Twelve Powers of Bethlehem Candle Lighting Service

I have always felt the Twelve Powers Candlelight service found in the Wings of Spirit hymnal is a good idea, but making it about Jesus and the disciples doesn't work for a Christmas Eve service. That discipled-based ceremony might work well at Pentecost, which celebrates the birth of the Church. What we need is a version which actually speaks to the Christman holiday. So, here's my adaptation of the basic 12-P format, keyed to the figures of the Nativity scene.

DrTom

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Twelve Powers of Bethlehem Candle Lighting Service[1]

 1.  Baby Jesus - Life  (red candle)

 Acolyte:  The red candle represents Life, which we light for the baby Jesus. 

 Narrator:  His birth is the reason we light candles every holiday season, for Jesus was like a candle in a dark world. Whenever we think of Christmas, all thoughts flow toward his birth. Light from light, Jesus demonstrates the universal Divine Presence, and through him we see the image of God in everyone. Every cradle is a manger, and every child is the Christ, the Buddha, the Lord, the One Presence and One Power expressed in one solitary life.

 2.  Mary – Faith  (dark blue candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle represents Faith, which we light for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

 

Narrator:  According to the Gospel of Luke, when confronted by the Divine commission to give birth to and nurture the Christ-child, this ordinary young woman responded with extraordinary words of trusting faith:

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.[2]

3.  Joseph – Understanding (gold candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle represents the golden light of Understanding, which we light for Joseph, the father of Jesus and husband to Mary.

 Narrator:  With an understanding heart, Joseph accepted his role in the amazing circumstances we celebrate this season. The gospels report that, after the angel choirs had adjourned to heaven and the Wise Men returned to their far-off lands, it was Joseph who remained as father and guardian of a child whose life would change the world. In quiet ways, by acts of unsung courage, he demonstrated a keen understanding of the dangers and joys of life, and always acted from the highest principles for the greatest good.

 4.  Bethlehem – Power (purple candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle represents Power, which we light for the little town of Bethlehem.

 Narrator:  Purple is the ancient color or kings and emperors. Prophets had foretold that the Promised One would come from Bethlehem, the place where the powerful King David had been born. Yet the power which Bethlehem represents is far greater than the might of armies. Bethlehem means “house of bread” in Hebrew, and one day the child born that night would challenge all people to feed the hungry, and clothe the needy, and comfort the afflicted. By the words of power which he brought, Jesus taught humankind to affirm the Power and Presence of God in all circumstances. The power of that affirmation will heal the sick, lift the poor out of poverty, and transform the world into a commonwealth of peace.

 5.  Shepherds – Love  (pink candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle represents Love, which we light for the shepherds.

 Narrator:  These were simple folk, not kings in their palaces. Yet, the Gospel of Luke says the birth of the Christ Child was announced to them as “good news of great joy for all the people.”[3] They responded with eagerness, and when they knelt before the manger their hearts were filled with divine Love. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” This is the way of love. Open and receptive, simple and straightforward, full of joy and praise.

 6. Prophets and Herald Angels – Zeal  (orange candle)

Acolyte:  This candle represents Zeal, which we light for Prophets and Herald Angels.

Narrator:  The Prophet Isaiah had written: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”[4] Luke reports that angelic voices rang out that dark night, announcing the holy birth. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’”[5] Jesus would tell the people that God favors everyone. Isaiah the Prophet and the Herald Angels conspired to give us a vision of heaven and earth united by the power of Zeal.

 

7.  The Manger – Order  (dark green)

Acolyte:  This dark green candle represents Divine Order, which we light in memory of the Manger.

Narrator:  Jesus has been called “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords.” Yet, when it was time for him to be born, his desperate parents converted an animal food trough into a makeshift cradle. As Luke writes, she “wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”[6] This simple action shows God working through all circumstances. Looking at the manger in the Christmas crèche offers a visual symbol of the balance and harmony flowing through the Universe. Even when circumstances appear desperate, we can access that flow of good through exercising our trust in Divine Order.

8. Wise Men - Wisdom  (yellow candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle yellow represents the flame of Wisdom, which we light for the Wise Men.

Narrator:  Many people saw the star, but the Gospel of Matthew says only the Wise Men from the East chose to act on their vision. The power of Wisdom is the guiding light that gives us the right decision when we trust the Christ within. With this candle we remember the good judgment shown by wise men and wise women throughout the ages who have found the way to their inner Christ.

9.  The Star of Bethlehem – Imagination  (light blue candle)

Acolyte:  This light blue candle represents Imagination, which we light in memory of the Star which led the Magi to Bethlehem.

 Narrator:  The Gospel of Matthew says Wise Men followed that star until it came to rest over Bethlehem, where they found the Christ. But this legend is not only meant for long-ago people of an ancient world.  The star represents the ability to create new ideas and set them in motion. Ralph Waldo Emerson told people to “hitch your wagon to a star.” This is the power to see through appearances to the inner, eternal Truth of every circumstance. With the eyes of Imagination, the Magi found their Christ by following a star, and we can use our power of Imagination to join their quest until we discover the Christ within everyone.

10. Gold – Strength  (light green candle)

 Acolyte:  This candle represents Strength, which we light in memory of the gift of gold.

Narrator:  The first gift the Magi gave the baby Jesus was gold, which represents the kingly nature of Jesus, his prosperity consciousness and his ability to perform all necessary tasks. It is appropriate that the color of monetary currency today is often light green, like this candle. Whatever is true about Jesus is true about everyone. Spiritual Strength is the true gold of existence, the energy of God flowing through us. Gold also symbolizes the gifts of God, which strengthen us during times of difficulty and give us the ability to share our time, talent and treasure with others.

11. Frankincense – Will  (silver gray candle)

 Acolyte:  This silver candle represents Will, which we light in memory of the gift of frankincense.

