Unity Center
in western North Carolina
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Unity Center
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Celebrating Christmas! | ||||||||||||
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Seeking Peace
by Lois J Henrickson (Lytingale)In every nativity scene, right in the center, we see a baby, lying on some straw, in a stable. And yet there is light, always light, shining outward and drawing in all kinds of people... shepherds, angels, kings from far away. And a strange star, the Light shining downward, a beacon saying "This is it! This is where it’s happening! Don’t miss this one!"
The straw is scratchy.... still there is peace.
The night is cold and He has no proper clothes... still peaceful.
It doesn’t matter what’s going on around him.... He IS peace.
Always, at the center is this Presence... the embodiment of peace, the example of pure love, the object of joy and hope.... the manifestation of all we aspire to... let’s call that God.
I don’t have a strong concept of God. Don’t blame this on Unity – this does not come from Unity theology, just from a seeker who can’t buy the logic of the usual view of God. I never could see God as a bearded man whose function is to pass judgment when you die, to let you into some place called Heaven that must be terribly over-crowded by now. Good grief, wouldn’t an omnipotent, omniscient Being have better things to do than act like a high school Vice Principal?
I refuse to make God in my image. God must be more, far greater than my capacity to imagine. So the anthropomorphic version is out, leaving... well, what?
A phrase from Star Wars calls to me: "May the Force be with you." God is the mystery, the unknowable Force that keeps the planets spinning. But here again, God is somehow outside us. If God is omnipresent, then God is inside us too.
Where do we look to find the Answer? Are we even asking the right questions?
I have gotten emails from people upset when folks say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," who think that takes the Christ out of Christmas. At long last, our institutions are catching on to the fact that some people celebrate non-Christian holy days, that we need to develop more tolerance for other spiritual traditions. I think that tolerance is one of the most Christ-like ways you could celebrate Jesus’ birth. The real way to take Christ out of Christmas is to be intolerant, judgmental, and angry.
We live in a world where we still have starving children, cruel wars, pollution, hate crimes, greed that cripples commerce, blatant bigotry, fanaticism... such a lot of pain and suffering that we inflict upon each other. Can it really matter that a shopkeeper wishes you the "wrong" kind of happiness?
But I wander... like a Wise Man on a cloudy night, looking for the Light.
Life is scratchy and difficult sometimes. The earthly stuff can be hard to acquire... Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. "But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes." How does He DO that? How does he stay so centered, right there in the middle of that cold, old stable? How does He keep shining out that Light when the world around is so messy and hard and cruel?
Always, returning to the Center, being the Peace, demonstrating God.
Jesus shook things up. He turned upside down the human notion of how things were, starting with the audacity of the King of the Jews being born in a stable. He showed us radical new ways of being with each other. And telling the truth about the greed of the Temple bankers finally got him killed.
Always, returning to the Center, being the Peace, demonstrating Love.
So here on earth, we are drawn to the manger, to the Peace we see there, and to a concept of pure, unconditional Love that is still hard for us to grasp. Wanting, but still wondering how to BE the peace we seek.
And so we are drawn again to Bethlehem. It’s a stable, not a palace – so maybe it doesn’t have to do with how much stuff we have. Maybe it has more to do with how we make the journey.
The Star is there, always there, even when hiding behind a cloud. All we need to do is travel our Path and stay awake, and soon we will catch another glimpse of that Light.
Always, always we turn back toward the Light, seeking the heavenly peace. Again and again, returning to peace, for the journey of learning goes on and on.
Always, always turning toward the Center where the Peace lives.
© 2009 Lois J Henrickson (Lytingale)Lytingale (Lois Henrickson) serves Unity Center as the Editor for the Unity News & Views, Webmaster, and Minister of Music (and leader of The Unitic Band). She also directs an annual show, "Unity Plays Broadway" and writes a series, "Lessons from the Garden," for Unity News & Views. A songwriter (350+ songs) and musician (vocals, keyboards, guitar, flute, etc.), Lyte has 3 albums (Home To My Heart on CD & Cassette, and Altar of Love and Inspirations on Cassette) as well as sheet music available from Lytingale Music. She is the author of a book on reshaping & updating church music called Growing Your Church Music Program, which was presented as a workshop at a national Unity ministers' Conference and has been used in ministerial training classes at Unity Village. She is webmaster for UMMAS subregional group.
Born in Farmington, Connecticut, she graduated (summa cum laude, University Scholar) from UConn with a major in Music Education (voice), and has used her clear soprano for all styles of music, from rock to opera, blues & jazz to musical comedy. Lyte has performed roles at Asheville Community Theater, and as soloist with Asheville Choral Society, The N.C. Symphony, and The Johnson City (TN) Symphony. She also accompanies, composes for and sings with Womansong, and teaches voice privately and in Voice Classes. She is the wife of Rev. Chad O'Shea, and the mother of Michael O'Shea (1987) and Kathryn O'Shea (1993).
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Unity Center 2041 Old Fanning Bridge Road Mills River, NC 28759 (828) 684-3798 or 891-8700 Email: unity(at)unitync.net |
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