Clearning Your Head

Eight Steps to Re-Start Your Life

One of my oldest memories comes from when I was about three years old. A few stone steps in the back yard of the place we lived led down to a cavernous basement with rat traps and an ancient heating system. The entrance to this danger zone was made of heavy, old timber that creaked on its hinges like the doorway to a dungeon. That morning the door was closed and locked, so when I started down the short flight of stairs and lost my toddler footing, my face crashed into weathered wood. My nose took the brunt of the impact; I have a slightly deformed nostril to this day.

 It was a painful memory, but tasting blood in a dazed state of mind didn't define who I became in life. Getting up and finding help did. That is the missing step in those who cannot break free.

Regardless how many positive affirmations we declare, humans crash into all sorts of barriers during their tenure on this planet. Denials and affirmations help. If I keep myself centered on positive thoughts, doubtless I'll fall down fewer basement steps and kiss fewer hardwood doors. But gravity and circumstance can collide to make me pay the debt of nature. The trick is to get up and find help when bloody noses appear.

While musing this bit of painful personal history, I jotted a few notes to myself about how to re-start my life when the inevitable crash-and-bash occurs. Nothing terribly brilliant, nothing startlingly original. Just a little Practical Christianity to file away for a crummy day.

Eight Steps

1. Show up. 

2. Work steadily.

3. Trust your gifts.

4. Stay clear, clean, and calm.

5. Talk it out.

6. Give love to get love.

7. Believe in yourself.

8. Help people, starting with yourself.

You can provide the commentary. These thoughts require no advanced degrees to interpret.  Remember, you are never alone. You are worthy, important, fixable, God-powered, irreplaceable. Get up, get moving, and find help.

Another Mass Shooting in Gun-Crazy America

Photo online from USA Today.  

NBC News now reports thirteen dead, including the gunman, in shooting at Washington, D.C. Navy Yard; still more wounded.  (4:20 pm CT, 09-16-13)

By the time you read this the fog of battle, as soldiers call it, will likely have cleared and you will know more about who did this and what motivated the violence. That information perhaps will lead to new ways to prevent events like this going forward. But probably not.

Something has to change, or we will continue killing people with guns. The United States shares the infamy of being seventh on the list of top gun homicide nations on Earth, behind only Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Zimbabwe, and Costa Rica. Our closet ally and historic mother country, Great Britain, has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world; the UK ranks 35th in firearm deaths. Even wild-living, hard-drinking Australia is way behind us at 31st on the killboard. There are two ways to deal with the problem.

One solution is to arm everybody. No, really. For a specific example, Kennesaw, Georgia, achieved worldwide notoriety in 1982  by passing a law--still on the books--requiring gun ownership by all heads of household. The town council of Nelson, GA., passed a similar ordinance this year (2013). The laws make exception for people with mental problems or religious objections to gun ownership. To be fair, the Kennesaw law paralleled a slight decrease in burglary in that city. However, by 2011  three times as many burglaries occurred as there had been 1999. Kennesaw remains a statistically low crime area, so one could legitimately ask: If the same law were in effect in higher crime areas, such as metro Atlanta, which direction would the rate of gun violence go--up or down?

The other alternative is to arm no one. I used to be a pro-gun advocate, believing in the right of the people to keep and bear any arms they felt they needed. Not any more. Events in my beloved homeland have pushed me to the dark side of the road, where I found too many bodies in the ditch. But, like last week's Theo-Blog on violence among nations, the underlying problem goes back to the Good Samaritan parable again. This time, it isn't just about clearing the road to Jericho of robbers. We have to take weapons out of the hands of the next crop of robbers, religio-political fanatics, and straight-up murdering criminals who take to the hills for their shot at new victims. We must take the guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, because weapons of war and semi-automatic handguns are unsafe at any speed.