Narrator:  Because frankincense was an incense of the temple, it represents the divine nature of Jesus, which is the Christ that dwells within everyone. The power of Will has been called “the executive faculty of the mind.”[7] To allow more and more of the Christ to express through us takes an act of Will, the willingness to name and claim our divine heritage. “The Will is the center in mind and body around which revolve all the activities that constitute consciousness. It is the avenue through which the I AM expresses its potentiality.”[8]

12. Myrrh - Renunciation or Elimination  (russet candle)

 Acolyte:  This russet brown candle represents Renunciation, which we light in memory of the gift of myrrh. 

Narrator:  This candle points to the human nature of Jesus. In biblical times, myrrh was a perfume used to prepare bodies for burial. It represents the power to let go and let God, to recognize we are in good hands when we trust God. Jesus, who was born in a manger, would die on a cross. Yet his teachings have changed billions of lives for the better. If he was able to let go and let God, so can we. As we celebrate the birth of the Christ child this night, we release any thoughts of lack or limitation and turn our lives over to God’s guidance, knowing in every circumstance God is within us, we are in God, and all is well.

 Pastoral Prayer

Passing the Light / “Silent Night”

 

Ushers light candles from the Christ Candle, then spread the light to the congregation. Should be done in low light for maxiumum effect. Congregation sings "Silent Night" during the candlelighting.

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Suggested directions: Each Acolyte comes forward and says: “This candle represents _____, which we light for _________.” (Or something equivalent.)

 Then the Narrator(s) read the brief passage about the significance of that candle. Alternatively, participants could read both Acolyte and Narrator passages, which will require rehearsal and usually take more service time. 

Music underscoring the ceremony should be soft, dignified and evocative of the holiday.

 

Completing the Ritual: Passing the Light / Silent Night: After the twelve candles are lit, the ceremony concludes with “passing the light” until all hand-held candles in the congregation are lighted. The congregation sings “Silent Night” during the community candle lighting.[9]

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[1] Based on the nativity found in Matthew and Luke, plus Charles Fillmore’s Twelve Powers.

[2] Luke 1:41-49  (All biblical references NRSV)

[3] Luke 2:10

[4] Isaiah 9:6-7

[5] Luke 2:13

[6] Luke 2:7

[7] Charles Fillmore, The Revealing Word, 209.

[8] Ibid., 209-210.

[9] Any religious group may present this service freely if properly attributed to the author. [c] Thomas W. Shepherd, 2011.

The Sun Also Riseth

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the Theo-Blog are the author's alone, not reflective of any organization, institution, religious deomoniation or political party. Furthermore, I reserve the right to change my mind and deny I ever said whatever it is I am saying now. For the freedom to make such a blatant declaratation of militant ambiguity, I would like to express my appreciation to Gov. Mitt Romney, whose campaign has shown that facts don't matter and nobody cares if you flip-flop until your slippers fly off.

 

 

Is the American star rising or setting? 

 

The Presidential Election of 2012 is a dance atop a razor blade. Thin slices of population in a few battleground states will chart the direction for our nation of 300 million+ souls. What strikes me as a partisan observer is how profoundly our culture has moved from politics--which is the art of compromise--to zealotry, which makes compromise a mortal sin.

 

We have important issues to decide as a nation. Too many people are lacking fundamental human rights, like universal medical care, equal justice under law, marriage equality, equal pay for equal work, a graduated income tax which requires everyone to pay their fair share, quality public schools and affordable higher education, safe roads and bridges, urban transit, living wages, equitable retirement choices, and enough firemen and police to protect our families, clean environment, global and regional peace initiatives, and freedom from hunger and fear.

 

The very complexity of such issues requires give-and-take among all players. Yet, the tax-pledge minions of Grover Norquist and the inflexibility of the Religious Right have made compromise impossible for the Republicans. When a candidate like Governor Romney runs a right-left, zigzag course after securing the GOP nomination, he gives the impression of a man sprinting through a mine field. His party faithful demand inflexibility on the Right; the nation is basically Centerist. No wonder he has made a calculated decision to dash centerward in the closing weeks of the campaign. Obfuscate, switch directions, deny you ever said what you clearly campaigned upon until last week. Or yesterday. Or this morning, if necessary. Pundits have cried wolf so many times during this endless election season that nobody believes them any more. Facts don't matter. Tell me your new position, and all is forgiven...

 

The USA cannot grow as a nation set in concrete. We must have the flexibility to shift, to argue, to locate fertile common ground. But there is a difference between flexibility and spinelessness; there is a difference between, "Tell me what you want to achieve..." and "Tell me what you want to hear..." There is only one presidential candidate who has shown consistency and flexibility, only one who has understood when to compromise and when to draw a line in the sand.

 

 

During the US Constitutional Convention, May-September 1787, George Washington's chair (above) featured a sun on the horizion carved on the headrest. James Madison reported that Benjamin Franklin looked at the chair after the work of the new Constitution was nearly copmplete and remarked, "I have often looked at that behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I... know that it is a rising...sun."

 

What made the US Constitution possible? Flexibility, compromise, and consistency. One nation came from diversity. Now, we have an opportunity to vote on whether the American star is rising into an era of equality and justice or setting behind clouds of economic and political inequality. For me, the sun also riseth...

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Words of New Book

Opening Passage

I shared the closing of my new book, The Many Faces of Prayer: How  the Human Family Meets Its Spiritual Needs. Now here is the opening. (If you want more, it'll be out next Spring.) 

From the Preface:

The work before you flows from a lifelong interest in cross-cultural spirituality and ritual. As I think back over the decades, it seems like everything was so simple early in life. Home, school and church. Everyone singing the same music. Hosanna, Jesus loves me, long division and Lebanon bologna. Simple.  Then, sometime around my eleventh birthday, I began to hear the different drummers.

          As a Baby Boomer growing up in an ethnically homogenous (i.e., lower class white) Protestant neighborhood in Reading, Pennsylvania, I was fortunate to attend Thirteenth and Union Elementary School, which reached beyond the brick row houses into more prosperous neighborhoods, where degrees from college were expected of the next generation. Not exactly diverse by today’s standards—we had one African American pupil— nevertheless the school had a significant minority of Jewish and Catholic students. We were also blessed with vibrant faculties who exposed us to the new, post-colonial, post WWII world. Albert Schweitzer and Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. We never spoke of religions in the emerging new countries, but teachers shared an enthusiasm for a wide range of cultures, East and West. And the Jewish and Catholic students sitting around me in class represented alien worlds to a Pennsylvania Dutch kid.

