Whistles “Charlie brown xmas”
One of the many things I thought I didn’t understand when I was very young was the popular cartoon “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” As an adult looking back, I know that I did get it. It just was too close to home, and it made me terribly uncomfortable because of how much I identified with Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown was different, and not in a cool popular way. Most of the other Peanuts cartoon characters were relatively carefree and seemed to have no problem getting with the program. Cue Linus and Lucy. (music) Snoopy and all the children dance in a harmonious buzz of energy, content, just doing it.
Charlie Brown is out of sorts externally and internally. He is depressed, disturbed by the commercialism he sees all around him. He sets on a quest to understand the meaning of Christmas. His estrangement and disturbance provide the framework for a story that has remained an absolute classic and favorite for almost sixty consecutive years.
Turns out that people can relate to Charlie Brown’s dilemma, his being out of sorts. As a child, I feared that Charlie Brown and I were somehow fundamentally different from everybody else.
The CB Christmas theme song disturbed me. I found it haunting. (sings) It captured the melancholy that floats just beneath the surface of society’s over-the-top festival celebrations. It unnerved me. How could that be Christmas music?!
It’s no longer a secret that from Thanksgiving through the New Year and its aftermath, millions of people struggle with depression and or debilitating anxiety.
As a child one of the more easily identified causes for my seeing myself as out of sorts, was that I was raised Jewish. I mean c’mon. Christmas is a Christian holiday and it’s huge!
I suddenly feel a need to haul out the Hanukkah. I went online and searched Jewish holiday movies. I found some Christmas movies rebooted as Hanukkah movies:
– Home Shalom
– A Christmas Carole King
– It’s a Wonderful Life When You Call Your Mother
I decided to send out Hanukkah cards to all my Gentile friends. I went to the post office and asked for 50 Hanukkah stamps.
“What denomination?” asks the clerk.
“ 2 Orthodox, 4 Conservative, and 18 Reform and 26 Unitarian Universalist”
I was the only Jew I knew who had a Catholic mom and very large Catholic family. Technically we celebrated both Hanukah and Christmas. Still my presents did not compare to any of my friends. We didn’t keep up with the Jones or the Liebowitzs.
In my home, holidays were often marred by fighting; anger, raised voices, and blame. It’s not surprising that I didn’t feel good our home during the holidays. In hindsight, it’s called shamed. White Christmases were whiter on the other side of the street.
Other than my home, I loved Christmas! Why? Miracle on 34th street, Christmas Carol, It’s A Wonderful Life, Mr Magoo, Rudolph, the Grinch.. Bob Hope, Andy Williams, Johny Cash, Glen Campbell, Lawrence Welk. In all of that kindness and good will oozed out from the TV and into me. People were also nicer in December. There were parties, and visits with relatives. Food was more abundant than any other time of year. Snow was magical! One year my father pulled me on a toboggan on our snow-covered street with big flakes falling down.
Holidays are made of memories, traditions and rituals. Rituals are a reenactment of sacred stories. This goes way beyond religion. The stories of Pop culture aim to play to the largest audience possible. I like that this has slowly led to greater inclusion.
One thing I love about our religious liberal faith is that we aim for inclusion. We value choice, creativity, celebrating similarities and differences. We haven’t had Mozarts and we haven’t generated a music industry. However, we do value artistry and the creation of beauty.
I was so proud and grateful to witness this congregation’s representation in the Chorale. I was so moved to hear Jill Wiggins credit this church for giving her a way to translate and be part of a musical tradition despite her not sharing the theological views of the lyrics she needed to sing. As religious liberals we can access some of the best of religion and avoid the worst if we will make the effort.
However, religious differences often result in some of the problems with spending holidays with families. And religion is just one thing that can lead to family conflict and estrangement. We are blessed to have places we can talk about these things. Doing so decreases the chances of getting trapped in shame and hurtful reactions. The connection we experience through community and fellowship, helps us carry our shared values out from here when we embark and challenging journeys.
Especially in this era of culture wars, political polarization, new norms of blame and resentment, it is wise to exercise care, caution and respect while attempting to cross cultural and religious divides. Our tradition can assist us in this endeavor. Our faith asks us to practice reaching for connection when our theological beliefs differ. It’s spiritual practice to seek to connect with the other’s humanity, their concerns and aspirations when conflict ensues.
Our faith trains us to appreciate the wisdom and worth of traditions of annual religious and family pilgrimages. We appreciate how awareness of cycles and seasons have been built into traditions which strengthen ties of family and community and remind us of what is most important. We can return to forgotten, even ancient wisdom.
How many relatives does it take to change a lightbulb? Two – one to change it and another to tell a story about how they used to do it the old-fashioned way.
What happens when being together with family is impossible or undesirable? What happens when returning to family causes harm predictably and repeatedly?
One of the great blessings of UU tradition is that we constantly reevaluate and remake traditions. This year if you ever feel trapped or miserable ask yourself if you might be stuck in a tradition that no longer serves you.
Are you telling yourself that you “should” be with family, or that you “should” be happy? That you should be different from how you are right now? Begin a holy pilgrimage. Accept yourself where you are. Now you are standing on holy ground.
Our faith teaches us that revelation is continuous. If you are not happy, become curious – asking your heart what it is yearning for. When you hear an answer, receive it as a gift. Savor the experience of being connected to what you value. Think of ways you can to contribute to or fulfill this value or quality. Experience ease as you step toward greater fulfillment. Easy does it!
There is more than one way to go home for the holidays! What does home mean to you? Imagine yourself feeling at home. How did you do that? Notice what it’s like. What qualities give you the sense of being at home?
We can get creative and consider new options. We can embrace Gaia, Earth as our home! Also imagine feeling at home in your own body! Imagine becoming familiar with your values! We can be at home in our soul or spirit.
What a nice gift it can be to have a homecoming to ourselves, body and soul! What if you must be present to receive this gift? Try this affirmation: I am present. I am here for the holidays. I am home.
Here’s more affirmations and choices I think progressive. I appreciate my community! I value these people. Each person I meet reminds me of my connection to the divine, to the interdependent web of existence of which I am a part.
Btw Hanukah is the rededication of the temple. This holiday season, what hope, what quality might we choose for rededication in the temple of our spirit?
For those celebrating Jesus birth as Savior, Teacher or Brother, how about coming home to Jesus. Bet you didn’t see that coming.
Well, you are free to answer that question, but here are some possibilities. Imagine going home to forgiveness. Imagine coming home to an expansive love that causes us to widen our circle. Jesus ministered to the outcast, the sick, those seen as sinners. He directed us to love our neighbors and our enemies.
When we feel estranged, isolated, alienated, lonely or miserable this season, consider Jesus way, the path of service. We don’t have to turn water into wine or raise the dead. We can ask and find one way to bring the light of the world in love to one stranger, one person. And if we become strangers to ourselves, we can bring love home too.
Happy holidays my dear ones! Safe and blessed travels. Blessings on your way home for the holidays!
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