UU CHRISTMAS

The very name, ‘Unitarian Universalist’ sounds suspiciously, ‘Science Fiction’ or worse; like where you might go for someone to read the bumps on your head. But it is in fact, a religious tradition with roots that go back to Romania in the 1500’s. With centuries of pushback against the Roman Church's doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ; with emphasis on reconciliation rather than ‘either-or’ judgment; the early UU's moved in another direction. Modern Unitarian-Universalism is a liberal religious movement that no longer identifies as Christian. If you need an ‘ism’ to associate with their roots it would be Humanism; that everything we need to fulfill our purpose was inherent at birth. We don’t need to please God; whether or not there is a God is irrelevant. Many UU’s are atheist or agnostic. So, when I tell folks I went to church on Christmas Eve they likely assume it was a Christian church and the traditions we keep are the same as theirs. 

But this is not a history of Unitarian-Universalism. It’s a short story about my Christmas eve. If you had been there you would have noticed a few different twists but it was pretty traditional. The story came straight from the New Testament book of Luke. Rather than read it from the bible, our children took turns describing the manger scene, one element at a time. As they did, characters and scenery were added; the nativity scene was assembled in front of our eyes. In the end, it was about a wonderful story. We sang traditional Christmas carols, with a few edits of course; just enough that it wouldn’t be confused with “Worship.” What we did fell short of worship. It was simply paying respect, honoring a cultural tradition that is so widely celebrated. The idea of peace on earth and good will to all people is certainly embraced in our religious principles. What we truly believe is that Myth is the foundation of all religion and Metaphor is what we are left with. Our job is figure out how to glean a kernel of truth from that mysterious mix and give it legs to stand on. 

There were readings from contemporary authors that uplifted the human spirit. We take it on ourselves to be instruments of peace and justice rather than depend on God to send us a savior. We sang all the verses of Silent Night, in the dark, as a single flame was passed candle to candle and the room took on a glow. I heard my own voice, amazed it was in tune with the musicians on the stage. The idea of peace crossed my mind; not the pause between fights but the flash of insight that we are all, everyone of us, bits of star dust on a timeless passage. Out of my mouth came the words, “. . . sleep in heavenly peace,” the melody tails and the words repeat, “. . . sleep in heavily peace.” 

Afterward, in the lobby, we rubbed shoulders, drank hot cider, wished everyone, even people we didn’t know, “Merry Christmas.” At the church down the street it would have been about Baby Jesus but in our case it was about, “God bless us every one.” We celebrate many holidays, from other traditions; not because we believe in their miracles but because we would be inclusive rather than exclusive. It’s not easy, even for people who make it their purpose, to be inclusive. Prejudice and pride are universal ills, no one is immune, we have to diagnose our own shortfalls and be our own medicine. On my way home I stopped for coffee with friends at their place. What a Christmas present; friends. Then, in the car, for no particular reason I remembered the movie ‘Chirstmas Story’ where Ralphie was obsessed with the Red Ryder BB gun. His BB gun was under the tree but their Christmas dinner was ruined and they had to eat Chinese at the only open restaurant, and it was the best Christmas ever.