare one pitiful figure the personification of evil. Now, nothing good can be said about Saddam Hussein, but he is only part of the problem. And the massive expenditure of money and human energy aimed at Iraq, a tattered Third World country by any measurement, means that our country's fragile economy and priorities are further disrupted. Programs of domestic and foreign aid and education that could help transform unstable, hostile regimes into allies are left to atrophy. We risk creating an international climate whose political and religious sores are left to fester for a generation. What would it cost to build sources of clean running water in countries on our high risk list? What would it cost, in relation to the price of advanced weapons, to help unstable nations establish minimal health, nutritional, and literacy standards for their women and young children? If our first goal is the protection of our frontiers and international political-military security, can we not reorder our national priorities to address some of those acute sources of frustration in the Middle East that flare up in the absence of minimally acceptable human living and human rights conditions?

What to See and Do - Memory, Myth, and Meaning of Thanksgiving Exhibit: "1. What do you mean by the myth of 'The First Thanksgiving?' Although the gathering which took place between the English colonists and the Wampanoag in the autumn of 1621 in Patuxet/New Plymouth has become known as 'The First Thanksgiving,' it would not have been considered a thanksgiving by the people involved. Not only was it not a 'thanksgiving,' but also it was also not a 'first!' Native Peoples all over this continent have given daily thanks to their Creator for thousands of years. Likewise, celebrating days of thanksgiving was a familiar tradition for the Europeans who eventually colonized North America. There are many other aspects of the Thanksgiving holiday as it is celebrated today that are based on misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the 1621 event. From the one long banquet table, to the turkey and cranberry sauce on top of it, the exhibit Thanksgiving: Memory, Myth & Meaning examines popular images and myths of Thanksgiving in greater depth and from multiple perspectives. We encourage you to spend some time there."

The Other Meaning of Thanksgiving: "Eventually, the pilgrims are in a position where they will probably have food through the coming winter, so they decide to have a Thanksgiving feast. Of course, they invite their savage -- but helpful -- neighbors. When the Indians are invited to a feast about giving thanks, they think this is a mighty fine show of appreciation on the part of the newcomers. 'Well actually,' somebody explains, 'we are doing it to give thanks to our God for preserving our lives through the hard times'. 'That's interesting,' the natives are thinking. 'Without us, these white folks would be in graves on some lonely beach, too far from their home -- and they want to thank their God for helping them?' But a party is a party, whatever the reason, so of course they say they'll come. While the pilgrims are cooking and making preparations, one of the Indians says to another, 'You know, Fred. These white people have come a long way, but they are still pretty oblivious. For a joke, why don't we go trap some of them stinking, carrion-eating vultures, bring them with us to the party, and see if these ignorant peasants will actually eat the damn things. And that (according to this story) is the real reason why us white folks, and probably nearly everybody in America, except devout Jews and Moslems (who recognize them as unclean) -- and maybe a few Native Americans -- sit down to feast on that big old bird at least once a year. What began as a prank on the ignorant became a national tradition. " Is this the real story of Thanksgiving? I don't know. The author says this version came from a Native American substitute teacher, and believes the teacher was telling the truth. But maybe *this* is a prank too...

It is important to me that this blog reflects more voices than just my own. One way that I do that is by seeking out writings from different perspectives that I find here and there around the web. Another way, that I have thought about but thus far have not acted on, is to post submissions from readers. If you have any thoughts to share on, well, what it is that this blog is supposed to be about, please let me know. My e-mail address is on the about me page. I have volunteered my husband to be the first "guest blogger". He wrote something in the context of an online discussion, and I thought it should be shared with a larger audience. He graciously allowed me to post it here: We need a foreign policy that is based on justice, not vengeance and profit. We need to act like members of a world community - not masters of a world empire. During the last big "fasting holiday" (I'm almost entirely unreligious, so forgive me for not remembering which one it was) I decided that I was going to fast by forgoing the concept of "other people". I tried to imagine what it would be like if we *were* all one people. Whenever I had cause to thing about why "they" were doing something, or what *our* response should be to "them" I did a mental shift and questioned why *we* we're doing what to *us*. The whole way we do business in the world seems crazy when you think of things that way. It is physically impossible to "fight fire with fire". Even when you *think* you're fighting fire with fire what you are *actually* doing is using one fire to remove the resources the other fire needs to burn. This removal of resources is the critical act. The fire is just the method. If there is *another* way to deprive the fire of terrorism of the fuel it needs to burn we should seek it out.