          Sometimes a Jewish friend would invite me to the family Shabbat meal, where I donned a skullcap and listened to readings from the sacred text, previously known to me only as the “Old” Testament. It began to occur to me that people I cared deeply about—my friends and classmates--included those who saw the world quite differently than the  way it had been presented  at Zion’s Reformed Church. The struggle to make sense of life has always had a spiritual dimension for me, yet here were young people who didn’t believe in Jesus, and others who said they were Christians but prayed in the presence of full-sized idols. Where in the Bible did Jesus’ mom get promoted to some kind of goddess? My friends, not just walking to a different drummer, but worshipping a different deity? Wasn’t that the very definition of sin?

          I loved and respected my elders at Zion’s—which was a kindly place full of Townhouse Crackers and Bible stories, and nothing approaching judgmentalism. We never spoke of hell at Zion’s Reformed Church, because that was for bad people and we didn’t know anybody like that. Oh, sure. Hell was still on the books—like a law against emptying your bedpan from a second-story window—but it just didn’t apply. And these kids were my friends who believed differently. And there was also my crabby agnostic Uncle Gibb, who sneered that Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had not found God when he orbited the earth in 1961.

          I suppose that’s when I discovered I had become a universalist, even before moving away from childhood to travel the world. Travel doesn’t just broaden, it deepens.  I encountered ever more diversity--Baha’is, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, an endless array of spiritual traditions which, by comparison, made Jews and Catholics seem like co-religionists to a woefully ignorant Protestant like me.

          The common theme I began to discover in spirituality and prayer was the need to make sense out of life and live it successfully. Different groups understood differently what “live it successfully” meant, but the impetus for a balanced, meaningful life flows horizontally through all the cultures of humanity and reflects in the religions we create to meet those needs. The central theme of this book is that humans do not share the same answers, we share the same questions, which we have answered differently.

          As a theologian and teacher of graduate students, I tend to look at the questions through an analytic, cross-cultural lens, but after four decades in ministry the residual pastor within me still loves and appreciates the practical aspects of human spirituality. My goal in writing The Many Faces of Prayer was to present a multi-cultural look at prayer, meditation and ritual which addresses both the intellectual and devotional sides of the topic. Obviously, with a world of religious traditions to draw upon, this study cannot pretend to be exhaustive. Behind each door leading to a major faith group is another room full of doors, each with corridors full of sub-groups, denominations, and geo-cultural practices. 

Closing Words of New Book -- The Many Faces of Prayer

SNEAK PEAK...

The following is the closing passage of my new book, The Many faces of Prayer:  How the Human Family Meets Its Spiritual Needs. 

Just completed the first draft. I'm told the Unity Books  target publication date is Spring 2013.

To Boldly Go…

Looking back over the concepts presented in this study, I am struck by how much more we could have explored, from simple ideas like prayer partners to more complex configurations like Unity’s annual World Day of Prayer. We never touched on efficacy studies, some of which support the power of prayer to affect outcomes in healing, others which show no positive correlation whatsoever. This brings up the greater issue of science and religion, and an honest discussion of the subject must concur with Carl Sagan, who famously said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

The role of grace and the providence of God could be stand-alone volumes, and whether the goal of prayer is to comfort or to cure is a longstanding controversy in religious thought. The crowds did not come to Jesus to hear philosophy; they brought  their sick and blind and physically handicapped to his traveling spiritual healing clinic, to the point of disassembling the roof on one occasion to lower an invalid through the ceiling.

What can prayer do? Are we praying into the thunderstorm to ward off its effect, or to bolster our courage? Buddhists do not attempt to shape results; they shape their responses to whatever results. Christians, Muslims, Jews and people of many other traditions want hands-on divinity that can spring open the prison doors, heal the sick, and bring relief in the tangible world. Answers to the questions raised by the challenges of life are neither simple nor dispensable, and if they seem otherwise it is probably because you have not looked into the depths of human suffering.

In the Genesis legends, God hovers over the face of the waters, does His Creation thing, and pronounces it good. Surely a Creator so powerful must have known future Adams will eat the fruit, and future Cains will kill their brothers. Yet the beneficial progression of life—the long, deep, natural history of the Cosmos, which began billions of years before humans brought forth their multiple families of gods and goddesses, which eventually would include the desolate Yahweh of Sinai—continues an evolutionary process which produced the dance of roses and honeybees, prey and predator, lover and betrayer, child and rejected parent, sinners and spiritual teachers. Life’s lessons, studied well, teach us how to find peace of mind when the systems we embrace crash around us. Better still, reflection upon the great teachers of humanity can clarify ways to fix the damage before catastrophic collapse occurs, by offering alternative paths to reconciliation and a more peaceful world.

What will humans do for spiritual nourishment when they set foot on other worlds? Doubtless our descendants, as they look up at new constellations and perhaps multiple moons hanging in the night sky, will feel a sense of awe, not unlike our ancient ancestors as they looked skyward. As long as humanity retains that impulse to raise its vision to higher possibilities, the inward spiritual journey will continue no matter where we go.

"It's Not about Obama, It's about Yo Momma"

[Note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author alone. --TWS]

Rev. Al Sharpton just released a brief political ad which cuts to the heart of the issues in the  pesidential election. With his typical flourish, the Rev. Al did a quick summary of the policies he says Romeny-Ryan would enact and concluded with an  expression that speaks to the heart of the differences between the two campaigns.

“This is not about Obama. It’s about your mama,” Sharpton said to laughter and applause. “Social Security is about our mamas. And if Obama is a way to protect our mamas then I’m not ashamed to stand with Obama.”

http://thegrio.com/2011/07/28/sharpton-debt-fight-about-your-mama-not-obama/

According to the "Wise Geek" website, Sharpton's language is nothing short of fighting words:

"What started out as playground insults in primarily urban and inner city neighborhoods has evolved into an entire humor category known as yo mama jokes. Yo mama jokes are targeted at a challenger's mother because family insults are widely considered to be the most offensive in urban culture....The term 'Yo mama' itself is short for 'your mama,' and is considered to be an example of urban slang known as Ebonics or Black English. Although the deliberate use of black slang may seem racist, many humor collections refer specifically to Yo mama jokes as a recognized category. Part of the humor behind yo mama jokes is the delivery of the punchline in an urban or Ebonic dialect."

