S O L S T I C E S E R V I C E
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boulder
22 December 1992

P R E L U D E David Greene and Lee Smith
Sonata in E (2nd and 3rd movements)

M E D I T A T I O N
There once was a people called Israel. They believed they were “Gods Chosen People”; destined to conquer a land of milk and honey and to live there, every man and woman and child neith his and her and it’s vine and fig tree. It was a beautiful land and for five hundred hears the people had lived there, first under their elected tribal leaders and then under their own kings. They had subdued the indiginous population and fought off powerful invaders. They had a rich religious tradition and a temple that was their pride and joy. But this was their history. For now the people Israel – or at least all the educated and powerful families were in exile, by the waters of Babylon. Their king had been blinded and was now dead. For nearly forty years they had survived – some even gaining important positions in the government of their oppressors. But, they longed for their homeland. They felt that they were “strangers in a strange land.” And they wrote songs of sorrow expressing their longing. Some of those songs are found in, what today we call, The Bible. Oppressed peoples in the twenty five centuries since have sung those songs. Looking for a savior – one to save them from their oppression. One sent by god, one they called Emanuel: God with us. One whose coming would be like dawn after the longest night; one whose coming would be like verdant Spring after a bitter winter.
Let us sing one of those songs now: Number 280 in your hymnal. It is over 700 years old, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Number 280.

H Y M N 2 8 0
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

M E D I T A T I O N
Oppressed people always seek a savior. Most think he will come in a “Chariot of Fire” – or maybe an Armored Personell Carrier – or maybe he will be a President or a great scholar or a scientist who will find a cure for an oppressive disease. Such are the mistaken dreams. For the person who truly saves is she or he who teaches us how to live fully; whether under oppression or in privilege. The true savior is he or she who delivers us from fear and envy and murderous rage and leads us into courage, contentment and love for all. Such saviors are few in human history. One of them was born of that people Israel, nearly 2,000 years ago. Beautiful stories have grown up around him: stories that tell us to cherish every child – for it too may grow into a savior. Let us sing one of those stories. Number 285 in your hymnal: The First Noell. Let us sing all four verses.

H Y M N # 2 8 5
The First Nowell

M E D I T A T I O N
Of course he was no King, and from what we know of the man whom billions have called Christ, the gold, frankensense and Myrrh, if he inherited them were sold to buy food for the poor. He later said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head.” When he reached adulthood, he gave up all possessions and depended on the charity of others for the necessities of life. Whatever he was given, he gave away. His example is one few are able to follow completely. But most of us manage to moderate our fearful aquisitiveness when are reminded of his example; at this time of the year, when we celebrate his birth. That is why, each year, we symbolically invite a “guest to our table” and through the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Echo House and other means, share our wealth with poor children and their parents and brothers and children around the world. And we further work to remove those conditions that make children so poor, that they must be born in a cow’s stall or in places even worse: places like feeding centers in Somalia or beseiged cities in Bosnia. So, like the three kings, 2000 years ago, we bring gifts to Jesus: the only kind of gifts he wanted; for he said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me.” Would the children bring the gifts forward as we sing hymn number 300. We three kings of Orient Are.

H Y M N 3 0 0
We Three Kings

M E D I T A T I O N
Through the centuries Christians and people in nations whose dominant religion was Christianity have perfomed these gift giving ceremonies. And they have sung songs and choruses celebrating the savior called Jesus and those who followed his example. In all of these great men and women they have seen evidence that the creator and sustaner of the Universe is dependable and caring. One of the greatest of these musical expressions was written by Georg Freidrich Handel. He called it simply, a Sacred Oratorio. We know it as “The Messiah”. The last Aria of Messiah expresses Handel’s confident answer to the question: “If God be for us, Who Can be Against Us?”

S O L O Mitzi Purdy
If God Be For Us, Who Can be Against Us?

M E D I T A T I O N
But words are often the poorest expression of the feelings that come, and should come, at this time of the year. Words compell thought and this is one of those times when thought may be destructive. This is one of those times when it is best to “suspend disbelief”; to “turn off your mind, and float down stream.” I invite you to do that as Lee Smith and David Green play, the first movement of Johan Sabbastian Bach’s Sonata in E.

D U E T David Greene & Lee Smith
Sonata in E First movement.

M E D I T A T I O N
And the human voice can be an instrument too; an instrument that can transcend the limitations of words as Mitzi will demonstrate with Mozart’s “Alleluia”

S O L O Mitzi Purdy
Allellua

M E D I T A#### T I O N
And we too can open our throats and sing allelua. Forgetting theology and philosophy and logic and realism for a few glorious moments as we sing Hymn number 294, Angels We have heard on High.

H Y M N 2 9 4
Angels We Have Heard on High

M E D I T A T I O N
We Unitarian Universalists, especially those of us who call ourselves Humanists make a great mistake if we choose Christmas to protest superstition and wishful thinking. “Bah, Humbug”, one of us is alleged to have said. To that I say, “Bah, Humbug.” This should be a time of the year when we can join with those who too often are our adversaries. They may be mistaken, limiting the title “savior” to one single male human being, while, to the question “Where Is Your Holy One?” we hear “A Mighty Host Respond”. But they are more to be pittied than condemned for their narrower vision. Instead of saying, “Bah, Humbug’ let us help them realize that “every child is a holy child.”
# Whatever Light there is in the dark history of our species, that Light is indestructable. So long as one candle shines in the darkness; the possiblity exists that the darkness will be pushed back. It is the reality of that possibility that we celebrate this solstice. For it is not only the birth of Jesus in Bethelehem that brings light into the world; but the birth of a thousand or more chil­dren this very night. Who among them will be a “light unto the nations”. Who will “disperse the gloomy shades of night?” We do not know; but on this night, and by this ceremony of candle lighting we express our faith that the birth of saviors did not end 1992 years ago, but coninues and will continue, so long as women give birth to holy children. For every child is a holy child. As we extinguish the electric lights and extinguish our candles, let us sing, from memory, the first verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

H Y M N 2 8 6
O Little Town of B### ethlehem

M E D I T A T I O N
This is a season of exaltation. Many are the composers who have sought to put that exaltation to music. Let us conclude our celebration tonight with one that thrills me every time I hear it sung and makes me want to join in. Mitzi will sing, but she invites you join her if you feel so moved.

S O N G Mitzi Purdy and congregation
O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear savior’s birth,
Long lay the world, in sin and error pining,
Til He appeard and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices.
Oh night, divine!Oh night when Christ is born
Oh night, divine!Oh night when Christ is born

May you all have a very merry Christmas
and a happy new year.

P O S T L U D E David Greene
Joy to the World (# 299)