What are you celebrating today, or this week?

Another piece about the similarity between Ramadan and Thanksgiving here. "Similarly, people in my hometown, like people across the United States, hold food drives in the weeks before Thanksgiving so that more people can have full Thanksgiving dinners. Together, Ramadan and Thanksgiving have encouraged me to appreciate the source of my food and show charity to others. My brothers and I were taught to help people less fortunate than us, show tolerance and patience, spend time in spiritual introspection and, above all, to improve the world around us through acts of charity. Ramadan has never been about personal glory or vengeance. Thus it pains me to see an event that is intended to promote quiet contemplation, charity and spirituality become associated with terror due to the vicious and un-Islamic behavior of extremists. During the first Thanksgiving, a new relationship was formed between two very different groups of people. However briefly, they sat together and shared their cultures. Today, during this rare time when we have a juxtaposition of two important events, if you take a moment to give thanks, to appreciate what you have – in that moment you will completely understand not just Thanksgiving, but Ramadan as well."

I was planning to post something about Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, but apparently people don't agree as to what day that is: Arab countries are divided over when the upcoming holy feasting holiday of Eid ul-Fitr which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramzan will begin. Iraq's Sunni clerics and Libyan officials said Ramzan ended on Sunday and Eid ul-Fitr will fall today. But Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Sudan announced on Sunday that the three-day holiday will start on Tuesday. Ramzan can last either 29 or 30 days, depending on when the first moon of the next lunar month is sighted. Here is some information about the meaning of Eid. More here: Eid ul-fitr, which begins this year on Nov. 24, is the Islamic holiday that occurs at the end of the holy month of Ramadan and literally means: the "festival of fast breaking." Depending on the sighting of the moon, Eid ul-fitr occurs on the first day of Shawwal, the 10th month in the Hijra calendar. In some ways, Eid is a day of thanksgiving for Muslims. On the day of the Eid, fasting is prohibited. Usually on Eid ul-fitr, I wake up early, as many other Muslims do, and put on new clothes. We usually visit a nearby family to wish them an "Eid Mubarak," and also exchange gifts and receive money. On this day, every Muslim must also pay Zakatul-Fitr, a special gift given to the needy so they can also enjoy the Eid. Finally, Yvonne Teelucksingh writes: It is the festival of a people who believe in the Oneness of God and the brotherhood of man; who empathise with and genuinely care about the poor and underprivileged among them; and who seek the Pleasure, Mercy and Forgiveness of Allah and His Company in the Hereafter. For Muslims, Eid ul Fitr is a joyful celebration of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory and peace, of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. In recent times, as non-Muslims have come to learn more about the Muslim way of life, they, also, now look forward eagerly to visiting their Muslim friends on Eid day, to share with them in this most joyous occasion. Let us hope that through sharing will come understanding, through understanding there will be tolerance and with tolerance and understanding will come the national unity and brotherhood that is the hallmark of Islam

One more "Sunday, goin' to church post". Today was Jazz Sunday. Click my name to visit Bradley Sowash's web site. (His music plays on the site, so keep that in mind if you are surfing the web in your office.) Bradley is our Jazz Artist in Residence. And if you go to his "Kid's Page", a pair of eyes follows your cursor! (I'm easily amused--can you tell?)

In church today, I noticed that the bulletin listed "7 things you can do to end hunger". Since it mentioned a web site, I wanted to make sure I checked it out when I got home so that I could post the information here. The link goes to the Episcopal Relief and Development web site. Here is a link to the 7 things--it is actually a jpg file designed to print and include in church bulletins. The site has a place where you can order a gift catalog. Proceeds from sales go to help feed the hungry. The site also offers "Bishops Blend, a premium line of Certified Fair Trade, organic, and shade grown coffees from Central American and Indonesia. Bishops Blend coffee provides you with an opportunity to change lives. Your purchase of Bishops Blend helps meet needs worldwide." Just passing this along for anyone who is interested. Many of us who do celebrate Christmas try to incorporate sharing with the less fortunate into our holiday giving. About this time, we start to see the Salvation Army Santas ringing their bells outside of stores. While they do good work, many people have concerns about their discriminatory practices. The Episcopal Relief and Development site is the first "shopping for a cause" option that I came across. I would be happy to post others that are associated with different religious traditions (or nonreligious sites that follow ethical business practices and where a portion of the proceeds goes to help those in need. Update: someone sent me this link to the Southwest Indian Foundation Catalog

