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.

After I posted links about Ramadan and understanding Islam a couple days ago, someone suggested that I include Veiled4Allah. I had actually heard of it a couple times before, but hadn't ever gotten around to looking into it. The blog is described as "The occasional thoughts of a Muslim woman. Islam, current events, my life, and whatever else interests me."

One thing I keep coming across, now that I am more involved in and aware of politics, is that many people on the "left" are angrily anti-religion. Some mock and deride it, as well as anyone who was "weak minded" enough to make religion a part of his or her life. It seems to me, that it just be possible to be a fundamentalist atheist just as it is possible to be a fundamentalist Christian. With either type of fundamentalist, any kind of meaningful dialog becomes just about impossible. So I did a search, and I did find a page that addressed this issue: "Despite whatever comes to mind, the word "fundamentalist" has indeed received a very negative connotation in our society. A fundamentalist used to be someone who believed in several core doctrines of the Christian faith: There is one God in three persons; Jesus came down and died for our sins; faith alone in Jesus merits salvation; and the Bible is the inspired word of God as He wants us to have it. In other words, calling someone a fundamentalist was basically no different than calling them a Christian. The word, however, has evolved. Now it seems that people (mostly atheists, for some reason) love to hurl the word as an insult. There is nothing worse than being called a fundamentalist. Fundamentalists hold a very strict and literal interpretation of the Bible. They are those ever-so closed-minded people who we can't even bother arguing with. But if we can call the closed-minded Christian a fundamentalist, couldn't the same apply to a closed-minded atheist? I have compiled, in the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy (another crazy fundamentalist), a test of questions you could ask yourself to see whether you are a fundamentalist atheist. " Click here for the rest.