[Uucf-bible] Christmas around the UU world

Fri Dec 28 13:12:19 EST 2007

Christmas at Richmond State Hospital was celebrated on Sunday, December 23rd. I gave
a brief message about the return of the light to the world, both the natural light
and its increase after solstice, and the Light of the World born on Christmas Day,
Jesus. We then celebrated with our Clinical Director who joined her husband in
Victorian costume to present Christmas Carols and traditional hymns with acoustic
accompaniment.They passed out lots of bells and everyone jingled bells throughout
the service to accompany the music.

The holidays are always slow in the hospital; many staff take time off and patients
often just sit around for a couple of weeks, with parties and gifts breaking the
boredom. I always remind people about the solstice and the change of seasons,
connecting that with spiritual rebirth in the midst of winter's darkness, hope
springing to life in the season of waiting. Since I suffer from Seasonal Affective
Disorder it is good to preach hope when the dark is overwhelming.

David Ashcraft
Chaplain, Richmond State Hospital
Richmond,IN

> It was good to hear about what was happening in your communities to celebrate Advent
> and Christmas.
>
>   At Live Oak UU Church in Austin, Rev. Chuck Freeman's sermon on the 2nd Sunday of
> Advent was "A Unitarian Christmas", about the contributions of 18th- and
> 19th-century Unitarians to American Christmas observances. We sang several
> Christmas carols, both religious and "secular" (i.e. "Jingle Bells", etc.), one or
> two with some very explicitly theological Christian lyrics.
>
>   On the 3rd Sunday, Rev. Kathleen Ellis's sermon was "Something About Mary", which
> was, yes, about the mother of Jesus. This service also included several Christmas
> hymns, although I did not attend the sermon since it was my turn to teach high
> school RE class. I lead the curriculum part of the class, which this year is about
> the Bible and the topic of the day was the Nativity stories.
>
>   Our local UUCF chapter had its Advent service that evening. Nine of us met in a
> small room at the church to light all 4 Advent candles with an invocation for
> each. We also sang hymns, celebrated communion, and I reworked my talk from last
> year to provide the message on the traditional Advent themes of hope, peace, joy
> and love.
>
>   The church also had a Christmas pageant (don't know details) on the 23rd and a
> Christmas Eve service. I could attend neither since I had already left for Kansas,
> where we actually had snow and attended a Christmas Eve communion service with my
> family at the local United Methodist church.
>
>   Did your churches have any special programs or projects to help people in need
> this season? Although I know some say that should be a year-round concern (and I
> agree), many of us find it especially appropriate this time of year.
>
>   A merry fourth day of Christmastide to you all,
>   James
>   James D. Hamilton
>   Austin, Texas
>
> Lisa Harris <clairraven99 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   Tomorrow night at Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington, D.C. we are
> having a holiday healing service with a laying on of hands ritual and Taize.
> Christmas Eve we will have lessons and carols with a nice mix of traditional and
> contemporary.
>
> During Advent, we have an interesting candle lighting liturgy that we use to begin
> each Sunday worship during Advent. I won't type the whole thing, but very briefly we
> are rejoicing in the coming of Jesus Christ Sophia. The congregation has mixed
> feelings about this term. Our minister explains that you can't have Christmas
> without a woman, so she uses this alternative trinity formula. I'm interested to
> know how others feel about this term. Any thoughts?
>
> "Bohanon, Cecil E." wrote:
> We had a small but very powerful Lessons and Carols service last night
> here at the UU Church in Muncie. The service was led by Rev. Derek
> Parker who found an 1866 Universalist Prayerbook published by the
> Massachusetts Universalist Convention. We used the prayers for Christmas
> from that book. We also had readings from Habakkuk, and Luke (all four
> of the lay adults attendees read) followed by hymns from the UU hymnbook
>
> Derek gave a great sermon that we all really enjoyed-- I was especially
> pleased my 9 year old son, Dmitri was at the service and seemed to get a
> lot out of it
>
> Christmas Blessings on All
>
> Cecil Bohanon
> Muncie, Indiana
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uucf-bible-bounces+cbohanon=bsu.edu at lists.uua.org
> [mailto:uucf-bible-bounces+cbohanon=bsu.edu at lists.uua.org] On Behalf Of
> kmcarson at aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:26 AM
> To: uucf-bible at lists.uua.org
> Subject: [Uucf-bible] Christmas around the UU world
>
> What's going on where you are?? blessings, Ron? Robinson
>
> At First Unitarian in Providence, RI Rev. Nichols' sermon for this
> Sunday is "Filling in the Manger --?The story of Joseph and Mary's
> journey to Bethlehem is a perfect paradigm of our lives, which is why we
> treasure it."??We'll have two services on Christmas Eve that mostly
> consists of readings and carol singing.? The later service is my
> favorite because we distribute candles to everyone and lower the lights
> in the Meeting House as the flame is passed from person to person.? Last
> year, we ran out of candles at over 200, so we are stocked with about
> 350 this year!
>
> Our Re-imagining Religion group led by Tom Hall, an editor and long-time
> supporter of the Jesus Seminar, is studying Matthew this month and
> looking at the birth narrative in particular.? We read an interesting
> article on Matthew by JS Fellow Robert J. Miller who argues that
> Matthew's version does not include a "virgin" birth for Jesus.? Rather,
> he says that the?role of the "Holy Spirit" in conception was understood
> more metaphorically by Matthew's audience.? Perhaps "love child" may
> suggest a modern interpretation, but that's not quite?in the same
> spirit.??A better example might be?pre-Christian?Europe where children
> born?after?the Beltane festival, which featured a relaxation of marital
> fidelity rules, were said to be "Children of Beltane" and were not
> stigmatized by questionable?paternity.
>
> However He got here, I'm just thankful for the wisdom of Jesus!
>
> Merry Christmas and Peace On Earth,
>
> Kevin?
> ________________________________________________________________________
> More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -
> http://webmail.aol.com
> _______________________________________________
> Uucf-bible mailing list
> Uucf-bible at lists.uua.org
> http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uucf-bible
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Uucf-bible mailing list
> Uucf-bible at lists.uua.org
> http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uucf-bible
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
> _______________________________________________
> Uucf-bible mailing list
> Uucf-bible at lists.uua.org
> http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uucf-bible
>
> _______________________________________________
> Uucf-bible mailing list
> Uucf-bible at lists.uua.org
> http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uucf-bible
>