Advent - Coming and Going

The traditional season of preparation for Christmas is Advent, meaning coming and it is the first Season of the Christian Liturgical Year, so one year ends as another begins.
Today is the Winter Solstice, the beginning of a new solar year in the North of our planet, also helping us think in terms of endings and new beginnings.

sermon for the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse December 21, 2014


Good morning, everyone!

A Blessed Solstice to you all.

On this day we are experiencing a delightful convergence of Holy Days:

  Today is the Fourth (and last) Sunday of Advent

      and the Winter Solstice, the Day of the Rebirth of the Sun.

Whether our spirituality is based on religious tradition or on the celebration of Mother Nature,

   today is a special day, a Holy Day.


I often like to say, "Beware the holidays, and enjoy the Holy Days!"

The holidays are fraught with expectations and stress.

There is always too much to do and not enough time,
    and we are all too often afraid that we will disappoint the people we care about and who care about us.

The truth is, some disappointment is inevitable when people care about each other,
   so it makes a lot more sense not to worry about it too much.

It's better just to know that some disappointment will happen and to deal with it when it comes.

No holiday is as wonderful as the perfect holidays that we remember from the past,
     and memories of less than perfect holidays can darken the brightest celebrations of the present.

So my concept of coping with the holidays
    is to concentrate our thoughts and energy on remembering and celebrating the Holy Days
         that are the true reasons for the season.

Let's start with Advent and this Fourth Sunday in Advent.

This is a season of anticipation and hope.

It is the first season of the Christian liturgical year,
    and so we are already in the new year in that sense.

Our spiritual, emotional and physical lives are filled with both anticipation and hope.

Hope and anticipation are both good concepts to focus on, at least most of the time.

Life is mostly about the journey and not so much about the destination.

We need to make plans so that we can work to achieve the things we hope for,
    but we also need to be prepared to be surprised.

Sometimes, just as with the metaphor of the first Christmas,
   the surprise does come with joy and wonder,
      but not always in the form we expected!

Preparing for the spiritual celebration of Christmas is a good exercise for all of us,
   not just for those who take the metaphors as if they were historical fact.

I would say that those of us who are aware of the nature of myth and metaphor in the Christmas story
    are just as able to benefit from the meaning of the celebration
      as those who treat it as if it were based on cold, hard facts.

The spirit of Christmas is far more important than the details of the story.

We capture the spirit of the season
  when we spend time thinking more about the meaning of the story
     more than we do when we think about all the trappings -
        the holiday parties and dinners and preparations and frantic rushing around.

All of those things can be fun, of course, but when they cease to be fun, it can be very good
   just to relax and enjoy the beauty and wonder of a powerful story and its meaning for all of us.

The idea of the birth of Christ long ago and far away
  is something to focus on in the midst of this time of year.

We think of Mary, his mother, especially on this Fourth Sunday in Advent.

Her experience of that first Christmas was not at all what she was likely to have expected!

Having to make a long journey as she neared the end of her pregnancy
   would hardly have seemed like an auspicious beginning for the life of her Son.

Discovering that there was no room in the Inn -
    and that Joseph hadn't even made any reservations -
           must have been even downright shocking.

The only accomodations they could get were the result of the compassion of an innkeeper:
   a stable, generally thought to have been a cave,
       since the Hill Country of Judea has plenty of caves
           that have long been used as a safe place for the animals.

In fact, the stable that has been revered as Jesus' birthplace
   since about the 3rd or 4th Century CE
       is, in fact, a cave.


Whether the birth took place in summer or winter,
   the cave provided the only climate control that would have been possible in those days.

In winter, the cave feels warm.

In summer, it feels cool.

Here in simplest terms we see one of the many lessons of the myth and metaphor of the Christmas story:

Sometimes when things don't turn out as we expected, they can be even better than we would have thought possible!

As we spend time in the Christmas season, we can contemplate the deeper meaning of the story,
    and we will not be disappointed by the celebration we can keep in our hearts.

The story is rich with meaning,
   and it is worthy to be taken to heart.

After all, the idea of the Son of God being born in humble circumstances
     is a most powerful one for all the world to hear and know.

That stable has become precious in our hearts,
    and the manger in which the Child was laid
       is more uniquely valuable to many millions of people
              than the most luxurious bed in the palace of a king.

The most basic and most important point of that whole story
     is one that we often miss
         because we are so caught up in the details.

We speak of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem as a holy and blessed event
    to remind us that the birth of every child is holy and blessed,
         full of meaning that we may or may not be able to see right away.

As the Hindu proverb says,
    "The birth of every child tells us that God has not yet given up on the human family!"

That is the heart of the meaning of Christmas,
    the true reason for the Season.

We can learn to see the holy moments in our own everyday lives,
    the miracles happening around us all the time
      as people learn to care for each other and give of themselves.

One of the great miracles of the Universe is unfolding for us right now as we speak:
      It's called the Solstice.

Yes, it's the product of physics and mathematics as the Earth and the Sun move in perfect harmony in their great dance.

We are all part of that dance,
    and our observance of it
       can help us understand the rhythm of our lives every day.

It is no wonder - and I think, no accident -
     that the celebration of Christmas
        comes at the same time of year as the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere,
           where our myths, metaphors and celebrations came into being.

The birth of the Holy Child
   is celebrated with the season of the rebirth of the sun.

Historically, there are parallels.

The Christian church adopted and adapted many of the earth based celebrations.

If we want to get back to the Old Time Religion,
  we can do no better than to look to the ancient, earthy roots of our Holy Days.

In that light, for those of us living in the North,
    there is no more holy day than today!