Ooh--look what I found! I was trying to find new interfaith sites online, and I found this interfaith calendar. You can find out the primary sacred times for various world religions, such as "Judaism, Islam, Buddhist, Hindu Christianity, Baha'i, Zoroastrian, Sikh, Shinto, Jain, Confucianism/Taoism, Native American, and more." Looks like there is always something to celebrate. And if you want your something to celebrate to be independent of any religious tradition, you can always celebrate various wacky made-up holidays like "Sneak Zucchini Day" in August. Go ahead--click on that link. Lots of interesting Days you have probably never heard of. Which is your favorite?

Some thoughts about the meaning of the Sabbath from Unitarian Universalist minister Annie Holmes: "In the Hebrew Bible God says, "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." In fact God thinks it is so important he makes it one of the top three commandments. It is on a higher par of observance then do not kill or steal or commit adultery. This is a command for the Jewish people that is not to be taken lightly. The word "Remember" has overtones in Hebrew that everything you have received is a blessing. Remember to delight in your life, in the fruits of your labor. Remember to stop and offer thanks for the wonder of your life. Remember, says the command, as if we would forget. The implication of using the Hebrew remember is that we do forget. Indeed, the assumption of the commandment is that we have forgotten. And history has proven that, given enough time, we will soon again…forget. Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy,inactivity. A constant busy life produces confusion and erosion in the life force. We forget birthdays of loved ones, we oversleep even on the biggest professional opportunity of our lives, or we become ill before a long-awaited vacation, because we are lost in busyness rather than being in the joy of living our lives. As we begin to create a Sabbath time in our lives, we remember to celebrate what is beautiful and sacred: we light candles, sing songs, tell stories, eat together, laugh, nap and make love. It becomes a time where we allow our work to rest, our lands, our hands or animals lie fallow, to be nourished and refreshed. Within this sanctuary, we open ourselves up to new insights and the blessings of deep mindfulness that arise only in stillness and time."

A couple new resources to pass along: The North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology (NACCE) is an ecumenical, voluntary, tax-exempt organization. It was established in 1986 to encourage the many strands of Christian tradition in the work of healing the damaged earth, out of a common concern and love for God's creation. Progressive Christianity books and study guides The Catholic Worker Movement--someone posted this in the blog comments, and I haven't had a chance to add it to my links page, but I am adding it here for now. From the site: "The Catholic Worker Movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933, is grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person. Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities remain committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and foresaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of all forms. Explore the life and writings of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as well as sample contemporary Catholic Worker thought and action."

I came home this evening and saw the headline that the remains of Charlie Dean (Howard Dean's brother who has been missing since 1974, at which time he was believed to have been captured and killed in Laos) may have been found. I comments in the Dean blog from supporters--Dean's supporters as well as supporters of other candidates--are holding the family in their thoughts and prayers tonight. Many are lighting candles. I like that--there is something healing and hopeful about the ritual of candle lighting, especially when many people do it at the same time, around the country or the world. Maybe that is one of the reasons I love the earth/candle graphic my husband created for me so much--it summons up similar sentiments for me without an actual open flame. I posted the link to the candle in the blog, and also wrote that it is unfortunate that the Dean family has to experience this sensitive, emotional time in such a public way, amidst the demands of camaigning. Actually, it is more complex than that, but not so easy to put into words. Because it is not entirely negative. Suffering can sometimes lead to real human growth, and shared suffering can be an even more powerful experience. In the article Finding Meaning in Loss, I read True spirituality also is to be aware that if we are interdependent with everything and everyone else, even our smallest, least significant thought, word, and action have real consequences throughout the universe. Throw a pebble into a pond. It sends a shiver across the surface of the water. Ripples merge into one another and create new ones. Everything is inextricably interrelated: We come to realize we are responsible for everything we do, say, or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone and everything else, and the entire universe. The Dalai Lama has said: In today's highly interdependent world, individuals and nations can no longer resolve many of their problems by themselves. We need one another. We must therefore develop a sense of universal responsibility. It is our collective and individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family, to support its weaker members, and to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live. Fritz Williams, I believe, gets to the heart of the matter when he says, "Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. ln those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own."