I think the time has come to amened the US Constitution to restrict the production, sales, and ownership of lethal weapons. There is nothing particularly sacred about the Second Amendment, especially since it is continually invoked to permit weapons of mass murder.  The Second Amendment was written for a world in which single-shot, smooth bore muskets required thirty seconds to a minute to reload. I can hear the Founding Fathers shout, "No, no, no!" at the re-interpretation of their vision to include super-clip magazines, able to fire a hundred rounds without a break. Jesus continually told the strict constructionists of his day that God put people above ordinances: "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath." (Mark 2:27)

Given the American cultural climate, it is unlikely either of these scenarios will prevail. Prayer may be the only option. With the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech fresh in our collective memory, perhaps the dream of a gun-free world will inspire new generations of protesters to overturn the Second Amendment madness and set us free from this sea of guns in which we live, move and have our being. That won't happen soon. My new motto in this quest is, "We shall over come, but first we'll have to undergo."

Let there be peace on Earth. Lose the gun fantasies, America. You aren't making anyone safe; you're killing our children.

Policing the Road to Jericho

 

 Everybody--well, almost everybody--wants to be a Good Samaritan.

 

    That's a good sign in a troubled world.

 

 

But somebody still needs to go back to the road and deal with the muggers.  

Nobody is rushing forward to claim that job.

 

The world is a dangerous place. At the level of imago Dei, we are all children of the same One Presence/One Power, expressions of the Christ within. But do I have to point out to anybody the existential fact that some people use their divine energies to do ungodly damage to others? The application of force to prevent (or end) acts of atrocity remains a distasteful option for people who recognize the value and dignity of every human life. Military action has not always been popular, especially after protracted conflicts.

 

I am reading a three volume biography which spans the late 19th through mid-20th centuries, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester and Paul Reid. Although the circumstances were vastly different, the tendency of war-weary Europe to avoid further armed hostilities kept the democracies from confronting the threat of fascism. Unchallenged, the menace grew strong on the blood of the weak and finally turned to larger prey. Churchill's England had been mauled and nearly decimated by World War I. During the rise of fascism the anti-war sentiment in the United Kingdom was so powerful that in 1931 the Oxford student union, at the most British of all schools, voted on the proposition "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country," It carried by 275 votes to 153.

 

Jingoism is a perennial danger for great powers. No nation is immune to the wiles of chauvinistic patriotism. In its quest for righteous payback, the United States attacked Iraq after an attack on our shores, which a Hitler-esque Saddam Hussein did not arrange or sponsor. Removing Saddam was a good deed, but arguably it should have been accomplished by the Iraqi people rather than foreign intervention. It has taken us a decade to recognize the difference between police actions and military invasions. Our response to 911 should have been a police action, to find and bring to justice the people responsible for this act of unquestioned terror. You don't need to send a Roman legion into the hills to attack every camel caravan loping along the road to Jericho. Find the bad guys, bring them to justice.

 

But what if the bad guys are in power and turning their military might against the innocent within their borders? All governments have the internationally recognized right to fight insurrectionists, but to what extent? Heavy artillery, air strikes, napalm, chemical and biological warfare, nuclear detonations? The world community has drawn certain red lines--yes, red lines--and declared certain kinds of weaponry are too terrible to tolerate. Presently, it includes chemical,  biological and nuclear attacks. I would argue other classes of weapons should be added--napalm, anti-personnel mines, and a variety of small arms munitions designed to mutilate. Ideally, the list would continue to expand until all we have left are boxing gloves and paint guns, but all this is just a tension-relieving fantasy.