(http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-yo-mama-jokes.htm)

Sharpton's point is that the policies of Romney-Ryan will force seniors to pay more for health care, end  Medicare as we know it, convert Social Security to a private savings plan, and give massive tax cuts for the wealthy while abandoning or drastically reducing programs designed to help the elderly, children, women, and the poor. If government is the Big Bad Wolf there can be no alternative but to starve the beast until in desperation it falls down the chimney.

The punchline sounds crude, but only to people who don't have elderly parents on Social Security and Medicare. In 1992 when I learned I was going to meet candidate Bill Clinton face-to-face, I asked my mother what she would like me to say to him on her behalf.  She said, "Tell him to protect Social Security." Mom was a factory worker all her life who raised six children. Many nights she would be up until midnight doing laundry and household chores, only to rise in the dark before dawn and head to the factory again. She earned that monthly Social Security check by forty-plus years packing candy for Ludens-Hershey. If you have ever eaten 5th Avenue miniatures from a plastic bag, you've probably held my mother's handiwork.

When I was a teenager, I read Ayn Rand and flirted with her philosophy of Objectivism. Let everyone make it or break it without governmental involvement. Every day when I walked down the block past row houses on my way home from school, I would pass a large  window where an elderly lady named Daisy sat in her rocking chair. She lived on Social Security. One day as I stroled by, I asked myself, "What would she do without that little check every month?" Abstract theory became living reality right before my eyes. Governments should do things for its citizens which they cannot do alone. Like build bridges, repair roads, hire police and teachers and firefighters, and send stipends to poor old ladies who have no other means of support.

Rev. Al may have invoked languistic idioms that a middle-class white guy like me has no right to employ, but he was spot on. Regardless of your political affiliation, this election isn't about Obama--who is struggling to help the nation climb out of an enormous economic sinkhole he inherited. It's about Daisy. It's about the auto-deposited checks which keep our elderly from abject poverty. "...it's about 'yo momma."

Confident Living in the Long Autumn of Life, Part 1

- 1 - 

First Thoughts / Last Thoughts

 ‘Tis but a day we sojourn here below, And all the gain we get is grief and woe, Then, leaving our life's riddles all unsolved, And burdened with regrets, we have to go.

 The Rubaiyat by Omak Khayyam (c. 1120 C.E.).

Darkness Approaches 

How does an aging Boomer find a lifestyle which is meaningful and enjoyable in the final phase of life? Both Omar Khayyam and the unknown preacher of Ecclesiastes complained about the futility of a life that ends too soon and accomplishes too little. The preacher called life vanity of vanities. “All things are wearisome; more than one can express.” Why did anyone go to the trouble of hand-copying and preserving such ancient downers? Perhaps cathartic negativity appeals to the human mind, because our species has endured wars and rumors of wars throughout history. As generations go, we Boomers are a fairly cynical crowd. We’re the people who snickered as Queen chanted, “Another one bites the dust!” Yet, we never felt the lyrics applied to us personally, never suspected the dust-biting was coming our way.

 Oh, certainly, everybody knew we were mortal. We laughed and proclaimed that nothing was certain but death and taxes. Then the Reagan revolution told us that taxes were optional, and science began to find ways to prolong life…so who knows? Some of us jogged. Some weight-watched and took multi-vitamins. Lots of us gained weight and fought alcoholism and smoking addictions, not to mention lingering drug relapses here and there. AIDS terrified everyone for a decade or so, then better medicines removed the inexorable death sentence from HIV-related illness, and we relaxed into fantasies about immortality once more, even while people continued to die.

 But as the drama of our generation moved from scene to scene, we began to realize the final curtain was coming. Act One took some people who should still be here. Not expendable redshirts in a Star Trek movie, main characters who fell by the wayside. Some of them were born a few years before the official start-up dates for the Boomer Generation, but their music and words powerfully influenced us—people like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Rickey Nelson, Karen Carpenter, John Lennon, John Denver, and Jim Henson. The casualty list continued to grow in Act Two, sometimes claiming figures of great vitality, like Aussie Crocodile Hunter Steve Erwin, pop icon Michael Jackson, and my youngest half-brother, Darryl John Carter.

 We know when the final curtain will fall. Statisticians estimate we’ll all be gone by the 2060s. Somewhere in the misty distance, a member of our parent’s generation, Peggy Lee, is crooning, “Is that all there is…?”

 My own existential awareness of looming death occurred in one of the most youth-centered locales imaginable. I was teaching eighth grade at Spirit Creek Middle School in Hephzibah, Georgia, a few miles southwest of the azalea-splashed city of Augusta, which is best known for the Masters’ golf tournament. Students had gone to Unified Arts and Physical Education, leaving our hallway empty and giving us teacher-time to prepare lessons or play catch-up on the ten million other tasks required in public schools. I remember thinking about the strange silence of that wing of the building. Suddenly, I flashed on the idea that, just as UA/PE happens every day with clockwork regularity, so will I follow my ancestors into the approaching shadows of death.

 It was an organic realization, not an abstract concept. It wasn’t about death as a subject to be considered; it was about death as an unavoidable event which I must one day experience. Not, “All people are mortal and will one day die,” but rather, I am mortal; I am going to die. The big dirt nap approaches. Everything will go black, and that will be it. Lights out. Sayonara. Another one bites the dust. Gone. Blackness.

 It scared the bejesus out of me. I rushed into the hallway, desperate to see someone alive, wishing my irascible middle schoolers would return from UA/PE, so that some of their immortality would rub off. Of course, it did. Activity spun me away from the brink, and the only panic attack of my life passed into legend. Telling you about it helps, too. Community is a healing experience.

 These thoughts are not designed to bum you out, just to make it clear that we are all in this together. Life’s end approaches, but it isn’t here yet. The only question facing us is how shall we live while approaching the still-distant but unavoidable dark wall of death? A good life always leaves many things undone, yet living a full life before your exit is entirely optional.