I was just writing something recently about the coming of the light that many faith traditions celebrate this season, and musing about how threatening this time of year must have seemed to our ancestors. Starhawk, Neo-Pagan author and activist, has written about this: As the light shortens, the soul tightens, winding into the small knot at the center of the spiral. The year shrinks until it can shrink no more. Solstice beckons hopefully now. From that point of deepest darkness, comes the light. . . How much more intensely our ancestors, waiting out the storms of winter in icier climes, huddling by the fire within the toasty and possible odorous confines of the cave, must have experienced this diminishing energy of the season! It must have been frightening. We have calendars and clocks to reassure us that the light will soon quicken like a babe in the womb, and come forth like new birth. They had little evidence of anything much beyond the present moment, and, taking nothing for granted, they believed they must bring the sun forth out of hiding by focusing their collective will. In their solstice ritual, they prayed together all night and danced the sun's return. When day broke, they knew that once again their prayers had succeeded. They had entered the womb of night, and been reborn. Yet the ancients understood what we have long forgot: that death gives birth to life in a marvelous cycle of resurrection which remains life's most poignant mystery. The crone becomes the maiden who, becoming mother, delivers the child. ...of course, she uses prettier words than I could. But I enjoy finding these common threads in our various traditions. I'm sure I'll track down and share more of these before the season is over.

This Week's Religious Observances from the Religion and Ethics Newsweekly On our calendar ... this past week, Baha'is celebrated the birthday of Baha'u'llah, the founder of their faith. It's one of the most important Baha'i holidays, observed as a day of rest. And this weekend, Muslims are observing the "Night of Power." According to Muslim tradition, the holiday marks the day Allah began revealing the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad.

Christmas and Hope What is the true meaning of Christmas? Around this time of year I start to see signs on buses announcing that Jesus is the reason for the season. That always seems a bit presumptuous, because I know full well that many other faith traditions celebrate light coming into the world, or hope in a time of darkness. I also know that many of the trappings of the season are pagan in origin. But what if you don't belong to a faith tradition? What if you are still searching...still questioning? What if you grew up as a Christian, learning the story of the Son of God being born in a manger in Bethlehem, but you just can't believe it literally any more? This is a hard season for many of us to get through. It is cold and dark where many of us live, and we have the added demands of the holiday season, with many additional expectations--sending cards, shopping for gifts, much more visiting and traveling than other times of year. If you are not a "believer", you could just ride it out, muddle through, grin and bear it...or you could find your own ways to make the season more meaningful. Rev. Jan K. Nielsen writes "But remember, the Christmas story is a birth story. Our lives can be birth stories. Birth comes not when “all is calm and all is bright.” Birth, whether physical or spiritual, can be messy, exhausting and overwhelming, just like our day-to-day lives. Yet out of the storm of birth can come the miracle of new life, and new hope. We can give birth to hope." Rev. Elizabeth A. Lerner writes: Unitarian-Universalists believe that Jesus' meaning for all humanity is not in his death but in his life and how he lived it. This story is the beginning of that life, as it has come down to us, added onto and combined; the story of Jesus' birth is a symbol of his life's message because his birth unites so many in caring. Think of a creche. Who and what do we see there? Mary, Joseph and the baby in a manger. A cow. A donkey. One or two sheep. One or two shepherds. Three kings, wise men, bearing gifts. Everyone's dressed in flowing, Eastern robes. One or many angels. Light in the stable, shining out warm and golden into the dark, frosty night. What a holy scene this is. People and animals together gazing as the miracle of a birth, and a child in squalor and splendor, helpless and mighty, just arrived in this world yet filled with potential to heal the world. Kings who are wise and insightful. Kings and shepherds together, sharing equally, in a stable. The divine manifest and speaking clearly to all of us. Angels and mortals, a rejoicing together. Light unconquered by dark, warmth and love and safety in the midst of cold and want and danger. The unity of all that is. In a sermon entitled "Finding Meaning in the Myth", Rev. Linda Hoddy suggests "Let us celebrate the world that could be if every child had an adoring Mary and Joseph for parents. Let us celebrate the wisdom of kings who know that the real meaning of our lives has little to do with the circumstances in which we live. Let us celebrate hope reborn in us when we are reminded of Jesus' humble origins. Let us celebrate a Christ child, who waits to be born in all of us." Finally, Rev. Lone I. Jensen writes of the Christmas story: I see a poor unwed woman, for she was only engaged to Joseph, expecting a baby of uncertain paternity, unable to find a proper place for her to give birth. And then we have the paradox of a star overhead, shepherds and angels and wise men, all making a pilgrimage to this same poor child. For me it is an affirmation of how it ought to be. That every child born should be welcomed and celebrated as our own Sophia Lyon Fahs wrote in her poem Every night a child is born is a holy night. I have just selected a few excerpts here from the sermons of Unitarian Universalist ministers on the meaning of Christmas. I think they do a nice job of showing the richness and depth that can be found in the season, even if you do not share the same ideas about the "reason for the season" as the Christian friends and relatives who celebrate alongside you.