 

CBN weaponry is the issue before the world community today, and unless someone holds the holders of WMD arsenals accountable, we shall see them deployed repeatedly, sooner or later against friends, allies, or ourselves. The military questions separate only slightly from political considerations. Can we do anything worthwhile in a strike against a nation which has deployed WMD inside its borders? There is a caption floating around the Internet at this moment which says: "Let me see if I understand--you want to kill Syrians, because Syrians are killing Syrians?" It is a distasteful joke, but contains a profound insight: When has violence, applied against violence, made any contribution to peace? The answer is not a slam-dunk. Gandhi-quotes notwithstanding, there have been wars worth fighting. Think about the fate of European Jews, gays, and others deemed unworthy to exist in the Third Reich had military power not toppled the Nazi holocaust. Still, the tension between the "just" war and wars of expedience or exploitation must continue to be a subject for public debate if we are to move this bloody, beautiful world forward to a Roddenberry-esque future of unity and peace.

 

So, if President Obama is reading this--which I seriously doubt--let me offer my prayers and hopes that you will find a way to move America toward a peaceful world where children are not gassed by their leaders, in Germany or Syria, without causing more destruction than you seek to prevent. This week is Unity's World Day of Prayer (September 12). The peace of the world will be high on the list for many of us as we turn to God with faith, hope, and love.

 

 

 



BIBLICAL EXEGESIS: PSALM 23

 Psalm Twenty-Three is incontestably the best known composition in the Psalter; J. Clinton McCann, Jr., calls it “the most familiar passage in the whole Bible.” McCann suggests its very familiarity challenges modern interpreters to find ways to hear its message in afresh.[1]

      Writing in the Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, Lawrence E. Toombs classifies the 23^rd Psalm as a Song of Confidence. Toombs says these are hymns in which the psalmist offers “faint rays of confidence” amid the anguish and dangers of everyday existence.[2]  Toombs is describing the funcation of the psalm as not so much a celebration of confidence but a way to affirm the old Unity adage "My good will come to me..." despite apperareances to the contrary. He proposes a three-part structure for this most pastoral of psalms. Although the shepherd metaphor may continue throughout the psalm—kings of the ancient world were frequently called shepherds of their people—Toombs reports that some commentators see an interweaving of three images—shepherd (vss.1-3a), guide (3b-4) and host (4-6).[3] These three disparate motifs are difficult to sustain in six verses while maintaining one common theme.  However, Bernhard W. Anderson finds an interesting common ground for the images of shepherd and host. Anderson says the key is Bedouin hospitality. The desert peoples are keepers of flocks, therefore good shepherds. Yet the role of good host, with its responsibility to regard the traveler as honored guest, is also a deep requirement in the Bedouin code.

He is the protector of the sheep as they wander in search of grazing land. Yet he is also the protector of the traveler who finds hospitality inn his tent from the dangers and enemies of the desert.[4]

Nevertheless, Toombs insists it is the shepherd imagery which dominates the hymn. James Luther Mays echoes Toombs but goes further:

In the ancient Near East the role and title of shepherd were used for leaders as a designation of their relation to the people in their charge. As a title, “shepherd” came to have specific royal connotation. Gods and kings were called the shepherd of their people. Both are described and portrayed with mace (rod) and shepherd’s crook (staff) as siglia of office.[5]

Vs. 1: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

      Patrick D. Miller finds a link to metaphors of this psalm and two beautiful passages in the prophets, Ezekiel 34:11 (“I myself will search for my sheep”)  and Isaiah 40:11 (“He will feed his flock like a shepherd”). Miller is uncertain whether the psalm is alluding to the national deliverance myth of escape from bondage in Egypt or more concretely referring to the return of the exiles from Babylon.[6] He finds a hint of the Exodus experience in the psalm’s use of the verb hasar, “to want” or “to lack,” which is used in Psalm 23 without an object. The only other occurrence of this rare form of the word is in Nehemiah 9:21, where the author affirmed God’s providential care for Israel in their forty-year wilderness trek “where they did not lack.”[7]

2-3a:  He makes me lie down in green pastures;
           he leads me beside still waters;
           he restores my soul.

