“Christmas is a baby shower that is so over the top!!”
You want to know why I’m single? I once had a girlfriend. I asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She told me, “Nothing would make her happier than a diamond necklace.” So I bought her nothing.”
Preaching and leading a UU worship service at Christmas is an interesting challenge! Every congregation has members that have rejected the Christology and doctrine of their childhood church. Some of these still hold Jesus as divine brother, wayshower, even savior in some way or other. Many UUs are freely following Jesus.
Others in our flock point out that if shephards were in their fields watching their flocks when Jesus was born, then he was born in Summer or early fall, not December. Many UUs enjoy pointing out the date was chosen in an attempt to supplant the pagan holiday of Solstice.
We have Pagans, Buddhists, atheists, humanists, religious skeptics, Nature Mystics. Yes we were among the early adapters to embrace “Happy Holidays!” And today I want to wish each and every one of you Merry Christmas!
Isn’t it strange that many of us who don’t identify as Christian, still feel pressure to achieve some kind of peak experience at Christmas?! I’ve been feeling it! I want to lead us in the kind of worship of which you will say “I laughed. I cried. ..and I’m so glad for how this congregation helps me celebrate Christmas!“
So I picked a traditional theme for this service, Peace. Speaking or hearing the word can be enough to stimulate a shift into a parasympathetic response. “When I breath in I’ll breath in Peace. When I breathe out I’ll breath out love… breath in peace.
Peace is a tried and true message for Christmas. This should be easy right? Well, I’ll be honest. Choosing Peace as Xmas theme has been a tall order this year!.
I wear my Jewish heritage pretty loud and proud. Anti- Jewish hate and oppression has been growing since 2016. On October 7th, Hammas perpetrated its massacre and terrorist attack, the most violence against Jews since the Holocaust. Since then, the news is filled with images and stories of IDF bombing of Gaza. The body count, criticism of Israel and hatred of Jews has all been rising.
And as person of mixed religious heritage and a liberal who has worked to cultivate compassion, my heart aches also at anti Muslim hate, the death, destruction and the unimaginable suffering of our sisters and brothers in Gaza.
I wish I could offer the simple, clear strategy to bring Peace on Earth. I’m glad I’m not President Biden. I’m glad on not Netanyahu either. I have wanted to see him removed from office for a very long time.
I love UU emphasis on education, discussion, reflection and action for social justice. I would welcome any member to organize discussion and information sharing. I certainly appreciate the extent that this congregation serves to offer mutual support that makes getting through everything a little easier, a little sweeter! This sermon will not be an editorial on the Israeli – Hammas war. Neither would I ignore today’s wars as we observe a holiday that celebrates the birth of hope for peace and deliverance for all people.
It’s painful when it appears there is very little we can do. Feelings associated with powerlessness are difficult to bear. When we see no way to help prevent impending harm or no way to rectify recent injury, it can be excruciating. Sometimes it is tremendously difficult to know if it’s time to act or to hold back.
Experiencing ourselves as powerless against inevitable defeat is at the core of most if not all experiences of trauma. Unresolved or unhealed experiences of great harm and pain remain with us in our perceptions and reactions. Most of us go to great lengths to avoid feeling the pain we carry from past trauma. When it seems we are being made to feel “that way” again, we have a strong reaction. Typically, the perception of dangerous threat activates our sympathetic nervous system.
Stimulating of this system means a shutting down of the higher function of the frontal lobes of our brain. This shuts down the aspect of human intelligence responsible for bringing the world poetry and symphonies. We move into more primitive survival modes. The sympathetic system activates and readies us to fight, flee, hide or freeze.
The man whose birthday is celebrated at Christmas said “Blessed are the peacemakers. For they can call themselves children of the most high.” Any of us who would follow this teacher and continue his ministry, would do well to have humility and compassion for the difficulty of peacemaking- given our biology. The survival mechanisms we inherited were ideal for the realm of predators and prey, eat or be eaten. Fight/flight/freeze behaviors repeated over and again for millenniums have created elaborate systems of domination and oppression. Is there any hope for us?
Today you heard words of Gabor Mate describing a path to freedom that requires us to learn about the explosives and ammunition we carry inside of us. Curiosity combined with empathy enables us to understand and love ourselves and other humans in a more powerful way.
I think it is what Jesus meant in the third part of his summary of Jewish law. He stated that the sum of the commandments was “to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. This love is more than sentiment. Willingness to explore our defense mechanisms can lead to more peace and love to emerge in human relations.
Dr Marshall Rosenberg said “that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” Townes VanZandt said “before you can write a good song, you have to write a lot of bad ones.” Peacemaking too, is a skill that can be developed.
Even when perfect peace seems impossible, ever step forward is helpful. I have found that the desire to get better can be a powerful force for healing!
