Peace on Earth and Mercy Mild

i'm writing this post on christmas eve, though i won't post it until christmas day.  as i write, i'm thinking of the cruelty of the current administration that contradicts what i believe are the best reasons for celebrating christmas.  there can be no peace on earth or good will towards others when the watchwords of the president are pettiness and retaliation.  as he espouses policies that create mayhem in the economy, he looks for a culprit to blame his failures on and finds one in the head of the federal reserve.  in order to divert attention from his own shortcomings, he attacks our closest allies, like canada, asserting that imports from those countries are the reasons for the decline of american industry.  blaming someone else is the hallmark of donald trump, and critical self-examination is a skill unknown to him.

"illegals," other governments that are taking unfair advantage of us, and prior u.s. administrations (particularly that of barack obama), are the causes of any problems that confront mr. trump, he tells us.  those who disagree with him are belittled as corrupt and inept.  lies roll from his tongue and appear on his twitter feed so easily and frequently that is difficult to keep track of them.  suggestions that he, his presidential campaign, and his administration have engaged in illegal activity are part of a witch hunt.  "no collusion" (with trump's peculiar pronunciation of the "u" vowel) is heard and seen so often that one feels certain that there must be "collusion," else why would he need to remind us so frequently of its purported non-existence.

one wonders how much longer the country can survive with trump at the helm.  he says we need to spend five billion dollars immediately on a barrier at the border to keep out all the criminals who are trying to get into the country, but we don't have billions to spend on health care for our own citizens.  those who can't afford to pay for their own health insurance refuse to work and earn the necessary income so we must impose work requirements on the poor before we spend government funds to help them, we are told.  we can afford an unneeded "space force" but we can't afford housing for those who are homeless.  as we see the consequences of climate change all around us, we are assured that this climate change is natural, rather than caused by human actions, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, and government must encourage the increasing use of fossil fuels in order to bolster and economy.

many of us in the country want to cry out to the rest of the world that trump and his supporters are not the face of the u.s.a., but the unfortunate truth is that there is a face, one among many, that is as ugly as the one that the trump fans present.  the twin scourges of racism and isolationism are part and parcel of the american identity, just as love for freedom of expression and the ideal of all people being created equal are.  it is the conflict between the ideals of the enlightenment that fostered the birth of the nation and the fear of the "other" whose skin and language are different from that of the majority that continues to haunt us.  right now, the disfigured visage of all that is bad about the country is ascendant.  there is some evidence that the tide is turning back to more noble traits, and one can only hope that this tide continues and becomes the dominant one again.

may we think of the good that christmas engenders--love for one another, peace and good will, reverence and compassion for the "have-nots" of society--as we celebrate this special day.  may we see the star over the manger as a symbol of the light of our best ideals in the darkness of this winter of ugliness in the american psyche.  shalom.

Now to the Loveless World Be Shown

christmas draws nearer, and i am caught up in the magic of it.  the little child born so far away calls to me, and i go in wonder.  i am drawn to him and to the idea that an innocent baby could exert such a pull on so many.  the fictions that surround his birth are irrelevant.  he is the epitome of the rebirth that propels life onward on this planet, a son of impoverished parents living in an occupied land, destined, it would appear, to be just another of the oppressed many that surround him.  yet he is so much more, growing to be one of the great moral teachers of all time, a man who many believe is the savior of the world and who others, like me, believe is worthy of being followed because his teachings run contrary to the greed, lust, hatred, bigotry, and corruption that characterize much of human existence.

this little one, lying among the farm animals in the most humble setting, calls to us to give, to gather with our loved ones in the light of a tree around the warmth of a fire in the coldest time of the year, to put aside the busyness of the world and to be still as the deep of night is still, to let go of pettiness, to be our best selves.  it seems as if for a few moments on the day of his birth that there is hope that all the wrongs that beat us about the head can be righted.  we rejoice in a time of giving to those we hold most dear and in receiving from them, and we ask ourselves why every day can't be like this one special day of the year.  it doesn't matter if we are christians, if we believe the fairy tales that have been layered on his birth.  what matters is a child who calls us to stop for a moment and take time to appreciate the mysteries of life and love.

may the joy of christmas be yours no matter your circumstances or beliefs.  may there be this day that calls you to be filled with lovingkindness and compassion.  may this day propel you and me into a new year filled with possibilities for a better life on this planet, a life where caring for one another takes precedence of acquiring more and more, a life that stops blaming those "others" for the problems we face, a life that puts the welfare of our planet over the acquisition of wealth.  may we not see a king in the manger in bethlehem, but a child who calls us to love all humankind.  shalom.

