I Seek the Spirit of a Child
Christmas
Eve 2004, 7:00 p.m.
Rev.
Gretchen Woods
As we gather and kindle the candles of families, large and small,
We also
light the flame of this religious community,
Bringing
light to the darkness of our world,
Reminding
us of the love that is this season,
And
warming our hearts and spirits for this night
And days
to come.
Happy
Christmas!
We gather
with spirits open to possibility, like the children we dedicate.
We find
together hope for the future
in
messages of love and light,
In
evergreens and candles, in music and words that lift us
And send
us into the world
to bring
peace and justice in our own time.
Opening Song #338 “I Seek the
Spirit of a Child”
Child Dedication:
Eli
Alexander Butler
Allison
Willard
Jonah
Willard
Sung Response – “Sanctus
Benedictus”
UUFC
Choir
As we dedicate our children and
remind ourselves of the promise of new life, through myths of Christmas and the
even older dream of a special birth destined to bring peace and love into our
world, I am often struck by how hopeful that view is. It is not an accident
that we tell these stories when light is waning and our spirits feel drenched
with the trials of our world. We know there is war on another continent. We
keep that far away since it first impinged upon our own soil. We have that
power still. And still we want reassurances and hope.
And, as human beings struggling
with our own existence and the challenges of our every day lives, we want and
need to set aside times to tell ourselves other stories, stories of hope, of
faith, of peace. Children who have not yet learned to be cynical find it easier
than we do to believe such stories. In
fact they call for such stories from us.
They do not ask us to tell stories
that ignore difficult things, that deny that there are trials and troubles in
our world. They do not ask us to sugar-coat our fears or frustrations. They
know that would not help them to understand their own lives. They do ask us to
tell them what helped us to keep going, to triumph over the challenges we have
faced. They ask us for examples of spiritual strength that teach them
resilience. They want to know that people can band together and face evil, and
overcome it. They want to know that friendship and persevering love has power
over the wrongs of our world. This is why they love stories of hobbits and
children learning to be wizards. How many of you have already ordered “Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?” We know that J.K. Rowling will not fail us
in providing serious challenges and creative solutions, even if we don’t
believe in traditional concepts of magic.
And yet, isn’t magic what children
believe is possible. The spirit of the child believes there are powers beyond
those of the five senses, ways of knowing that allow us to over come
wrong-doing and persevere in the face of the seemingly impossible in our lives.
Children seek from us assurances that we care, that we will rise above our
petty smallness and show them how we do that. This is our children asking us
for guidance and spiritual strength.
Thus, our children ask the best of
us, that we become better human beings so that they will have role models to
treasure. They ask us to take and make the time to grow our own souls, to learn
what feeds our resilience, and to guide them to find the same for themselves.
So, in these few days of less activity (I hope you have a few days of less
activity now!), consider practicing breathing together, maybe singing or
chanting together, reading something that shows all of you a better way to be,
sharing stories from your lives that remind you – and them – that we each have
power to transcend the petty and small parts of ourselves.
That way we encourage (put heart
into) ourselves, our children and our world. This includes listening – really
listening to their concerns – and finding out how they coincide with yours, as
well as offering those tactics you have learned to cope. And, if your current
tactics don’t work for you any more, it involves making some time to put some
new tools into your spiritual tool kit, and bolster your own spirit.
What brings YOU love, hope, peace?
Find that and cling to it. Then share it with your children and all the
children. This is the way to bring out the spirit of the child in yourself and
in your children.
Many years ago, when my two sons
were quite small, I asked a friend, “How do we grow more whole children?” She
paused for a long time, then said, quietly, “I think we have to become whole
ourselves.” Yes, Yes.
And being whole means that we may
be as enthusiastic, as passionate, and as juicy as our children, but with the
tools, the spiritual strength, to back up our joy with power to co-create a
better world.
Isn’t that the ultimate hope and
wish for Christmas. The second coming is us, each and every one of us, not
idolatrously, but with radical responsibility for our own lives and to guide
the lives of the young ones around us. May that be our gift to ourselves, our
children, our world.
So Be It ! Blessed be!
Spirit of
Christmas,
Spirit of
Peace,
Spirit of
Hope,
We gather
in the depths of darkness
To bear
witness to everlasting light;
Assembling
at the turn of the year
To recall
that which stands beyond time and change;
Joining
with our families and loved ones
To
acknowledge the brotherhood and sisterhood
That
surpasses our singular loyalties
Uniting us
as offspring of one Creation.
Into this
sacred time we now enter
To listen,
to dream, and to be transformed.
In this
time of meditation,
May our
thoughts be filled with gratitude and love:
Gratitude
for our earth, shining in space, evergreen and radiant;
Gratitude
for the enchantment of starlight
And the infinite wonder of the night;
Gratitude
for our children, and all children
The future of the world;
Love for
life, the greatest of miracles;
Love for
all those, far and near, who have blessed our days
With tenderness and affection
And bestowed upon us memories of laughter
and mirth.
Let us now
be reconciled to this holy season.
Let us
embrace this moment with joy.
Let the
care and worries of a hectic week
Subside if only for an interval
That our hearts might be touched with
mystery and awe.
Silent as
falling snow,
Effortless
as descending night,
We rest
now in quiet communion with our universe:
At one
with holly bough an whispering pine.
Cradling
all in love,
We sense
our kinship with all people,
As the
gentle glow of candlelight illumines our true features:
The grief
and gladness written on each face
Giving
dignity to every countenance.
We pray
that the divinity within each creature
Might be
made visible tonight
That every
eye might see the world in newborn beauty
And that
every voice might sing in praise.
We pray
that compassion and goodwill
Might make
their home with us,
Finding
within our souls a welcome hearth
Burning
brightly
With faith
and hope and love.
So Be it Blessed Be!