Christmas is Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus as Christ. Christos is the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew/ Aramaic word mashiach (messiah). The literal translation of mashiach is “anointed one.” Hebrew scripture tells of kings and priests being anointed. A bit of Jewish history might contribute to further understanding of the terms Messiah and Christ.
The unusual thing about Jewish history is not the number of times empires tried to eradicate Jewish culture. Jewish survival is what is exceptional! Most cultures vanished once they were conquered by the next empire. In the Jewish world there has always been tensions and conflicts between factions especially those insisting on strict adherence to Jewish religion, and those who favored adaptation and various levels of assimilation for survival’s sake. The Jewish people have survived and repeatedly reestablished their homeland because of the successes of both kinds of groups.
Chanukah commemorates a time that the Macabees, a strict Jewish group prevailed militarily over the Salucid empire that had abolished Jewish religious practice. The Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem, and rededicated the holy temple.
Jews retained control of their homeland for a generation or so. In 63 BCE the Romans conquered Judeah. As had been done in previous periods of occupation, deals were made with the occupiers so that Jews would be permitted to exist and practice their religion.
In such times of occupation there arose clamor from the people, a hope for a messiah to lead another revolt and reestablish Jewish sovereignty. The word messiah took on connotations of savior or liberator of Jewish people. People equated reestablishment of a Jewish kingdom as a reestablishment of God’s sovereignty. Jews have seen themselves as partners with God seeking to establish a divine order that would be the end of oppression and injustice.
This divine order is also what is meant by the word Peace or Shalom. I was taught that Shalom means abundance, the fullness and fulfillment of life. It is also used to refer to “making something right,” “restitution”, restoration or bringing to wholeness.
The word Shalom has a central place in Jewish scripture and prayers. Growing up at the end of every service we recited a prayer that began “Grant us peace thy most precious gift, oh eternal source of peace. It’s also the greeting used for coming together and leaving.
When the angels announce the birth of a savior, they deliver a promise of Peace coming to Earth. That is the reason for tidings of comfort and joy.
As we celebrate Christmas I want us to be welcoming of all who hold this story as scripture, sacred source of wisdom, guidance and hope. I also want us to question the dominant assumptions about salvation; what it is, where it comes from and our role in creating it.
I want us to delve deeply into the assumptions and lessons from its story of the birth of one hailed as savior, Prince of Peace, Christ or messiah. I want us to support our collective capacities for knowing and choosing peace. We want peace of mind, peace in our relationships and peace in our state, nation and world.
The Christian concept of Christ grew from the Jewish concept of Messiah. Jews hoped for liberation to be experienced on Earth. Christianity place salvation and the kingdom of heaven as something to be experienced after death. Unitarian Universalist tradition and all of liberal religion tends to have an Earthly focus. We are praying and preparing for peace the greatest gift and its companion justice to created here on Earth. We tend to see ourselves as partners with the source of life, the forces of nature (which some refer to as God), in order to bring about all good things.
We look to many people’s sacred stories, knowing each points to common truths as well as different perspectives. Does the Christ or messiah have to be one person? What if we are the ones that we have been waiting for?
And even if we personally can’t reach the promised land where justice rolls down like waters and peace like an ever flowing stream… Even if we can achieve perfect peace, every step in that direction matters.
We are the ones who will elect people who will pass laws that oppress or encourage peace. If our input is strong enough and persists long enough, it will certainly influence policies that lead to war or peace, justice or oppression, care, or exploitation and destruction of ecosystems.
Some people assume that keeping the peace means not making waves, not causing trouble that disturbs the established order. Turning away, denying pain and suffering will not create peace. On the contrary, much violence occurs when we are unwilling to look and listen to pain, our pain, pain in others, pain in our relationships and society.
Peace requires us to grieve. There are so many losses on the road to the beloved community. We must grieve for those we can’t bring along with us. We must grieve for all the ways we come up short.
Joe Hill said “don’t mourn organize.” He was only half right. When we can face pain, empathize with pain, have compassion with pain.. when we courageously acknowledge our vulnerability, we will organize, not just for our little group to get a bigger piece of the pie, but for all our brother and sisters to have a place at the table.
The story of Jesus and the scriptures of the world repeatedly show that the holy and sacred does not require perfection of us. The holy force will use us to create peace, dignity and respect.
Regardless of how you understand the Christmas story believe that the spirit of peace, often represented by a dove which is also a symbol for the Holy spirit, is with us still. It abides with us. It is inside of us, waiting to be known.
Have faith in the power in giving of yourself for peace’s sake. Believe that curiosity combined with compassion, willingness to be with what is, will lead to self-knowledge, peace, power and freedom!
Merry Christmas! Bless us all everyone!
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