 If you were asked to identify a common, central theme required for a good life in the religions and philosophies of humanity, you might respond, “Love.” And you’d be right. However, love is a generic term which every faith defines differently. The Dalai Lama’s Buddhism understands love as compassion for all sentient beings and, paradoxically, detachment from desire itself. Judaism is also a religion of love, expressed through covenantal relationships, mercy and justice; God’s steadfast love outpictures as patience in the face of human shortcomings. Christian love is about forgiveness and selflessness; there is a self-sacrificial tone to the love of God in Jesus Christ. Muslims surrender themselves in passionate devotion to the Divine; by definition, Islam means submission to the Will of God. And the oldest continuously practiced religious tradition on the planet, Hinduism, offers spiritual concepts about love which cover almost every aspect of human devotion, to include contemplative, sacrificial, familial, romantic and erotic love.

It’s obvious that love, although universally admired, is far from uniformly understood. So, without attempting to diminish the power of love over the human mind and heart, perhaps there is another benefit which the established religions of humanity have offered their adherents, something central to the process of effective living in every age and culture, something a bit more coherent and simple than the vast, complex category of attitudes and emotions loosely labeled love.

 To be truly universal, like love, this quality should flow from any sensible philosophy, not just religious thought. TV talk show hosts and university professors should express this trait; wise seniors and bright youngsters should exude it with abandon. It should be an identifiable quality in successful people from all careers, arts and sciences. Athletes should have it, and school teachers, bus drivers, and soccer-and-football moms and dads. In fact, like love, it should be indispensable for a happy, balanced life.

 Of the many possible candidates for this universal trait of effective living, expressed in all the religions of humanity and echoed so brilliantly by the Dali Lama, I submit the name of a dark horse: confidence. The elements which comprise confidence include trust, assurance, and certainty. There is a sense of self-sufficiency in confidence, a deep belief that any crisis or circumstance can be met and successfully handled. The key, which Buddhists totally get, is this: A confident yet compassionate response to life is more important than the cards we’re dealt. In the words of a Country Western song by Kenny Rogers:

 Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep. [1]

 An avalanche of ideas follows, beginning with mundane thoughts and expanding outward. As this volume’s subtitle indicates, I have organized the material into a series of paths to Confident Living in the Long Autumn of Life, drawn from resources found among the great religious traditions, schools of philosophy, poets and thinkers of the human race. Some essays are stuffed with practical suggestions. Others are thought-pieces. Hopefully, all are hopeful. I will be sharing a few of them in this Theo-blog.

We’ll begin then with a short list of thoughts about living with confidence and joy until you enter the final darkness which leads to…well, who knows, for sure? Maybe eternal dreamless sleep, maybe some new existence. While the topic of this book isn’t death but living confidently until we get there, any discussion of the last phase of life must at least consider whether the door leading to what happens “next” is leaking light. All the publications from popular atheist writers notwithstanding, Raymond L. Moody’s 1975 runaway bestseller about near death experiences, Life After Life, raised enough questions to keep the door at least slightly ajar.

 But relax. Although am a clergyperson and we will be discussing ideas which have flagrantly spiritual implications, this book tries hard not to peddle any brand-name religious doctrine. We’re approaching the mountain range of life remaining before us as fellow explorers, not as itinerant missionaries. Anything said in the course of these explorations that doesn’t work for you, feel free to toss it aside.

St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good.” [2]  Buddha said it this way: “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” [3]
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[1]  Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler,”  http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kenny-rogers-lyrics/the-gambler-lyrics.html  (accessed 08-30-11).

[2] I Thessalonians 5:20-21, NRSV.

[3]  Buiddha, cited atvBuddhist Tourism website:  http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/buddha-quotes.html

Remarks upon Receiving the 2011 Charles Fillmore Award

My notes say, “Be sure to thank Unity Worldwide Ministries, your family, your co-workers and students at Unity Institute, the people who read your books and columns… etc. Unity is a vast pool of spiritual wisdom and love. A lot of great people have received this award in the past; so make humble noises.”

I want to thank my students—past and present—who are here tonight. How many members of the "Order of the Tiger are here?" (Loud cheering) They’ll explain to you what that means later.

I also want to thank the members of my twice-monthly congregation at Unity of the Lakes, Warsaw, Missouri. And I promised Toni Lapp I would urge everybody to subscribe to Unity Magazine.

If you have read my column in Unity Magazine, you know I make it very clear that I do not speak FOR the Unity Movement. But tonight, I’m going to lean out this window of opportunity you have opened for me, and speak TO the Unity Movement…for a few minutes. For better or for worse, you have given this year’s Charles Fillmore award to a theologian, and I want to speak to you about the value of doing theology in everyday life.

Theology is critical reflection about spiritual ideas, especially those which originate within a community of faith. We are Unity. We believe in the One Power/One Presence, and that gives us common ground. But if we think that means there will be uniformity of thought, we have not learned the lessons of history. What religious or spiritual movement has ever been able to define itself so adequately that everyone says, “Yes! That’s who we are and what we believe!” and the next generation, and the next, and the next—all agreed?

Even when our best thinkers write their books, all they can give us is a snapshot, a comprehensive expression of the ideas current in their time. We learned about human equality from Martin Luther King, Jr., even though Jesus and the Apostle Paul proclaimed the fundamental oneness of all people two thousand years ago. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

We learned about women’s right and gay rights from folks who challenged our thinking. When we reflect on what all that means for a person of faith, we are doing theology.

The historical record shows that Unity’s co-founders reveled in theological dialogue about their spiritual goals. We actually have the Fillmores on record engaging in theological discourse in the early stages of their developing thought, even before they were married. When Charles Fillmore courted Myrtle Page late in the nineteenth century, they carried on a zesty cross-country correspondence. Today they would have exchanged e-mail and text messages. Across the miles their letters traveled, and sometimes they sparred about religious ideas.