That Old Time Religion

having been raised a christian and hearing repeatedly how some things just have to be accepted on faith colors how i think of so much in life.  it's easy for me to see how people get trapped in the fundamentalist sort of religion, whether that religion is christianity, islam, or some other belief system.  if we believe certain things without requiring any proof of their existence, it's not hard to move on to deeper and deeper commitments to other unprovable beliefs.  for instance, if one insists that the virgin birth is essential to being a christian, then those who call themselves christians and yet think that the virgin birth is a myth can't be true christians.  believing in the virgin birth leads to believing other things about jesus: that he is divine, that God violates the rules of nature by becoming a human being, that the purpose of jesus' brief life was to be the ultimate blood sacrifice for humanity's sins and to then come back to life, that jesus could read minds and cure the sick, that jesus could walk on water and perform other impossible feats.

the more committed a believer becomes to these unbelievable characteristics of jesus, the more intolerant that "person of faith" becomes of those who refuse to assent to the jesus-born-of-a-virgin.  as i sat in church yesterday and listened to what was being said, i wondered if i should even be there.  i didn't subscribe to much of what was proclaimed from the pulpit, primarily by lay leaders who were tasked with bringing devotional messages at certain points in the service.  the minister's sermon was easier for me accept as he talked about the inclusion of the magi in the christmas story as a symbol for inclusivity in our own lives, of being accepting of those who were "foreign" to us, just as the writer of matthew's gospel included the "wise men from the east" who were probably astrologers who looked for portents in the night sky.

as i looked around the congregation, i wondered how many others were like me, skeptics of the mythology that passes for truth in christianity.  i saw so many kind, caring, generous people, people that it's easy to love, and i knew that many of them accepted the myths without questioning the philosophy that "if it's in the bible, it must be true."  few of them are fundamentalists, because the whole reason for the denomination of which this congregation is a part is tolerance for diverse beliefs and a refusal to insist that members of the church accept any specific interpretation of christian orthodoxy.  in a conversation with a member of the church not long ago, she recounted how she couldn't accept ideas like the virgin birth and remain true to herself.  it was like a breath of fresh air to know that i'm not alone in this group of christians, even though many, probably most, members of the church do accept the tenets of orthodox christianity.  the wonderful thing is that people like her and like me can be accepted and our ideas respected even if they are different from what the majority of the others in the church believe.

the disturbing thing is that congregations like this are in the minority in christianity.  in most churches, there is no room for those who doubt the literal truth of the bible, no room for those who question, no room for those who don't subscribe to a particular set of orthodox beliefs, no room for those who can't throw logic out the window and accept ideas "on faith."  this is the dangerous aspect of christianity, that intolerance is assumed to be the "godly" way to live, and such close-mindedness is what leads to the twisted reasoning that requiring equal rights before the law for gay people is a violation of someone's religious freedom or mandating that all employees have access to birth control infringes on an employer's liberty.  fundamentalism and intolerance go hand in hand, regardless of what religion practices the intolerance.  islamic fundamentalism and christian fundamentalism are both equally abhorrent.

may we respect widely divergent views, remembering that respect and acceptance are very different things.  may we be able to express our own views without fear.  may we love those with whom we disagree without allowing dangerous ideas to go unchallenged.  may civil discourse lead to greater understanding of and respect for those who believe and live differently from us.  shalom.

A Part of the Main

there are many types of hunger, thirst, and poverty.  in jesus' teachings, we are taught that those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness" will be filled, that the "poor in spirit" will receive the kingdom of heaven, that those who give food and water to those who hunger and thirst are caring for jesus himself.  during his lifetime, jesus spent most of his time with those who lived in poverty and with those who were condemned by "devout" society.

in reaching out to people who,  like matthew and zaccheus, were shunned by most of their contemporaries because they had allied themselves with the romans as tax collectors, jesus recognized that, though these two men were "rich" in the sense that most people define the word, they were poor in spirit.  both matthew and zaccheus were aware of their own spiritual poverty and became followers of jesus, abandoning their old ways of living and embracing the good news that jesus preached.

jesus saw the suffering of common people who bore the multiple burdens of roman occupation and taxation, oppression by the jewish allies of the romans who enriched themselves by taking advantage of those who could not pay the roman taxes, and perversion of the jewish religion to protect the positions of the religious leaders so that the religion became a curse to ordinary people rather than a blessing.  with all these forces working against them, those to whom jesus reached out were hungry and thirsty for righteousness, as well as being physically hungry and thirsty.  in following jesus and his teachings, these disadvantaged people saw hope that they would be filled, as they looked beyond their own needs to the needs of others.  jesus showed them that by serving others they were filled themselves.

just as those ancient followers were filled and their spiritual lives were enriched, we are reminded of the core of the good news that jesus delivered: to love our neighbors as ourselves.  during the christmas season, we see love made manifest in the birth of a child in an obscure judean village to poor parents.  this child is the personification of love, demonstrating that we, too, can be filled with a love that seems foolish to much of the world--a love that embraces people of all races and genders, a love that demands that we "love [our] enemies and pray for those who mistreat [us]."

may we seek this sort of love in our lives, not just during this season but in all seasons.  may we feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty.  may we reach out to those who live in literal and spiritual poverty.  may the truth that is in each of us be expressed by transcending the narrow bounds of religion to its universal manifestation in caring for one another.  shalom.