Worship Related to the "finding your religion" post below, I wanted to post a bit of a sermon that Mark Belletini of First Unitarian Universalist Church once delivered on the subject of worship. The title of the sermon was "Why worship at all then?" Belletini describes the original words of the wedding ceremony in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, included the words "with my body I thee worship." ---- "With this ring" is all that is left in the American version of that ceremony. The sexual, affectional statement, "with my body, I thee worship" has been ripped out, as has the statement of economic commitment "with all my worldly goods I thee endow." And so now, all that is left in most modern ceremonies is a simple promise of love; the vows of worship and generosity…flesh and money, are dismissed as unworthy topics for such a ceremony. You never want to talk about sex or finance in public. It's embarrassing, right? Some things are better left tastefully unsaid. But as far as I am concerned, the Puritans did us a disservice by reducing the concept of marriage to something so ephemeral as "falling in love." Something it's much easier to do than stay married. But the word "worship" in that phrase surprises many modern people. It cannot it any way be construed to mean "bow down before" as people seem to want me to believe. It is a noble word, clearly, a sacred promise to value, to respect, to honor the other…with one's own body. And of course that's exactly what worship means in English, for the wor in worship is our word "worth" or "value." Whenever you worship, you are in the act of valuing something deeply, of singing its singular worth.The ship is the same as the ship in friendship and it's a form of the word "shape." Thus worship is our human way of trying to shape our understanding of what is most valuable, most worthy, most honorable. It's a process not much different than taking silver out of silver ore, or sifting the wheat from the chaff. Worship insists that the theory of relativity is fine in physics, but it wreaks havoc when you apply it to human behavior. Gandhi is not Herman Goering, even though Gandhi was obnoxious sometimes, and Goering had his kind moments. Mother Theresa is not Pol Pot, even though, Mother Theresa could be controlling and Pol Pot was known to laugh. All human things are not the same. Some behaviors have greater positive value than others.

Finding your religion My early motivation for creating the Religious Left site and this blog was an article in Washington Monthly called "Do the Democrats have a Prayer?" Amy Sullivan wrote, in part: If Gore had reached out to religious communities in 2000 and succeeded in peeling off even a small percentage of the evangelical votes that Clinton won in 1992 and 1996, he could have overcome the margin by which he lost states like West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida. Disaffected evangelical and Catholic moderates could find a natural home in the Democratic Party, which shares their values of social justice, concern for the earth, and economic equality. They're not looking for a tent revival at the Democratic Convention. They're just looking for a little respect. When I broached this subject in online liberal forums, many people balked at the idea of mixing religion and politics in that way. My thought was that, liberals who don't already "have" religion do not need to go out and "get" some. But maybe if liberals whose motivation comes from our religious or spiritual convictions found a way to be more vocal and visible, we could play a vital role in creating positive change in the United States government. It continues to be a fine line that we walk--those of us who see religion as an issue that Democrats should not shy away from. Those of us on the "religious left" are all to aware that religion is often used in a divisive way, and that organized religion has caused a great deal of pain for many people. We want to be inclusive. But we are also concerned when people say, "Ah-ah-ah! Stop that right now. Don't talk about religion--we can't have any of that. That's what we're fighting against--the mixing of religion and politics." While we must defend the separation of church and state, that is not the same thing as separating religion and politics. Religion and politics are connected--many people do vote for the person they think best reflects their religious values. Bush gets a real boost in public opinion just from the vague perception that he is a "good Christian" (a notion that I dispute in this Bush/Jesus comparison) Ignoring the role of religion in politics is as useful and effective as ignoring a big pink elephant in the middle of the room. Ignoring it won't make it go away. It might even step on you. Lotta good ignoring did you there, huh? The elephant is still there, and now you're squished. We can't let that happen in this election. But, back to the title of this post. You know how I said earlier that people who don't already "have" religion don't need to go out and "get" some? I've been thinking about that. And I've come to the conclusion that, although it is not necessary for everyone to "get religion" in the traditional sense, the world would be a better place if we all had a "higher power" that we needed to answer to on a regular basis. The higher power might not even be a deity--it could be our own conscience and ideals. But there is something compelling about having a regular practice. When Asma Mobin-Uddin did an adult education forum about Islam at my church, she mentioned the value of praying five times a day. She said something along the lines that, if she knew she was going to have to look God in the face later on, it had a real impact on the moral choices she made throughout the day. Substitute another word or phrase for God if you like--your conscience, your ideals, your higher self--but I think this is something that should be part of anyone's life. Step back. Look at what you are doing--how you are treating people, animals, the environment. Ask yourself, "Am I being true to my core values? How are my words and actions affecting those around me? Am I, right now, helping to bring about a better world, or am I contributing to the problems that I often complain about?" To me, that is what it means to "keep holy the Sabbath day." I believe that even people who have no use for organized religion, could benefit from creating a "Sabbath" that is personally meaningful--and making time for it.