One letter to Charles, dated September 1, 1882, contains the following eyebrow-raised retort from the future Mrs. Fillmore. Myrtle writes to Charles:

"You question my orthodoxy? Well, if I were called upon to write out my creed it would be rather a strange mixture. I am decidedly eclectic in my theology—is it not my right to be? Over all is a grand idea of God, but full of love and mercy."

I like that. “…decidedly eclectic in my theology…” Meaning she reserved the right to pick and choose those ideas which worked for her. I wonder if Charles ever questioned her orthodoxy again?

We have a glimpse of the way Charles Fillmore did theology when teaching a class. In The Story of Unity James Dillet Freeman says:

Often in his classes, a student would be answering a question and Mr. Fillmore would ask, “Where did you get that idea?”
The student would reply, “I read that in such-and-such a Unity book, Mr. Fillmore.”
“Are you sure?”
“Certainly, Mr. Fillmore, that is right out of page so and so.”
“You know,” he would say, “that is not exactly right,” and then he would go on to explain the point in a way that clarified it.”

Freeman continues:

“Often in his classes, he would interrupt his students, when they were quoting him, with the question, “But what do YOU think about it?”

James Dillet Freeman summarized Charles Fillmore’s teaching style with these words:

“The main aim of his teaching was to get his students to think Truth through for themselves. He knew that only out of free discussion would students arrive at an understanding of Truth that was in their own language.”

Mr. Fillmore stood firmly in the tradition of progressive thinkers who understood the need for ongoing theological dialogue. The great 20th century liberal minister, Harry Emerson Fosdick, challenged mainstream Christianity to continually re-think its deepest beliefs. Fodsick wrote:

"The fact that astronomies change while the stars abide is a true analogy of every realm of human life and thought, religion not least of all. No existent theology can be a final formulation of spiritual truth."

Astronomies change, the stars abide. Biologies change, but evolution presses onward. Religious ideas change, and God—One Presence, One Power—expresses through us, and in us, and as us, in eternal truths which are eternally re-thought. That is what theology is all about. It give you the tools to re-think the great questions…and the little ones, too.

I challenge you tonight with the same words I address to my students at Unity Institute: Follow the example of the Fillmores. Be “decidedly eclectic” in your theology. Describe before you prescribe. Think critically and honestly. Turn every idea upside down to see if there is an expiration date stamped on the bottom. Learn the joy of disagreeing agreeably.

Do not seek uniformity; it is not possible.

Do not attempt to find THE Unity answer to every question, but find A Unity answer that works for you. Be "decidedly eclectic" in your theology. It is your right to be.

Express your credo with complete freedom of thought, centered in the One Presence, One Power. And remember, there are many, many ways to understand what that magnificent idea means.

We are not a set of doctrines; we are a movement.

We are not a teaching; we are a way of life.

We are not limited to our Christian heritage; yet we are under no obligation to abandon the Christian heritage just because some of the noisy friends of Jesus have decided they get to define what it means to be a Christian. Do not let the conservatives define the faith for you.

Unity is Practical Christianity, which is the term Charles Fillmore used for his work all the days of his life. I like to say we are culturally Christian, spiritually unlimited.

So, be not afraid.

Trust your gifts.

Pray any way that works for you. No one has been appointed the prayer police. Talk to God or as God or from God—whatever works is true for you.

And “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Thank you for this great honor you have given me tonight. I pray to be worthy. Amen. Shalom. Maranatha. Allah u’ Akbar. Namaste.

Turkey Worship & the Church in/of the Future

Why did people build the first towns? Seems like an easy question: they found places where economic factors made it possible to produce and store more food, safely raise their children, and carry on the shared, diversified responsibilities of village life. As these rural communities grew, walls were needed to protect small towns from human mauraders and wild beasts, especially in the night. Gods and magical spirits were invoked to guarantee fertility, enhance the harvest, and protect these proto-cities from natural and man-made calamities. The ancients believed the balance between heaven and earth must be maintained by human action to demonstrate fidelity with the divine forces. So, altars of sacrifice blossomed, and religious semi-professionals (shamans) became priests and priestesses. This led to the construction of permanent shrines and temples for this purpose.


Next question?

This is a rough outline of what most archaeologists and anthropologists have believed about the sequence of civilization. The movement toward urbanization was driven by economics and security, i.e., the need to share resources for the common good. Humans abandoned hunting and gathering after they learned how to plant and harvest grain. They settled down near a source of water because fields cannot travel with nomads. These small settlements grew into villages and towns, which required common defense and a division of labor. More complex art and pottery flourished as people had time to spare for the finer pursuits. Religious institutions and the structures to house them--shrines and temples--came later in support of the spiritual and ritualistic needs of an established community.

If you have taken a course in the history of civilization you are probably nodding... Yeah, yeah. And your point is?

Warning: Fasten your cultural seatbelts. All of the above is most likely wrong. Not just wrong, but backwards-wrong.

Gobekli Tepe: World's First Temple?

German-born archeologist Klaus Schmidt has discovered a vast and artistically delightful temple complex in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border which, according to a growing number of scholars, is older than the pyramids. No, that doesn't say it stongly enough. The complex is seven thousand years older than the Great Pyramid and six thousand years senior to Stonehenge. The ruins are so ancient they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture.

Schmidt has discovered over fifty sites buried safely beneath the soil of Turkey, where they were built about 11,500 years ago. What's more amazing is the nature of the ruins. There is no water source, no trash heaps, none of the telltale signs of human habitation. The sites were not lived in; they were ceremonial centers--temples. That means human raised temple buildings first, then they figured out how to service these religious complexes by domesticaing grain, raising herd animals, and constructing groups of family dwellings in the area.

Schmidt's thesis is that people must have been gathering at ceremonial sites for ages before they decided to formalize the place of worship with stone structures. The temple came first.