      Mitchell Dahood says the verb forms in these verses are future tense. He finds “tranquil waters” to be descriptive of the Elysian Fields of the afterlife, where abundant water was present in contrast to the generally dry landscape of the ancient Near East. Dahood also believes vs. 3a should be translated, “He will lead me into luxuriant pastures…” which he hears as more confirmation of paradise as the psalmist’s destination. The lack of an actual theology of the afterlife in prophetic Israel does not deter Dahood from this interpretation. He finds a parallel between the hapax legomenon “green meadows” in vs. 2 and “luxuriant pastures” in 3a.[8] Dahood also offers a fresh translation of 2b; instead of something like the traditional “restores my soul” Dahood wants it to read “to refresh my being”.[9]

      Unity commentator Charles Fillmore expanded upon vs. 1-3 in his interpretation of the 23^rd Psalm:

You ‘shall not want’ the wisdom, the courage to do, or the substance to do with when you have once fully realized the scope of the vast truth that Almightiness is leading you into ‘green pastures ... beside still waters.’[10]

3b-4: He leads me in right paths
                    for his name’s sake.
          Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
          I fear no evil; for you are with me;
                    your rod and your staff — they comfort me.
     

     McCann calls this section the theological center of the psalm and interprets the psalmist’s message as one of trust in God’s all-sufficient care. Like most of the commentators, McCann says the “shadow of death” simply meant deep darkness. We of the twenty-first century probably have no clue how powerful images of light and dark must have been to people who grew up on the opposite side of Edison’s miracle. McCann does suggest, however, that darkness and shadows can indicate death, as in Job 10:22 where it actually describes the realm of the dead. The Hebrew words for “my shepherd” and “evil” have similar sounds, another example of richness lost in translation. [11] (See above for commentary on “rod” and “staff”.)

5-6: You prepare a table before me
           in the presence of my enemies;
        you anoint my head with oil;
            my cup overflows.
          Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
           all the days of my life,
           and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
           my whole life long.

       Mays finds in these verses elements of feasting which may have been part of rituals of thanksgiving. The table is prepared even in times of hardship, reminiscent of the wilderness experience and mana from God’s hand. “The psalm’s confession is based on the salvation history of the people and expresses the individual’s participation in God’s ongoing salvific activity.”[12]

      Dahood sheds some light on the enigmatic phrase “in the presence of my enemies” by referring to Egyptian history.

A petty ruler of the fourteenth century B.C. addressed the following request to the Pharaoh: “May he give gifts to his servants while our

enemies look on.”[13]                                                                                             

      The words “goodness and mercy” Dahood renders “goodness and kindness” and suggests this may be an adaptation of the ritual presence of two accompanying servants who attend a god or dignitary.[14] Toombs says the phrase is usually rendered “steadfast love” in other parts of the Hebrew Scripture. He further suggests that verse 6 might have originally been a Levitical confession which expressed a priest’s joy at permanent residence at and service to the Jerusalem Temple, where he will serve “for the length of days,” i.e., all the days of his life.[15] McCann agrees, finding it an apt way to conclude this most beloved of psalms: “Thus the personal assurance articulated by the psalmist is finally experienced in the community of God’s people.”[16]

        This timeless psalm will continue to inspire people in ways the ancient author never imagined.

---

[1] J. Clinton McCann, Jr., “The Book of Psalms: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflection” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IV (Nashville, TN:  Abingdon, 1996), 767a.

[2] Lawrence E. Toombs, “The Psalms” in The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1971), 257b.

[3] IBID., 269a.

[4] Bernhard W. Anderson, Out of the Depths (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 180.

[5] James Luther Mays, Psalms (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), 117.

[6] Patrick D. Miller, Interpreting the Psalms (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 113.

[7] IBID., 113-114.

[8] Mitchell  Dahood, S.J., Psalms I, The Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1981), 146.

[9] IBID., 145.

[10] Charles Fillmore, Prosperity (Unity Village, MO: Unity Books, 1936), 124.

[11] McCann, 768a.

[12] Mays, 118.

