Good
evening, Merry Christmas, and welcome to
These
treasures have been given, received, and appreciated by wise travelers
throughout human history. Tonight we
celebrate all the ways that these gifts have been passed-along through the
story of the birth of the baby Jesus.
The
gift of Welcome. On Christmas Eve we are reminded that one of our highest
values is to extend the gift of welcome to every child of the
universe... to extend our gift of welcome to every aspect of creation, this
indescribably complex and inescapably intimate unity, from which each of us is
constantly born anew.
So
let us share the gift of welcome by bringing home those who have been away, and
by receiving into our lives and into our community those who are yet unknown
to us.
The
gift of welcome, of inclusion, lies deep in our Universalist heritage and deep
within our sense of purpose as a congregation. In fact our determination to
welcome, to include, continues to push these walls outward and ever outward.
And so tonight we can sing as do the angels: “come stranger, come child, you
are welcome here.”
We
light the chalice as a candle of welcome to all.
O
Come All Ye Faithful
THE
GIFT OF PRESENCE
I am truly grateful
tonight for an unexpected gift from Christmasses past -- the gift of a back
door. I point this out because 1) without a fire escape we would not be present
here at all this year and 2) since we will be lighting candles tonight, you
should know where the emergency exit is (not through Yawkey Hall!)
So now how can we best
be present to one another; how can we truly be present before the star which
shines for our highest ideals?
The gift of presence
is about giving our attention. Truly being with others — letting down
our guard... setting aside our to-do-lists... listening and sharing our hearts
rather than hoping that our time together will quickly pass. Being present when
we are at the table together, in a room together, or on the telephone
together.
I’d like to share a
story about being present & paying attention. Once upon a time there was
an abbot of a monastery who was very good friends with the rabbi of a local
synagogue. It was
“What,” exclaimed the
abbot, “the Messiah is one of us? How can that be?” But the rabbi insisted that
it was so, and the abbot went back to his monastery wondering and praying,
comforted and excited. Once back in the monastery, walking down the halls and
in the courtyard, he would pass by a monk and wonder if he was the one. Sitting
in chapel, praying, he would hear a voice and look intently at a face and
wonder if he was the one, and he began to treat all of his brothers with
respect, with kindness and awe, with reverence. Soon it became quite
noticeable.
One of the other
brothers came to him and asked what had happened. After some coaxing, he told
what the rabbi had said. Soon the other monk was looking at his brothers
differently and wondering. The word spread through the monastery quickly: the
Messiah is one of us. Soon the whole monastery was full of life, worship, kindness,
and grace. The prayer life was rich and passionate, devoted, and the psalms and
liturgy and services were alive and vibrant. Soon the surrounding villagers
were coming to the services and listening and watching intently, and there were
many who wished to join the community.
After their novitiate,
when they took their vows, they were told the mystery, the truth that their
life was based upon, the source of their strength and their life together: The
Messiah is one of us. The monastery grew and expanded into house after house,
and all of the monks grew in wisdom, age, and grace before the others and in
the eyes of God. And they say still, if you stumble across this place, where
there is life and hope and kindness and graciousness, that the secret is the same:
The Messiah is one of us. [as
retold by Megan McKenna]
***
Tonight
I bring tidings of great joy: The messiah has not been sitting quietly in glass
and clay manger scenes all these years.
The messiah sneaks out to be born again, and again, and again, to be
here among us.
What
if that reborn Christ is in you? What if that spark is alive in the
person sitting next to you? The very
possibility begs us to give the gift of presence—this week, and throughout the
year.
So
let us now pledge our presence to one another....
That there may be
love—I will be loving
That there may be
peace—I will be peaceful
That there may be joy—I
will be joyous
That there may be
warmth—I will be warm
That there may be
kindness—I will be kind
That there may be
friendship—I will be a friend
We light now our
candle of presence
Joy To the World
THE
GIFT OF PEACE
O where may we find
that elusive gift of peace? Could it be a gift from a child? The following poem
was written by an 11 year old Mattie Stepanek. Like all of us, Mattie lived
with a terminal condition. Only he was more aware of it at a young age. He
wrote this poem for Christmas at age 11, and died 2 years later, in 2004.
Perhaps we could
Perhaps we could let
the reason for this season live throughout the coming year.
Let this season be the
reason to dispel all hate and fear. Let each reason for our season unite us in
one voice, let this season be our reason to make hope and peace our choice.
Perhaps we share
on Kwanzaa, perhaps on Christmas day. Perhaps with lighted candles during
Hanukkah we pray. Perhaps we practice Ramadan, perhaps we meditate; perhaps we
praise in other ways, or just believe in fate.
Perhaps we do not
worship. Perhaps we grace alone. Perhaps it doesn’t matter since true faith
cannot be known. Perhaps we could join voices; perhaps we could join hands.
Perhaps we could join peacefully our hearts in all the lands.
Perhaps we could let
the reason for this season live throughout the coming year. Let this season be
the reason to dispel all hate and fear. Let each reason for our season unite us
in one voice. Let this season be our reason to make hope and peace our choice.
And so we light the
candle of peace.
Do
You Hear What I Hear?
THE
GIFT OF GOODWILL
Goodwill is a state of
the heart, but it cannot be sustained by the heart alone. It requires the work of our hands. For it is
the will not only to wish good upon others, but the will to find
opportunities to do good with our lives.
Most of us have had
periods in our lives when the practice of generosity has flowed effortlessly
from our very being. Most of us have
probably also had periods when generosity has felt alien, unlikely... the very
suggestion of generosity an irritant. We
have felt an insecurity that gripped both our purse and our spirit.
To move back into an
attitude of willful generosity and active goodwill is a matter of continuing
the journey through these rough spots.
Continuing the difficult search for safety, confidence, purpose, and
hope.
Christmas eve, with
its image of homelessness, humiliation, hunger, and the stench of a filthy barn
for a birthing place, reminds us to look in unexpected places, even within our
own poverty-of-spirit to find the sparkling treasure.
***
Tonight
half of our collection will be given to The Neighbors Place. The other half
will be divided between The Salvation Army and The Clara Barton Camp for
Diabetic Children. These are
organizations which have for many years put into practice the values we
cherish. Checks can simply be made out to First UU Church.
As
the ushers come forward to collect your gifts, we light a candle of goodwill.
Solo: O Holy Night
In
those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be
enrolled in a census. And Joseph went up from Galilee, from the city of
And in that region there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their
flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to
them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy
which will come to all the people; for to you is born a Savior, who is Christ
the Lord. ... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among the
people... for among them now abides a child, the very flesh of the Most High.”
We
light our candle of hope, in us.
Silent Night
Shall
we be hopeful tonight based upon fantasy and myth, or should we be hopeful
based upon evidence? I think, yes and yes. Our Christmas stories include both
otherworldly fantasies and concrete acts of love. Both contain sparks of truth
that might become lost in the harshness and the busy-ness of our day-to-day
challenges.
The
stories of Christmas are true not because life is always happy and filled with
presents. They are true because they reminds us that our gifts are available
when we make the effort to conjure them up. And so in closing I share the words
of Howard Zinn, who writes about hope in the midst of harsh reality:
"To be hopeful in bad times is not...foolishly romantic; it is based on the fact that human history is a history of not only cruelty, but of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future ---- the future is an infinite succession of 'presents,' and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
So
go, share these gifts, and the many other gifts still burning in your heart.