A sermon by Andrea Thompson McCall of Interfaith Maine, January 20, 2008
Genesis 11:1-9
Acts 2:1-11
LIGHT! LUZ! LUX! LICHT! LUMIERE! PHOS! LUMAN! LUCE! LIGHT!
So many different ways to say the same thing, to name something that is so important to us… Light! It warms us, shows us the way, enlightens us, brings us safely home. In winter, we are hungry for more of it. It serves as a metaphor for happiness, for goodness, for wisdom.
LIGHT! LUZ! LUX! LICHT! LUMIERE! PHOS! LUMAN! LUCE! LIGHT!
So many words for something so universal in human experience! Why so many words? Why so many languages? We’ve just heard two of the legends from our Christian tradition that speak to this…and to God’s invitation to overcome it.
Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel, when our faith ancestors were able to understand each other, and to work together. Then, because of our competitive and self-centered ways, we became unable to understand and be understood. The ancients saw it as God’s infliction of punishment. I guess that’s another way of saying we brought it on ourselves.
Acts 2 tells the Pentecost story, when our faith ancestors gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost, the harvest celebration, 50 days after Passover. Exuberant followers of Jesus tried to tell the wonderful story of his ministry of justice and inclusion and redemption. But the people were gathered from far and wide, and spoke almost as many languages as they do at Portland High School. So the Spirit of God blew among them like a mighty wind, and made it possible for everyone to understand the good news, each in his or her own language.
These stories suggest to me that it isn’t nationality or ethnicity or actual language that really gets in the way of our understanding and being understood. It’s competition and self-centeredness and greed and readiness to climb over whoever is in the way of our success. And it isn’t translators or Rosetta Stone or ESL classes or Esperanto or English as our national language that will really make us able to understand and be understood. It’s the inspiration and extravagant welcome of the Spirit of God, offered and received and celebrated and shared.
Today is Diversity Sunday in our church, an annual event historically connected with Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. But just as our faith community – including your Pastor, who marched on Selma 43 years ago – stood with Dr. King in support of racial justice, so, too, our church has stood with others who were pushed to the margins, discriminated against and treated unjustly because of who they are, whether in terms of their nationality, their gender, their sexual orientation or identity, or their legal status.
Historically and today, we have seen this kind of injustice toward people because of their religion. Think of the persecution of the early Christians, or the anti-Semitism of history and today, or the fact that a few months ago, right here in Maine, a political party leader and small business owner was targeted with hate because she follows a Pagan spiritual practice. So today we are inviting you to consider with us another kind of diversity – religious diversity – that sometimes does but need not divide us from one another.
We’re basing the service on the Celebration of Light, a program developed in my years as Interfaith Chaplain at USM, which we present to the university community each December. It came out of our conversations about Christmas – overwhelming from mid-fall onward – to everyone, but in a very different way for those among us who are not Christian. We wanted to find a way to be celebrative, to decorate and have parties, without imposing the trappings of a single religious and cultural tradition on a multi-religious and multi-cultural community. Calling them “holiday decorations” or “holiday parties” but changing nothing else didn’t fool anyone. And the year that the powers that be proclaimed in exasperation that there were to be NO decorations or parties of any kind – – Well, you’d have thought that the Grinch himself had taken up residence in the Dean’s office.
The process of developing the Celebration of Light has been a wonderful, warm, enlightening process of asking and listening and sharing and trying and sometimes offending and then apologizing and learning and going on. It’s been slower than what happened in the Pentecost story, but no less filled with God’s Spirit of extravagant welcome.
I always want to say that this is an important, though imperfect step on the journey to genuine inter-religious and inter-cultural community.
It’s imperfect because, when offered in December, it can seem to imply that we are viewing these other celebrations through the lens of our own, while in reality, each of them has its own unique beauty and integrity and place in a culture that also has beauty and integrity that ours did not give to it.
But it’s important because it helps bring us majority Christians get out of our dominant selves and learn about the light-filled celebrations of other cultures and countries and people.
And it’s important because it invites our friends and colleagues and neighbors of diverse traditions to celebrate and share with us the holidays that light up their winter months.
And it’s important because brings us together to celebrate a common theme – that of light – at this dark time of the year; light, critical for life itself to the ancients, and for us, symbolizing warmth and goodness, and the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that guide us on the path toward the justice and peace that all people everywhere desire.
So now let’s hear and consider together the diverse lights of seven holidays from seven traditions in observances held around this time of the year in the CELEBRATION OF LIGHT.
Diwali is a five-day Hindu festival celebrated on the last days of one lunar year and the first days of the next. The word “Diwali” means “rows of lighted lamps” and the celebration is often referred to as the Festival of Lights. During this time, homes are thoroughly cleaned and windows are opened to welcome Mother Laksmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity. On the third day of the festival, lamps are lighted in celebration of the New Year. The common practice is to light small oil lamps (called diyas) and place them around the home, in courtyards and gardens, on roof-tops and outer walls. The lighted lamps symbolize knowledge and encourage reflection upon the purpose of each day in the festival. In modern times, traditional lamps are joined by electric lights and fireworks, as people dress in new clothes, exchange gifts and sweets, and celebrate widely the Hindu Festival of Light.