The sun will not always appear to journey into night.

There is this current period
  in which the sun appears to stand still in the sky,
    in terms of his journey toward the southern horizon,
      away from us.

Then the sun turns around and appears to begin to move toward us again,
           toward the north.

As our days have grown shorter and our nights have grown longer,
    our minds and bodies have responded with quietness at best and fear at worst.

Our ancient ancestors watched the seasons unfold with awe.

We do well to remember their feelings and beliefs,
        for we ourselves are not so far removed from them.

From this day, the nights begin to grow shorter and the days begin to grow longer.

We are witnesses to the return of the light!

From this very day,
   beginning in only a very few days,
      even the least observant among us
         will begin to notice that the days really are growing longer!

Our minds may know the science.

And Yet... Our hearts can still be lifted by the observed knowledge
   that we are not all going to freeze in cold and the dark!

Here is a kind of salvation that we can all relate to!

Our rescue by the return of the Daystar, the sun,
   is something we can all feel in the deepest part of our being.

I grew up and spent most of my career in Texas, deep in the southern part of the northern hemisphere
    where the change of the seasons was not nearly as easy to observe.

I have sometimes said that Texas has two seasons: hot and hotter.

That's an exaggeration, I know, but one of many things I love about living in the Inland Northwest
      is the experience of four seasons.

Compared to many places, we really do have four mild seasons,
   and I promise not to complain about that!

As of today, on this holy day of the Solstice, our own spirituality can be based on the natural world.

We ourselves are part of the natural order of things.

The illusion that we are somehow above or apart from it
  sometimes gets us into trouble,

but the truth is...

We are ourselves products of Nature Herself
     or of the Creator of Nature,
            whichever way you prefer to express it.

As such,
  we are always profoundly affected by the events of the natural world
        and our interaction with it,
              whether we like it or not.

Today, we can really really like it.

Today is a day of joy and celebration
   because the beautiful, warm days of Spring and Summer are on their way back,
      and today is the first step on that journey.

The sun will actually appear to touch the Tropic of Capricorn today at 6:03 p.m. our time.

Because of the tilt of Earth's axis, our orientation to the sun begins to change today.

With this event we observe the miracle of the change of the seasons.

I'm using the word miracle carefully here.

The great event of this day is a miracle, a wonder to all of us who know how to see.

The song, "Everthing is holy now," sings the message as clearly as anything I have ever heard.

It's not that our understanding of science has taken away the great miracles from us.

Rather, our understanding of science has enabled us to see the miracles in events that might otherwise seem commonplace.

The great event of today,
   the great turning of the wheel,
      is not only something that we commemorate on this holy day:

It is truly taking place as we watch!

We can observe our own place in the cosmos,
  and we can stand in awe.

It is no accident that the Season of New Beginnings comes to us here and now.

The First Season of the Church Year, Advent, is only the first of a series of celebrations of the new year.

Today is the second such celebration.

Today we remember as it is happening
   the beginning of the new solar year.

Our cycle of our planet's journey around the sun could be remembered on any day,
   but this day of transition, our Solstice,
     is the best day of all to remember it

   because it is a transition we will all experience together.

The seasons are changing!

If you are south of the equator, of course,
    the transition is the opposite of ours.

For Australia, southern Africa and South America, and many other places of the southern hemisphere,
   today is the summer solstice,
       but the transition is also from season to season.

For them, summer begins as for us winter begins.

Again, it's because of our orientation to the sun, the Day Star,
   and as our hearts are grateful that we will not perish in the cold and dark,

     they are grateful that they will not perish in the heat and drought.

We celebrate today
     the Holy Day of our Mother Earth,
       and so I wish you all a Blessed Solstice.

As I conclude my sharing of thoughts with you today,
      I feel a deep need to ride one of my hobby horses.

Perhaps you have heard of the contrived idea
   that there is a war on Christmas.

In reality, it's just another attempt to use the holy days for personal gain,
     in this case, for political gain.

There is no war on Christmas in the United States.

There is a growing sense of acceptance of people who are different.

As with any social change, there also resistance to the change.

There are those who would exploit the resistance.

I'm glad when people wish me a happy day on their holy day of choice!

My own tendency is to say, "Happy Holy Days,"
         because I intend it to be inclusive.

There is a secular holiday that goes by the same name as the Christian holy day of Christmas.

The proper greeting for that secular holiday is, "Merry Christmas."

It is a secular greeting.

Its use does not improve or diminish the holy day that Christians will celebrate on Thursday.

Its absence is likewise of no effect whatsoever.

So I hope everyone among us will feel free to use any greeting for the season:

Merry Christmas is a fine secular greeting, as is Happy Holidays.

Happy New Year actually works from the First Sunday in Advent through January 1.

It's especially appropriate today!

Happy New Solar Year, or Blessed (or Happy) Solstice is the word for today.

Blessed Christmas works from December 25 through January 5, the Twelve Days of Christmas.

That is a specifically Christian greeting, and it is meaningful whether you identify as Christian or not!

It's just a way of wishing someone well in a season that is sacred to them.

Likewise, whether you are Jewish or not,
    Happy Hanukkah is a good thing to say today, the Sixth Day of Hanukkah,
         or on any of the Eight Days of Hanukkah.

I would like to see more appreciation than taking offense.

Then maybe we can end the war on politeness!

If someone is wishing you well in a season that is sacred to them,
     the kind and polite response is to smile and say something like,
        "Thank you, and the same to you!"

In that light, I wish to say to all of you,

Namasté!

and

Happy Holy Days.

Amen!

So Mote it Be!

and

Blessed Be!