The need to worship drove people to find stable food sources and create permanent settlements. Writing in Newsweek, Patrick Symmes observes:

"Religion now appears so early in civilized life—earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct—that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it, less a revelation than a genetic inheritance. The archeologist Jacques Cauvin once posited that 'the beginning of the gods was the beginning of agriculture,' and Göbekli may prove his case." [1]

Lyceum 2012: The Church in/of the Future

It is worth noting, when considering the Lyceum 2012 theme above, that people have been predicting the downfall of organized religion since writing was invented. But the temples at Gobekli Tepe predate writing by thousands of years. There appears to be something hardwired into humanity which requires us to give thanks, to offer gifts to the divine--first fruits of the field and flocks, devotions of our minds and hands, acts of service in support of something immeasurably greater than ourselves. It was not simply the whimpering of frightened people in a thunderstorm when our ancestors cried unto their gods for deliverance; it was faith that a moral order exists in the cosmos, and that something like justice must eventually prevail. Klaus Schmidt is under no illusions that humanity has gotten religion right through time, but he does seem to believe in the evolution of collective consciousness when he asserts that new ways demand new practices. The people who managed the Gobekli Tepe complex decided to bury the site with dirt, which makes it one of the best preserved Neolithic sites. "When you have new gods," Schmidt says, "you have to get rid of the old ones." [2]

It sounds like theological reflection is at least as old as civilization itself...
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[1] http://www.newsweek.com/2010/02/18/history-in-the-remaking.html
[2] Ibid.

God and the Quantum Clematis

These pretty blue blossoms are the result of Carol-Jean's dilligent work outside the Shepherd Estates on Trailwood Street in Lee's Summit.

I looked at them and displayed my vast store of botanical knowledge by asking, "Honey, what's this?"

"They're Clematis," she told me.

I said, "Nice flower."

"Vine," she said.

"Yes, divine."

"No, Clematis is a vine."

"Hmmm...still looks like a flower to me."

"Theologians," she muttered.

I began pondering the nature of Clematis as she returned to gardening. It has been a fertile Spring, for flowering vines and great student discussions at Unity Institute.

During my Unity Institute course HTS 552 Metaphysical Theology II, students divide into small teams to lead their classmates in a theological analysis of the seven basic books written by Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore. Each team gets two class periods (five total hours) to present the essence of the Fillmorean book assigned to them, a daunting task when you consider that whole courses could be taught on each book. And this is professional theological education, not a church discussion group on Thursday evenings, so the methodologies employed must reach graduate level standards.

I have taught this course for several years, and the pattern has been remarkably similar. The students have great reverence for Mr. Fillmore's accomplishments, but they often wrestle with his methods and conclusions like Jacob and the angel. That willingness to explore and critically analyze marks the boundary line one must cross to become a true professional in any field.

I repeatedly urge them to let Mr. Fillmore be who he was, without feeling the need to prove their loyalty by rescuing, rehabilitating, or repairing his ideas if he goes somewhere they cannot venture. Charles Fillmore was a 19th century man who lived in a Newtonian universe, a spiritual teacher-healer whose practice was located deep inside a conservative Christian world. I often find myself agreeing with him when he says what works but disagreeing when he tries to explain how it works. He is extraordinarily consistent throughout his writing, from the early years to the end of his life. He unwaveringly taught certain ideas--like regeneration and the dangers of sensuality--which are problematic for many people today. Despite this steadiness throughout a long life, he actively encouraged his own students to find answers which worked for them.

"Do not dogmatize in creed, or statement of Being, as a governing rule of thought and action for those who join your organization. These things are limitations, and they often prevent free development because of foolish insistence on consistency. The creed that you write today may not fit the viewpoint of tomorrow." [Twelve Powers, pp. 111-112]

I think one of the greatest examples of his spiritual genius shows itself in the inconsistent way Mr. Fillmore addresses the nature of God.

During the course of student led seminars this year, a new emphasis emerged. Students became engrossed in the historical-theological question about whether Mr. Fillmore taught that God is personal,--i.e., a Supreme Being to Whom one can and should pray--or impersonal, understood as Divine Law or Principle. (Hint: If an easy answer comes to mind, you probably haven't spent a lot of time studying the problem.)

Sometimes, Charles Fillmore speaks of God as impersonal, almost a like a Platonic philosopher discussing concepts like truth, beauty, or goodness:

"When we pray in spiritual understanding, this highest realm of man's mind contacts universal, impersonal Mind; the very mind of God is joined to the mind of man. God answers our prayers in ideas, thoughts, words; these are translated into the outer realms, in time and condition." [Christian Healing, p. 78]

Other times, he begins to sound like a mystical Catholic, like Meister Eckhart:

"Prayer is the opening of communication between the mind of man and the mind of God. Prayer is the exercise of faith in the presence and power of the unseen God. Supplication, faith, meditation,silence, concentration, are mental attitudes that enter into and form part of prayer. When one understands the spiritual character of God and adjusts himself mentally to the omnipresent God-Mind, he has begun to pray aright." [Atom-Smashing Power of Mind, pp. 11-12.]

Here he describes God as both impersonal and personal, capable of creative action (personal) yet functioning uniformly (impersonal):

"God is Mind, and man made in the image and likeness of God is Mind, because there is but one Mind, and that the Mind of God...This one and only Mind of God that we study is the only creator. It is that which originates all that is permanent; hence it is the source of all reality." [ASPM, 93.]

And again:

"Being is not only impersonal Principle as far as its inherent and undeviating laws are concerned, but also personal as far as its relation to each of us is concerned. We as individuals do actually become a focus of universal Spirit." [Revealing Word, p. 22]

One last quote:

"Our Bible plainly teaches that God implanted in man His perfect image and likeness, with executive ability to carry out all the creative plans of the Great Architect... God is free to do as He wills, and He has implanted that same freedom in man."

In the midst of their spirited discussion, I asked the class whether they heard Charles Fillmore describing God as an impersonal Principle or personal Supreme Being. Some said impersonal, some personal. Some said both. Both? How could God be both personal and impersonal? And then it hit me--quantum physics explains both the nature of the Clematis and the Fillmorean view of God.

Quantum theory holds that the observer literally shapes that which is observed. For example, if scientists try to determine whether light is a wave or a particle, the answer will depend on which phenomenon they study. Look at light as a wave, and it's a wave. Look at light as a particle, and--lo!--it's a particle. Except it can't be both; they are mutually exclusive. Yet it is.