I have mentioned earlier that Bishop Spong (retired) is coming to St. Steven's Episcopal Church in Columbus this coming January. In preparation for that, I wanted to post some excerpts and links to essays he has written. I haven't found much yet, but for starters, here are Spong's "12 theses" (reminiscent of Martin Luther's 95 theses) about the need for a new reformation. 1. Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found. 2. Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt. 3. The biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense. 4. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible. 5. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity. 6. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed. 7. Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history. 8. The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age. 9. There is no external, objective, revealed standard writ in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time. 10. Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way. 11. The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior. 12. All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.

I was sent this PDF about the Abrahamic Reunion. "Jews, Christians, and Muslims share prayers and spiritual practices in an atmosphere of love, harmony, and beauty. December 5-7 at The Abode of the Message in Lebanon, New York. Click here for a pdf you can download to learn more.

There's a reasonably new blog online called Switzerblog. It is designed to be a place to peacefully discuss the Democratic candidates. It doesn't have many comments yet, but it usually takes some word of mouth to get these things going, so check it out and pass the link along if you like it.

"Negative campaigning may keep people away from the polls for three different reasons. First, negative advertising may discourage supporters of the candidate who is attacked, Attack advertising might defuse partisan support for the opposition, just as advertising in general reinforces partisan preferences. For a supporter reacting to negative information, dropping out may be easier than switching to the attacker. An alternative explanation is that negative advertising makes the public disenchanted with both candidates. The electorate may curse a "plague on both houses." By this account, candidates unintentionally depress turnout among their own supporters by using negative advertising. If this were true, the effects of negative advertising would set in equally among the ranks of both the candidates’ supporters and nonpartisans. Finally, negative campaigning may diminish the power of civic duty and may undermine the legitimacy of the entire electoral proccess. Campaigns that generate more negative than positive messages may leave voters embittered toward the candidates and the rules of the game." You can find the rest of the article here. There has been way too much negative stuff between the campaigns, and if it doesn't let up, we are going to hand another election to Bush. Not just the candidates, but supporters trolling blogs of other candidates, and bickering on general discussion boards. I know a lot of us have gotten used to the idea that it has to be that way, but if you are concerned about this, please think about sending this message to your candidates and fellow supporters. We don't want anyone opting out of the process or voting third party out of disgust for the process.

I have been trying to find a current article about the elevation of Canon V. Gene Robinson (I just now found out that is his current title) and found the following: On the eve of the consecration of Canon V Gene Robinson as Bishop-coadjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire and the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, a twist. It seems students from the University of Durham in New Hampshire, will be protesting conservative protestors tomorrow by staging their own demonstration and calling for "a more realistic and broadminded approach" to the current stance on homosexuality in the Church. One of the students, a 21 year-old woman called Nika with a hard-to-miss silver ring in her bottom lip, told ACNS/ENS that she had never been to church, but was joining the protest. "I am very spiritual," she said, "but I'm not much for organised religion." Asked if she'd consider actually going to a church that took this kind of action, she said, "Yeah, I think I would. Yeah, I'll have to give it a try." I was just telling my husband this morning that although some people may leave the church because of this, it seems like this kind of publicity will get some people to think--"Hey, maybe religion is different from what I thought." Well, there you go. Ultimately, though, we humans do need to get the hang of living and working with people who are very different.

