C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for November 30, 2008 Namaste. The Christ in me greets the Christ in you. I honor the part of you that gives birth to God. You are the way that God is you in the world, when you are fully awake to your humanity and constantly rising above despair. When we meet in this space, we create a Christ consciousness that transcends any circumstance, place or time. Christ consciousness can never be contained to any one person, one story or one religion. If it divides people and leads to hatred, it is a false Christ. If it unites across all manner of difference, then it is a true Christ. May we seek the Christ that unites and heals. Today, I want to explore the pagan Christ as a path to unity and healing. Christmas is so often a time of dissonance. Is it a religious celebration, borne out of a unique and literal story of Jesus birth, or is it the celebration of a universal story, borne of familiar patterns and human construction? Ultimately, is Christmas inclusive or exclusive? Christmas- Exclusive or Inclusive? As a light hearted introduction to the topic, this is the story of one company’s attempt to create a Christmas party that keeps every body happy. A Human Resources Manager sent a memo to all staff about the Christmas party, scheduled to take place on December 23 at the Grill House; with a cash bar and small band playing. Gifts, not exceeding $10, to be exchanged on the night. Staff received another memo the next day- “In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. From now on we're calling it our 'Holiday Party'. There will be no Christmas tree or Christmas carols sung. Happy now? Happy Holidays to you and your family, Pauline.” The next day another memo- “ Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics And the next day- “What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours. There goes the party! Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party – or else package everything up for you to take home in a little foil doggy bag. Will that work? Meanwhile, I've arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet; The next day a memo arrived with the subject line, “Vegetarians”- “Vegetarians, I've had it with you people!!! We're going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the "grill of death", as you so quaintly put it. You'll get your salad bar, including organic tomatoes, but you know tomatoes have feeling, too. They scream when you slice them. I've heard them scream. I'm hearing them scream right NOW!! Hope you all have a rotten holiday ! Drink, drive, and die!”- signed, The Bitch from HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next day there was a memo from the acting Human Resources Manager- “I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Pauline Lewis a speedy recovery, and I'll continue to forward your cards to her. In the meantime, Management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and instead, give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd December off with full pay. Is there a way to embrace the Christmas story that does three things Nativity Scenes and Reindeer What do you think about “nativity scenes” that are displayed in public places by churches, local councils or rotary groups? This is an issue worth grappling with, considering that Grand Haven annually displays a nativity scene on Dewey Hill that includes Christian hymns and a voiceover that tells a fairly literal and narrow version of the story. Unfortunately, on some nights, I can hear the voiceover and hymns and have to be reminded that I’m not back in Calvinist theology classes. The Christmas scene on Dewey Hill is just as offensive, in my opinion, as the giant wooden cross at Easter time and each Sunday morning. At least the cross is not put up on July 4. The new display at Harbor Island is a great improvement, with the use of diverse images including dancing bears, Santa in a boat, candles, spiral Christmas trees, a Kwanzaa candle and a Menorah Don’t be telling me, “we live in a Christian nation.” We live in a nation that prides itself on a diversity that the separation of church and state protects. This is a nation founded by wise leaders who refused to favor one religious expression over another. If you dig deep enough into the theology of these founding fathers, you find a form of religion that questioned the literal understanding of the story of Jesus’ birth and instead emphasized the universal values of the story; values such as diversity, respect and justice. This is not a Christian nation. Grand Haven is not a Christian town. So why is the Christian monopoly of public space tolerated? In many parts of the country, this sort of monopoly on public space for specific religious messages has been outlawed because it contravenes the separation of church and state. Constitutionally, the only way around it is to either allow all religious groups to display a scene, or else include some secular images in the scene; maybe a Santa or some reindeer. So why does Grand Haven display only Christian scenery (and a narrow representation of Christianity at that)? Why is there no critique of this exclusive practice? Before my blood pressure rises too much, let me calm down enough to say that it’s possible to combine religious and secular Christmas scenes in tasteful ways. You don’t have to give up Christmas, maybe just understand as the Grinch came to understand, that Christmas can mean more, so much more than you ever thought. It can even include the daily details of your life. In our church in Auckland, we displayed a nativity scene. Instead of having Jesus in a rural manger, after all we were in the middle of the city, we had Joseph and Mary wearing leather jackets and leaning up against a Harley with Jesus in a carry pouch. Instead of being surrounded by docile farm animals, they were surrounded by images of every day city life; a briefcase, a clothes rack, a park bench. We even placed a “Lonely Planets” guide to Auckland in Joseph’s shirt pocket to imitate Joseph and Mary’s search for a vacant room in Bethlehem. A group in the UK