[13] Dahood, 147-148.

[14] IBID.  

[15] Toombs, 269b.

[16] McCann, 769b.

Graduating Class of 2013 - Rehearsal at Unity Village Activities Center - June 6, 2013

Invocation given by Rev. Dr. Thomas Shepherd at 2013 Graducation/Ordination

Let us Pray.  Almighty God, One Presence/One Power, as we gather at this sacred moment in time, we invoke your Holy and Ancient Names, brought through history by our ancestors of so many faiths.

We give measureless thanks to the Spirit-within and beyond All Things, to the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus; to the unspeakably holy, All-Merciful God of the Prophet Muhammad; to the Universal God of the Baha’i Faith; and the many iterations of the divine celebrated throughout Asia and ancient America; and in the tribal societies of Africa, circumpolar regions, island cultures and villages everywhere.

We are a species that prays. Tonight we lift up to the Universe a great gift—a handful of men and women who have chosen to go forth from the holy place and speak the word of the Lord as they have heard it.

We bless them as they take upon themselves this sacred obligation, to be ministers of Practical Christianity, wholly dedicated to pray for, teach and serve whomever Spirit sends unto them.

Thank you, Father-Mother God, Eternal Spirit, God-within us and God beyond the farthest star. Wherever they go, they bless others as ministers in your Holy Name.  Amen.

Rev. Thomas W. Shepherd, D.MIn.

7 PM  - June 6, 2013 

Unity Village, MO

Hold that Thought While the Universe Bends Your Way...

“The arc of the moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Friday night I was indulging in one of the few sinful pleasures still available to a senior citizen like me. And it wasn't just the frozen yogurt with shredded All-Bran, but the TV show playing on my Christmas-new wide screen TV while I was enjoying the late night snack: Bill Mahr's Real Time on HBO. Mahr is unapologetically sacrilegious and politically incorrect, a passionate, libertarian comedian with a penchant for off-color humor, but he is quite often spot on in his analysis of the contemporary American scene. I don't always agree with him or approve of his linguistic repertoire, but Mahr and his panelists frequently go where the more timid CNN and mainstream media fear to tread. 

Last week one of their main topics was gun control, and the panel more or less agreed that the possibility for actual change in American values about guns and violence was very slim. Then one of Mahr's panelists--Martin Short, another comic--made a startling observation. He noted that twenty years ago, they would have been sitting around that table smoking cigarettes while they talked, but now the whole building is smoke-free. He suggested this evolutionary shift in health consciousness was cause for the advocates of rational control to take heart.

Martin Short's remark suddenly brought to mind the words of an other Martin, the Rev. Dr. Martin  Luther King, Jr.  himself a victim of gun violence after a life of tireless advocacy for peace and non-violence. In a profoundly metaphysical evaluation about the forces at work behind the scenes in life, King said: “The arc of the moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” 

Sometimes,  change happens so gradually that you wake up one day and say, "Oh, yeah. I remember when we did that. Way back there in the 20th century." 

Most meaningful change takes time. Seasons drift incrementally onward. Today a little cooler... next month winter.... then warming, new life, and summer again. Human consciousness is impatient. If I have a cold that lasts more than a few days, I start wondering if I will ever stop coughing. If I cannot master a new task quickly, I catch myself muttering, "I'll never get this right!"  But I do  get better; I do master the task. (My Smart Phone will not make me feel stupid forever, just for awhile.) 

The key to the equation is to find a common denominator--faith in the arc of learning, the potential for slow but ineluctable change. We started in the seas; we shall sail the stars. But not today. Cool winds must play across our landscape before the warming breath of Spring. Patience. Swords will melt into ploughshares.  Nation shall not take up arms against nation. The moral arc bends toward justice, and we ride its rainbow with confidence and faith.

Shepherds and Angels: Odd Couple?