When I posted about Gene Robinson's three "saints" that most influenced him, one was Mister Rogers. What I forgot to mention when I posted, is that yesterday was All Saints Day. In church today, we sang this hymn: I sing a song of the saints of God, Patient and brave and true, Who toiled and fought and lived and died For the Lord they loved and knew. And one was a doctor, And one was a queen, And one was a shepherdess on the green: They were all of them saints of God—and I mean, God helping, to be one too. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear, And his love made them strong; And they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake, The whole of their good lives long. And one was a soldier, And one was a priest, And one was slain by a fierce wild beast: And there’s not any reason—no, not the least, Why I shouldn’t be one too. They lived not only in ages past, There are hundreds of thousands still, The world is bright with the joyous saints Who love to do Jesus’ will. You can meet them in school, or In lanes, or at sea, In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea, For the saints of God are just folk like me, And I mean to be one too. Of course, I didn't bring my hymnal home with me, so I had to do a search for the lyrics. I'm glad I did, because I got some information about the author in the bargain. "William J Reynolds, Professor of Church Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the USA, wrote that: Lesbia Scott wrote hymns for her three children during the 1920s as expressions of their faith. Never intended for publication, many were written in response to the children’s own requests. They would ask, ‘Mum, make a hymn for a picnic,’ or ‘Mum, make a hymn for a foggy day.’ ‘I sing a song of the saints of God’ was intended for use on saints’ days to reinforce the fact that saints not only lived in the distant past but may also live and work in everyday lives. Mrs Scott’s hymns were first published in England in Everyday Hymns for Little Children, 1929, and in the United States in the Episcopal Hymnal 1940." You can read more here.

The Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson in his own words I wanted to share some of what I found on the web site of the Diocese of New Hampshire: Ultimately, of course, Jesus Christ challenges us to take Him at His word, to accept the extravagance of His accepting love, to be the Child of God we were created to be, no matter the cost—in order to better serve Him. I answered God's call to acknowledge myself as a gay man. My wife and I, in order to KEEP our wedding vow to "honor [each other] in the Name of God," made the decision to let each other go. We returned to church, where our marriage had begun, and in the context of the eucharist, released each other from our wedding vows, asked each other's forgiveness, cried a lot, pledged ourselves to the joint raising of our children, and shared the Body and Blood of Christ. Risking the loss of my children and the exercise of my ordained ministry in the Church was the biggest risk I've ever taken, but it left me with two unshakable things: my integrity and my God. I learned that there is no way to Easter except through Good Friday. The Living Christ walked with me on that journey: telling the truth about my life and daring me to be the person God created me to be—for God's service. It won the hearts of my daughters, whom I feared losing, and, later, the love of a wonderful partner, with whom I've made a home for the past 13 years. Now, God seems to be calling me to another journey. If the people of the Diocese of New Hampshire call me as well to the ministry of the episcopate, I will embrace it with joy and excitement, knowing that the God who has called me before, will once again sustain and guide me. At another point, Robinson answers the question: Describe three contemporary saints who have influenced your ministry. The first two are a local Episcopal priest and the first woman bishop in Christendom. Third is "Mister Rogers. I know. He's not real. (Neither are several of the traditional saints we love and celebrate!) But he is very like the real life, ordained Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers, who created and for many years played him on the famous TV show for children. This TV saint, in his cardigan sweater and blue tennis shoes, was not afraid of looking like a nerd or playing in a sandbox ("unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"). Everything he said and did was an expression of the baptismal promise to "respect the dignity of every human person." For those not yet "too cool" to watch, Mister Rogers went about his neighborhood, rejoicing in its diverse races, ages, cultures and personalities, affirming each person and their unique gifts (including the four- and five year olds who were watching), asking the ultimate Good Samaritan question: "Won't you be my neighbor?" Not a bad role model for a bishop!" There's a lot of good stuff on that page, including a biography, a sermon he wrote, and a summary of his experience. He strikes me as a man with wisdom, compassion, humility, and insight. But I have to admit my favorite part was finding that he cites one of my personal heroes as one of his three "saints" who most influenced him.

