Sermon for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of North Idaho

November 10, 2013


At this time of year we are moving into the so-called "holiday season."

There are numerous holidays celebrated in our country and in our part of the world,
   some of which have their roots in religious traditions
         and some have their roots in our shared culture and civil society.

One of the things I have often said about this time of year is,
   "Beware of the holidays, and enjoy the holy days."

The very word holiday is a contraction of the words holy day
 in much the same way the names of some of the holidays
   are contractions of the original holy days.

The word, Christmas, is a contraction of the words, Christ Mass,
   the worship service celebrating the birth of Christ.

My personal favorite contraction is Halloween.

The word Halloween is a contraction of an archaic name for the Eve of All Saints' Day.

Most Jewish and Christian holy days
  begin on the evening before.

Hence, Christmas Eve is part of Christmas.

Secular holidays take their cue from the same custom,
  and New Year's Eve is the start of most of our New Year's celebrations.

This goes back to the Song of Creation in Genesis,
  where each verse was marked with the refrain,
    "And there was evening and there was morning,
      a First Day," Second Day, Third Day, etc.

The eve of or evening before a holy day, is often called the "even" of a holy day
  or, contracting it further, then e'en.

The old name of All Saints' Day was All Hallows Day.

The evening before was then, All Hallows' Evening.

Can you tell where I'm going with this?

All Hallows' Evening became Hallows' Evening
  then Hallows' Even
    and Hallow E'en
      and finally, Halloween.

When my son was very young, still learning to talk,
   he could not quite say the word, Halloween,
       but he could get into the spirit of the season,
          calling it How-weeeeen.

Halloween, the most recent holy day now past is based on the Christian holy day of All Saints' Day
   and also on the much older holy day of Samhain, the start of the new year for the Old Religion.

The two are actually closely related.

As the northern climate moves toward the cold and dark,
  we enter a thin time.

That refers to the thinning of the veil that separates the physical world
  from the world of spirit.

In the Old Religion, all things are charged with spiritual reality
  as well as the physical reality we can see most easily
   with the eyes of our bodies.

During a thin time,
  we can see the spiritual reality with our hearts and minds
    much more easily than we can see it at any other time.

There are also thin places,
  where the world of spirit breaks through to visibility
    almost without warning,
       to surprise us with joy or fear,
         depending on how are thinking at the time.

One of the most famous thin places is Sedona, Arizona,
  but I find that anyplace where the natural world is visible
    is a thin place in that it helps me see more clearly that there are realities
      that I don't think about all the time,
         and that I myself am part of those realities.

People in Coeur D'Alene often experience a strong sense
  of the greater reality of the natural world
    at Tubbs Hill.

So Tubbs Hill is a kind of thin place for people in this part of the world.

In the Old Religion and in Christianity,
  the spiritual world also includes the spirits and souls
    of those who have crossed the veil ahead of us.

Traditionally, around the thin time of Samhain,
   it was not unusual to sense the presence of loved ones
       who have died.

Remembering them,
  setting a place for them at the table,
    visiting their graves,
       and even offering special foods and drinks
          or special prayers
              just to show that we still care
                can still be seen as a custom at the thin time,
                   especially in the Mexican traditions of
                      the Day of the Dead.

Originally, there was nothing spooky or scary about all this,
  but the commercialization of the holy day
    has included a lot of sensational creepy stuff,
      maybe just because it sells more costumes and the like.

In addition, candy makers and purveyors of alcoholic beverages
    use the holiday of Halloween as an opportunity to make more money.

Holy Days are not always a commercial success.

Holidays often are just that,
   especially if expectations can be built up around the holdays
     to convince people to spend more and more money
       to provide the "perfect" holiday
         for themselves and their families.

Right there is the biggest problem with the holidays:
   our expectations of them
     and the inevitable disappointment we may feel when they do not live up to
       whatever we have idealized as the way they are supposed to be.

Even if we have a holiday that is as close to our expectations as possible,
    there is an inevitable let-down after it is over.

This is why I always say, "Beware of the holidays, and celebrate and enjoy
                the Holy Days."

In the present context, the holy day nearest us is Veterans' Day, tomorrow.

Today is, then, the Eve of Veterans' Day.

So today is a good time for us to start thinking
     about the rest of the Holy Days - and the holidays -
          that are ahead of us.

I don't know about you,
    but I'm feeling a deep weariness
       regarding our nation's civic life -
          - if we can still call it that.

I'm ready to spend some serious time
   contemplating our spiritual life.

No one can take that away from us,
  even if we are told that we are on the wrong side
    of some contrived "War on Christmas."

(You can expect to hear more on that from me next month. Hehehe.)

Our spiritual life is inside us,
  deeply private,
    shared only if we want to share it.

We can celebrate the Holy Days in our hearts.

The public celebrations of the holidays can enhance our inner celebrations if we wish,
  or we can ignore the public celebrations if they seem to get in the way.

Veterans' Day is a holy day
  which provides a perfect time for us
    to start thinking about gratitude.

We are grateful for our veterans.

That gratitude is best expressed in an attitude toward our Armed Forces,
  far more so than some embarrassing statement of,
     "Thank you for your service."

Public statements of gratitude have their place.

Particularly those in positions of public trust
  who have made the choices that led to placing our Armed Forces in harms way
    are obliged to express the thankfulness that is in all our hearts.