 

Reading the nativity story in Luke's gospel again this year, it occurs to me that first century people understood what a shepherd meant symbolically in a way that we have lost today. Keeping flocks was a lowly profession, relegated to hired hands, or children who would inherit no property, or nomadic herdsmen too poor to afford good land to raise crops. It was roughly equivalent to working the midnight shift at a convenience store along a country road. You’re so bored you begin to hope somebody will rob the place. Or, in shepherding imagery, you start wishing for a wolf or two in the darkness.

Mind you, it is hard work. And relentless. When I was serving in Germany as a US Army Chaplain, I drove endless miles to visit troops in isolated bases, often down narrow country roads through forest and field. One afternoon while passing a Bavarian meadow I saw a German shepherd (no pun intended). I was ahead of schedule and there was no traffic, so I parked my car on the side of the road and stopped to chat. I speak enough simple German to make it clear that my name was shepherd--Schäfer in Deutsch. He chuckled and we chatted briefly. As his flock was munching on green grass, the schäfer asked how many sheep there were. I guessed three hundred, and he laughed and told me "Acht-hundert!" (eight hundred). He liked his work, but he never got a day off. The sheep always needed care, and he was the only one tending them.

 

(Not the actual European shepherd I saw, but a good likeness.)

When Luke chose these ordinary, hard-working people as the ones to whom the angels announced the birth of Jesus, he was making a powerful statement. Not to kings or to the wealthy, who lived in warm mansions with servants waiting on them. To a class below peasants, flock-keepers—down-and-out men without land, or children without inheritance, or men too old to work the fields, and hired hands trying to earn enough to eat in a world without social security or a safety net for the poor—working their herds along the hard scrabble hills in the cold of a desert night.

To these the angel announced: “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

You can almost imagine one of the young shepherds saying, “Dude, are you sure your GPS is working right? Shouldn’t you be down there hovering over Herod’s palace, or in the Temple?”

If I may continue the fantasy, the angel might have replied, “No, man. That’s in Matthew’s version. Now, will you shut up? Can I please get this done? It’s cold up here!”

Luke was writing for the masses, but he was also writing to a Roman world. The message of the angels is “great joy for all the people” and is a radical statement. The Romans understood that the gods favored whomever they chose. Could it be that the One God of Israel was branching out, favoring all men and women, Jew and gentile, slave and free? It was a cry of equality in a world where millions of people were held in bondage. Two thousand years later, we are still trying to make the vision of equality an everyday reality.

Which brings us to the key question.

What does the story of the shepherds at Bethlehem say to us today? I like to think of the angels’ announcement as light in the darkness. Hope for a troubled world. And lord knows we always need that. It’s a sad day when elementary school children are gunned down and politicians say the solution is more guns. When protecting the wealthy is more important than avoiding a new financial crisis that could lead to an even greater recession than the one we are now climbing out of. When North Korea—that haven of moderate behavior and ration thought—unveils a long range missile capable of striking the USA. When people worldwide cannot get basic health care or enough to eat or put an end to war. It’s tempting to look around at this weary world and wonder whether it might not be better if the Mayan calendar HAD predicted the end.

But not so.

 And now have to get up from this slump and take up our task. Watch over the sheep. Keep the wolves at bay. And listen for the brush of angel wings. Behold,I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. The Christ has come. God with us. God within us. All things are made new. The lowly and the mighty are equal. Peace is possible; love is possible. We actually can learn to beat our swords into plowshares. This is not a cold and heartless cosmos. This is a Universe bound together by Divine Love, regardless of appearances to the contrary. This night, let us claim the message the angels sang to our shepherding ancestors:

 

Come to Bethlehem and see

Him whose birth the angels sing;

Come adore on bended knee

Christ the Lord the newborn King.
 

Jesus the Wayshower has come. And the world is a different place when we remember the way. Christ dwells within everyone. Listen, the angels are singing for YOU.

 

 

 

 

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

_________________________________

 

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.