Today I went to hear Dennis Kucinich speak. I didn't even know he was coming to town until yesterday, when I read it in The Other Paper He was speaking at a meeting of Central Ohioans for Peace. I went because I wanted to hear what Dennis had to say--I was particularly interested in hearing him talk about his proposed Department of Peace. Peace has long been an issue near and dear to my heart. As a pre-teen, I started writing to pen pals from different countries, out of a desire to learn about people whose lives and cultures were different from mine, and make connections with them. In high school, I remember writing essays about the animosity between the United States and Russia--finding it troubling that "the Russians" could be portrayed as the enemy, when I had a hunch that the regular people over there were very much like the regular people over here. As I have written here before, after September 11, I noticed that many homes, and even many web sites, were displaying an American flag. I decided that I really wanted an image for my own site that was clearly inclusive--that could be a symbol of hope and peace for all the people of the world. My husband created a beautiful graphic for me--an image of the Earth with a candle in front of it. We have made the image available to anyone who wants to use it on their own site or computer desktop. In addition, I created a page called Links of Hope and Peace for my site, which was kind of an odd departure for me, since my site was about dogs. The point to all of this rambling is, well, I'm sort of into peace. Then there was that idea of helping to heal the world, that I described in my September 4 entry. And, of course, I feel I need to take any opportunity I can to make more people aware of the electronic voting issue. So, I printed off a bunch of handouts from Verified Voting.org, and wrote the url to my voter education resource site on them. While I was at it, I also brought some of my Bush-Jesus comparison handouts and some of the Sally Baron/Defeat "Whistle-Ass" ones. A point I need to make now: I am not a Kucinich supporter. I am an active supporter/volunteer for another candidate. I felt it would be in good taste to temporarily take the bumper sticker out of my car window when I went to this event. I was attending as someone who cares about the issue of peace, and as a Democrat who will vote for the Democratic nominee against George W. Bush, whoever that turns out to be. I have found the rancor between the supporters of different campaigns truly disheartening. From a spiritual perspective, I don't like the negativity, and from a practical perspective, I worry that we will manage to alienate each other so completely during the primary season that we could hand another election to Bush. Anyway, it was an interesting talk. Dennis did spend a fair amount of time talking unfavorably, without naming names, about a certain other candidate. But he said some things that I liked--about needing more of a sense of connection to each other. Also about the Department of Peace "seeking nothing less than the transformation of our society, to make non-violence an organizing principle", addressing issues such as child abuse, spousal abuse, gangs, police-community relations etc. It made me think of a good site/project I link to, called Words Can Heal. My main goal for the afternoon was to get an opportunity to say something about the electronic voting issue and H.R. 2239. When I finally got my chance, it was on the tails of a response Dennis gave about spiritual values and politics, in which he referred to the Sermon on the Mount, but wasn't sure what verse of Matthew that was. He had guessed Matthew 25, and I pulled out a copy of the Bush/Jesus comparison sheet and showed him that he was right. That was some nice timing. I asked my question about the voting machines, and he said that he had worked with Rush Holt on H.R. 2239, and that he also had a bill of his own. He indicated that he would soon have resources on his web site to help citizens in all states ask the right questions about their voting machines. I pressed that I was most concerned about getting media attention on the issue, because the people checking out candidate web sites are such a small percentage of the voting population right now. He said the media attention will come. I brought a digital camera with me and took a few pictures throughout the discussion. I spent a fair amount of time debating in my head about whether I would actually have the nerve to ask to have someone take a picture of me with Dennis after the presentation. At the end of the discussion, before I could get up, a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch asked me for my name and a copy of the handout I had given to Dennis. He asked me a couple questions about what I thought of the talk. At one point, it occurred to me that, if my name showed up in the paper identified as a Kucinich supporter, I would have some 'splainin to do at the next Meetup. So, I said, "I should probably tell you that I am actually a supporter of another candidate." He asked which candidate, and I answered, and he asked me a lot more questions. And I answered them the best I could--I'm still a lot more comfortable writing about these things than I am talking about them. I was careful to say that I did respect Kucinich, thought he was a good guy, and agreed with a lot that he had to say. As I was getting into my car, I thought, in retrospect, that I should have said something like, "Shouldn't you go interview someone who is an actual Kucinich supporter?" Because I'm afraid that this could lead to exactly the sort of animosity and hard feelings that I want to much to avoid in this campaign. I guess all I can do now is wait until the paper comes out, and see how the article turns out.