Long Time Ago in Bethlehem

this is the time of year when we hear phrases like "jesus is the reason for the season" or "keep christ in christmas" or "it's ok to say 'merry christmas.' "  this obsession with christmas as a religious holiday is offensive.  there are millions for whom jesus is not the reason for the season and for whom "happy holidays" is a far more appropriate sentiment than "merry christmas."  even most christians don't really celebrate christmas as a religious holiday.  if they did, they'd avoid the commercialism that is the season's most striking feature, they'd eschew decorating their homes weeks or even days before christmas eve, and christmas would be celebrated until the day of ephiphany, rather than ending abruptly on december 26.

as far as i'm concerned, the christmas season has become, and ought to be, a time that is primarily secular.  i can't subscribe to the mythology that is part and parcel of observing christmas as a religious holiday.  it's likely that the historical jesus was not born in december.  the vision of angels in the sky proclaiming good news and extending wishes of peace to judean shepherds is lovely, but unlikely.  wise men traveling from the east as they follow a star to a barn where a holy child lies in a manger is fun to sing about, but that's probably a fiction as well.  that a virgin could give birth to a member of the godhead is a myth appended to the story to elevate jesus from a man to a god.

we can try to " honour Christmas in [our] heart[s], and try to keep it all the year" as dickens has scrooge saying in a christmas carol.  "peace on earth and goodwill to men" is an admirable wish that we would do well to recall during this season and throughout our lives.  reverence for the poor, as the holy family certainly was, is a worthy lesson to take away from the scene in the cattle stall, and the elevation of the status of a young jewish woman can serve as a call to address the ill treatment of women everywhere.  there is much to learn from the christmas story, but to insist that the story in the bible is literally true diminishes the larger truths that are the reasons for the story.

christmas is a universal holiday, not just a christian one.  it is a part of the traditions found in many faiths in many parts of the world that look to the light in the darkest time of the year.  these celebrations of light are a sign that the human race has hope that darkness is a temporary state, that the light will return, that the cold will be replaced by warmth that nourishes life, that love will triumph over hate, and that, as martin luther king said (paraphrasing theordore parker), "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  this, for me, is the message of christmas, rather than the narrowly christian view that the season belongs only to christians who espouse orthodox theological beliefs.

may we keep christmas in our hearts, as dickens would have us do.  may we not worry about how to properly celebrate the season, but rather may we take joy in the prospect of peace on earth and goodwill to all.  may we not worry about whether jesus is the reason for the season or about keeping christ in christmas.  may we instead kindle the spirit of the loving jesus in our hearts and extend that love to all.  shalom.

On the Road Again

my wife and i will be traveling for the next couple of days and will not have internet access.  i will try to post later in the week when we return from our trip.  until then, may we all have a happy thanksgiving.  shalom.

Let Every Heart Rejoice

what is happiness?  lately, some events have occurred that caused me to feel sad and hurt.  yet beyond the sadness and the pain, i've been surprised that i'm still a happy person.  i can address the suffering without the underlying sense of well being in my life going away.  at the end of each day, i go to bed glad that i'm alive and filled with a sense of joy and accomplishment and looking forward to the new day that i hope will come.  i can't account for this happiness, because it's something that's relatively new, something that has happened over the last two or three years.

my wife and i have been through some difficult times: making a move that was physically and emotionally draining, having to adjust to a new locale where people have different customs and points-of-view and where the climate and topography are not what we're accustomed to, separating ourselves from old friends and our church, living farther from our daughter and her husband.  despite the pain of these adjustments, i've still been happy.  it's hasn't been nearly as hard to give up so much that is familiar as i thought it would be.  our lives are filled with so much natural beauty, and many of things we enjoy most, like a variety of good restaurants and wonderful shows and concerts, are easily accessible.  as we looked at our calendar for the coming weeks last night, it was filled with day trips to places we love and events we look forward to participating in.

but my happiness is more than these superficial activities, more that the busy-ness of every day life.  i can't describe it, but i know that it is something that is different within me that i wish i had experienced throughout my life.  part of it is, i suppose, an awareness that passing joys and pains are just that--passing.  they are not the core of who i am.  while i may enjoy a concert of beautiful music as it happens and have fond memories of it far into the future, the joy that it brought and continues to bring is not the source of happiness.  my happiness is far deeper and much more a part of the "me" that i am.  it's something i don't fear losing, because i know that it can't be taken away by external events.

as i go forward, i hope that this sense of happiness deepens and that i can share it with others.  may each of us find such happiness.  may others be made happier by our own happiness.  may we see fleeting joys and sufferings as passing moments in our lives that leave our basic happiness intact.  may lovingkindness and respect flow from us because we are filled with lovingkindness and respect for ourselves.  shalom.