When I look at the blue plants outside my house, what they are is determined by what I'm looking for. The Clematis climbs on my wife's white metal trellis, and therefore it is a vine. But it has big, star-shaped blooms, and that makes it a flower. (I know; it's actually a flowering vine, but I can only do the equation one way at a time. I'm Pennsylvania Dutch.)


The observer shapes what he/she sees. When I look at God as One Presence/One Power, the Principle of Being-Itself, then God is impersonal. Fillmore quotes an excerpt from Robert Browning: "What I call God...fools call Nature."


But when I stand under the night sky and look into the Cosmos and feel the Presence of Infinite Love, when I am in need of what Jewish theologian Martin Buber called the I-Thou relationship between myself and God, when my God-within reaches out and speaks to the rest of the Divine Mystery--then I recognize God as not merely personal or impersonal but transpersonal. More than impersonal and personal combined. I look at the flowering Clematis vine and celebrate the Creator-God and the Principles of Nature which produced this blue blessing by my front door.

War on Terrorism is Not a Sporting Event

All right, ten years later we finally got Osama bin Laden. The US intelligent assets who pinpointed him and the valiant troops who surgically removed him the deserve heartfelt thanks of peace loving people around the world. Osama bin Laden hijacked a radicalized Islamic theology to further his political and social agenda, even while killing lots of Muslims who stood in the way of his self-righteous rampage. Did he deserve a proper trial before a jury before suffering the ultimate penalty? Probably so. But this was contact with the enemy in war, not a police raid. Although kicking down the door at a meth lab is potentially as dangerous as warfare, the safety tolerances allowable in actual combat are far narrower than possible in law enforcement situations. In the midst of a firefight with the bodyguard forces of the number one terrorist in the world, the Navy Seals can be forgiven for failing to properly Mirandize him.

I recall the surprising words of don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec master and bestselling author, who back in 2001 spoke to a group of Unity ministers in California soon after the attacks of 9-11. He asked what we thought of the tragedy. Many ministers' opinions were filled with words of forgiveness and peace. After listening to our views on the situation, don Miguel Ruiz startled the room when he said in his thickly accented voice, "If a mad dog comes at you, you have to do what you have to do. It isn't personal."

So, I say--just for myself, not for any institution or religious perspective--this was a good thing our soldiers did.

However, I was disappointed in the jubilant reaction from some of my countrymen. Cheering and chanting, "USA! USA!" trivializes the tragic necessity of deadly force and makes wartime killing a gold medal event in the fantasy Olympics. I have been shot at in war, and it is definitely not a sporting event. Soldiers need to pump themselves up sometimes, but that's before combat. Afterward, there is gratitude for survival, grief for losses and injuries, and usually a reflective, weary silence. I never heard soldiers fresh from battle cheering the events of the day. More likely, it was a quiet, "Thank God that's over and I'm alive..."

Killing a "bad guy" in war is not like Dorothy dropping a house on the green lady with the ruby slippers. Yet, I felt like the immediate reaction of too many Americans was something like the Munchkins singing, "Ding, Dong, the Witch is dead." As Dorothy finds out, there are other witches out there. Some of them equally wicked, some positively angelic. The death of any person detracts from humanity. And the Unity minister in me has to constantly remind the ex-soldier in me that even someone who so richly deserved a bullet in the head as Osama bin Laden--yes, even that murderous perverter of the great faith of Islam--had within him the image and likeness of God.

The only way you'll ever eliminate all the bad guys in this world is for everyone to agree that killing and violence is not the answer. Transform an enemy into a friend, and you "kill" an enemy and gain a friend. However, as I look out at the world in which we live, it is clear that realization is later in the program. I will affirm peace on earth and the long-term goal of a world without violence, even while giving thanks for the brave ones who stormed that compound and ended the violent life of Osama bin Laden.

Thanks, Kate & William

May I engage my hyperbole thrusters and declare, on behalf of a weary, beleaguered humanity: We needed that royal wedding.

The April 11 cover of Newsweek magazine said it with words I wouldn't have chosen, being a Unity minister, but I couldn't help cheering at the sentiment: "In a world gone to hell--thank God, a wedding."

What drove millions of Americans to rise in the dark before dawn or set their TV's to record this event? Why did an estimated 2 billion people worldwide--people from all faiths, representing over 1/4 Earth's population--watch some kind of coverage of this church ritual in England? Not everyone was happy with the unprecedented attention given to a couple's nuptials in "a world gone to hell."

Hari Sreenivasan writes on the PBS website: "According to the World Health Organization about 2.6 billion people lack an improved latrine, and 1.1 billion have no access to clean drinking water...Someday perhaps as many people will pay as much attention to them as to a guest list, a wedding, a carriage, a kiss." [1]

I concur with Mr. Sreenvisan's sense of urgency about the needs of an overpopulated, under-fed world. However, while working to make conditions better, all people need to take every opportunity to celebrate the good of this life. Rites and festivals of season, harvest, fertility and new growth are so deeply woven into the structure of human life that we clergy are sometimes shocked when absent parishioners--folks we haven't seen on any regular basis, or perhaps complete strangers--show up at those moments for a blessing at key events like baptisms, wedding and funerals. Even non-observant, empty-church Europe needs its cathedrals for rites of passage.

So, two billion souls witnessed the full spectacle of a high church, Anglican wedding, complete with King James language and angelic choirs. It was like sneaking into Mecca during the Hajj, or celebrating Diwali with Hindus in India. Rites of passage give even the ultra-self-sufficient among us an excuse to remember the heritage: We come from people who gathered around the fire and danced the hunt; people who sang prayer before they spoke it; people who hadn't the sophistication to know what they were doing, but it didn't matter because doing always precedes and transcends explaining.

And, yes. We need fairy tales to promise a brighter possibility for the future. Just because people sometimes fail to meet their own highest expectations does not make the effort less noble, less divine.

So, I saith unto thee--Hooray for Kate and William. They remind us that young people are standing in the wings, ready to take up the management of whatever world we deliver to them. I, for one, hope it comes with clean drinking water and better latrines for all God's children, and fairy tale weddings, too.





[1] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/2-billion-royal-wedding-viewers-really.html