went even further, portraying Jesus in the image of Che Guevara, adorned with a crown of thorns, and the caption- “Meek and mild- as if!” This Christmas we will attempt to integrate the religious and the secular. For our family service, we will again tell the story of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The “more” that the Grinch seeks, will be a generous reading of the nativity story, one that unites around its universal values rather than dividing over questionable literal details. The Pagan Jesus The pagan Jesus offers a valid way to reclaim the Christmas story. Maybe when you think of the word “pagan” you think of hedonistic or anti religious. Actually, the word pagan comes from the Latin pagus, a country district. It has the same meaning as peasant. “A person of the land.” The word “pagan” had no negative connotations, until the Romans began using the word (with a sneer) to differentiate between a civilian and a soldier. We are all people of the land, whether we realize it or not. You are a pagan, a person of the earth, a person who depends upon the cycles of the earth, a person who honors and respects the earth. You both measure the movement of your life by the seasons, but also find in the seasons a way to make meaning of your life. Isn’t that why Jesus so often used imagery of nature, the land and the seasons to parallel the human journey? Jesus was a pagan teacher. It’s not an accident that the day we call Christmas day is also the day of the Winter Solstice, the lengthening of days as earth tilts into the sun’s warm embrace. At the time of Jesus, they didn’t have the scientific understanding of the changing of the seasons that we now have. All they had was previous experience that the days eventually got warmer and longer. But each year, they lived with the anxiety that this year might be different. The dark and cold may be here for good. Maybe the world would this time be swallowed up in world of perpetual night. They were also superstitious. They believed that as the days warmed and lengthened, the gods were actually being reborn. So they created ceremonies to mark both their uncertainty and also their encouragement to the gods to return. They created huge bonfires on hills to imitate the sun, and to lure it back. They decorated their houses with greenery to imitate the greening earth and to lure the green earth to return. When the days lengthened and the sun shone brighter, the earth began to green again, they believed they had something to do with it. When this happened, they stopped all their regular activities and had the hugest party imaginable. They called their nature gods names such as Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus, Horus and Mithra. This all happened around the time that we now call Christmas time. Now, just pause for a moment to consider the possibility that those first disciples of Jesus were so inspired by their experience of him, that they created a birth story fitting of such a pagan god. This could only happen at Winter Solstice, when people were celebrating the birth of new hope and fresh growth. Initially, in the years leading up to the birth of Jesus, and in the first years following his death, followers continued their pagan seasonal practices. It was only later under the influence of the Roman Empire that the Christian Christmas was intended to compete with these pagan festivities. The Christian birth story was then removed from the land and from its pagan origins and given an otherworldly meaning. It is such a liberating thought to reclaim the pagan Christmas. When seasonal depression is taking hold, and you haven’t seen the sun for what feels like months on end, and you begin to doubt even the changing of the seasons, reclaim the pagan Christmas. When an inner darkness is taking hold, and you cant even imagine where hope will come from, reclaim the pagan Christmas that looks to nature for the all the evidence of hope you could possibly need. Light a huge inner bonfire on the hill of your psyche and refuse to allow darkness to drag you down. Celebrate Christmas as a celebration of the cycles of life. Crises always come to an end. Darkness always lifts. Despair eventually gives way to hope. Create Christmas celebrations that remind you of cycles of change and your own courage in the midst of long and dark days. Christmas as Universal Imagery The story of Jesus was only ever intended to be read as a story, as poetry, as metaphor. The fact that most Christianity, including the Christianity represented on Dewey Hill, has become a literal reading of impossible events must not distract us from the origins of the tradition. This literal Christianity has served to indoctrinate millions of people over thousands of years that one man, Jesus of Nazareth, could save them from this life and for another world. It has excluded all other religions and all other expressions of the Jesus story as story. Let us reclaim the universal Christ. Let us reclaim the tradition that was begun in poetry because poetry was the only way the early followers of Jesus could capture their profound experience of their hero. They told the story of Jesus’ birth as if he was a pagan God, with all the details familiar to Egyptian mythology and Hebrew story telling. That’s all they had; their experience, their dependence on the earth and their story telling. Reclaim the universal Christ because the story speaks to the Christ in you and in every person no matter what religion or background. The story speaks to a universal longing for rebirth in the midst of the darkest crisis. The universal, pagan, Christmas story has so much to offer the world in terms of unity and healing. We could do so much more with public spaces than perpetuate an unbelievable, literal Christmas story. This is about the healing of the world, instead of division. There is so much at stake, and there is so much to be gained by telling the universal Christmas story. The Christ story is every person’s story. Reclaim that story and allow the celebration of Christmas to reenergize your life and heal the world.
close window | ^ top | home |