We may disagree with the wars they have fought,
  but those who fought those wars
    had no more to say about the decisions that led to those wars
      than you and I have had,
          and often much less.

As a side comment,
  I just have to say that my experience of the Vietnam War era
      was that by far the majority of Americans
         including those who, like me, strongly opposed the war,
            treated the returning veterans with respect.

Of course there were exceptions,
    but there is no excuse for using those rare exceptions
       as a cause for increasing the divisions
         in our current cold civil war in the U.S.

Our thankfulness for our nation's armed forces
   has nothing to do with our political persuasions.

Today and tomorrow are perfect opportunities
    to reflect on those feelings of gratitude,
      allowing those feelings to renew our sense of hope
         in the face of the destructive division
           being exploited by so many people who prefer self interest
             to the well being of this country and its people.

An attitude of thankfulness
  can turn our attention away from any feelings of disgust or discouragement
     or even sadness
       in the face of our current troubles,
         whether personally or socially.

Those two can go hand in hand, after all.

The very personal difficulty of unemployment
   or finding it hard to get enough to eat
     can be the direct result of problems in the society as a whole.

It is the power of thankfulness that I want to focus on right now.

The great national holy day of Thanksgiving is only about two and a half weeks away.

We can use it as a reminder of the importance of thankfulness
  every day of our lives.

The old folk saying, "Count your blessings,"
  has a lot of deep, traditional wisdom to impart
     and it is a healthy form of spiritual practice for many of us.

As the holy day approaches,
  I hope we can all focus on the things we have to be thankful about.

It will take our attention away from our worries and fears
  and help us improve out attitude about almost everything.

I'm carefully referring to the Holy Day of Thanksgiving
   rather than calling it a holiday, although it is surely both.

As a holiday, Thanksgiving is one of the most dangerous
  in almost every way.

People build up all kinds of expectations of the holiday.

We are supposed to have a big family meal.

People we care about are supposed to share in a feast
    and have a wonderful time in each other's company.

In fact, it rarely works out that way.

Sometimes we just cannot be with the people we want most to see on the holiday.

Sometimes we are with them, and for one reason and another, they disappoint us.

Holidays are notorious for not living up to our expectations.

On the other hand,
  if our thoughts and energies are devoted to the holy day,
    to our own reasons to be thankful,
      then the holy day can be uplifting,
        regardless of the circumstances
          in which we may find ourselves
            around the holiday.

An attitude of gratitude can increase our sense of thankfulness for our blessings.

In turn, that can increase our optimism.

When we expect good things to come our way,
  good things have more of a tendency to happen to us.

Of course, there is no guarantee in life,
  but it can't hurt to turn our attention to the good things we have
    rather than thinking too much
      about the good things we wish we had.

Balance is necessary,
   but to begin the balance on the positive side
      seems to be a good idea
          in my own experience.

Letting the holy days be reminders
  of good spiritual practice
    is far more important for our well being
      than getting caught up in the commercial hype of the holidays.

I'm not necessarily advocating anyone's participation
   in a new social movement:

A lot of people are simply refusing to go shopping at all
     on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I remember one occasion where Beth and I had a delightful time
    going to the mall in Moscow
        at about 5 or 6 in the morning on "Black Friday," as it's called,
             because that is the day on which a lot of retailers
                  first show a profit, or are "in the black," as the expression goes.

That was one of those fun experiences of a holiday
   that might not ever be repeated.

I can enjoy remembering it
   without expecting to do it ever again,
      and without thinking that it would ever be the same experience
        if we tried to do it again.

After all, I'm now a few years older,
   and getting out of bed and on the road that early
      is not nearly as much fun as it used to be!

Just the idea of remembering to be thankful,
   even for our memories of holy days in the past,
     can encourage us to think more positively
       as the holidays loom ahead of us.

If we think in terms of the holy days,
  the anxieties we may feel about the holidays
    just might not be as hard to deal with.

Rather than building up expectations about what is supposed to happen,
  we can engage in spiritual exercises
    like counting our blessings,
      even making lists of them.

I would caution all of us not to try to make a list of blessings
   while feeling especially anxious or sad. 

Under those conditions, we might not be able to think of any blessings,
  and the feelings of discouragement could be made even worse.

On the other hand, when we are feeling hopeful,
  it probably would not be so hard to make a list of the things for which we are thankful.

It might even turn out to be a longer list than we expect!

Then the list of good things
   can be something to pick up and read
      when we need some uplifting thoughts.

Even in the face of the political troubles in our country today,
   it is not be too hard to think of things for which we are thankful
        about our nation's life and prospects.

We have a measure of freedom of speech and religion.

We can express our discontent with the way things are,
  and we can suggest ways that things could be made better.

We are able to vote and to advocate for candidates and programs of our choice,
    even if it is best not to do so in the name of our church or religion.

Our economy is improving despite the efforts of people who want to sabotage it
  for the sake of their own ideological goals.

Best of all,
   to quote loosely something Dr. Martin Luther King said,
     "The arc of history is long, and it bends toward justice."

For all these things, we are deeply grateful,
   and our thoughts of gratitude are certain to help us through times of discouragement.

Remember to enjoy and celebrate the holy days with gratitude,
   and don't worry about the holidays and all the expectations with which they are freighted.

So, I say to you my friends,
   "Happy Holy Days!"

Amen.

So mote it be.

Blessed be!