A Poem for Diwali:
As echelons of zillion lights adorn,
and echoes of triumph and thunder swarm,
watching even a tiny gleam perform,
devoring ill,
sparkling joy despite forlorn,
exhorts a hearty & happy year merely born.
Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light
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The Birth of Baha’ullah is celebrated in November by Bahá’is around the world. The prophet-founder of the Bahá’i Faith, his name means “Light of God,” and Bahá’i means “follower of the light.” The central theme of his message was the unity of humanity. He has said, “So powerful is the light of unity, that it can illuminate the whole earth.” This reading is from the Tablet of Abdul Baha, the eldest son of Baha’u’lla, which is among the sacred writings of the Baha’i Faith:
“…This century—the century of light—has been endowed with unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination… “Behold how … [candles of] light [are] now dawning upon the world’s darkened horizon. “
The Birth of Baha’u’llah, prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith, whose name means “Light of God.”
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Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the Jewish victory over the Syrians and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE. Three years earlier, the Syrian King Antiochus had forced the Hebrew people to abandon their religion and customs and to adopt the worship of Greek gods. The Talmud tells that when they relit the sanctuary lamp, or menorah, for the rededication, the Macabees had only enough oil to burn for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, providing time enough to prepare more. Hanukkah (meaning “rededication”) is celebrated for eight days, when the eight candles of the menorah are lit, one each night, commemorating the eight-day miracle. Small gifts are sometimes exchanged, and children play games, such as the dreidl game. Although not the most significant religious observance in the Jewish year, Hanukkah is an important reminder of the light of religious freedom, for Jews as for all people! The traditional prayer for the lighting of the Hanukkah candles:
“Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech ha’olam,
Aher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu ner shal Hanukkah.”
(Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has sanctified us by your commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah light.)
Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light.
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Eid al Adha, celebrates the Muslim “Festival of Sacrifice.” It is the concluding act of the Hajj, the pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The hajj is the fifth of the required practices known as the Five Pillars of Islam. The others are: confession of faith in God and in the prophet Muhammad; ritual worship five times daily; giving of alms for the poor; and fasting during Ramadan. Celebrated by Muslims whether making the pilgrimage or not, Eid al Adha commemorates the story in the Koran of the ransom with a ram of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom God had required as a sacrifice. As Abraham offered his son, Muslims offer sacrifices, mostly of sheep or goats, and give the roasted meat to the poor, and gather with family and friends for feasting and celebration. This passage from the Koran is found in the Sula entitled “The Light”:
God is the Light of Heaven and Earth!
… Light upon light, God guides anyone He wishes to His light.
Eid al Adha, a Muslim celebration of the light of God.
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Solstice marks the longest night followed by the shortest day of the year. It was and is observed by ancient and contemporary Pagans, following earth-reverencing spiritual paths as Yule, which literally means “wheel.” The reference is to the turning of the wheel of the year, from the Dark Time to the Time of Strengthening Light. Yule is celebrated with decorations of evergreen, with the lighting of fires and candles, with the burning of the Yule Log, and with feasting and celebration, welcoming the return of the light and warmth as the sun strengthens. In the Pagan Roman Empire, these traditions were reflected in the festival of Saturnalia, which was observed in December and became a full week of celebration, including holidays from school and work, the exchanging of gifts, and relaxed social conventions, giving way to drinking, gambling and general merriment. This may be the basis of the traditional “Twelve Days of Christmas,” as Rome became Christian and customs were blended to accommodate new religious meanings. Many of our traditional Christmas carols incorporate Pagan imagery, for example, “The Holly and the Ivy:”
The holly and the ivy when they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown
The rising of the sun and the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.
Solstice, or Yule, the Pagan celebration of the return of the Light.
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Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. He was a descendant of the great King David of Israel, seen as heir to David’s throne, and embraced by Christians as Messiah, the anointed one or incarnation of God, whose teachings are of justice and peace. Sometimes called “Prince of Peace,” he is also widely referred to in Christian tradition as the “Light of the World.” This passage from the Gospel of John offers the image of light so meaningful at this dark time of the year.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In him was life, and the light was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Christmas, the Christian celebration of the birth of the Light of the World.
Kwanza is a contemporary and uniquely African American cultural tradition, celebrated from December 26th to 31st. It was created in the 1960s by Dr. Maulana Karenga, out of the American Civil Rights movement and the desire of African Americans to reconnect with the values and traditions of their African ancestry. Using Swahili, which is the trade, or common language among Africans, Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles or Nguzo Saba (“en-goo-zoh sah-bah”), which are:
Umoja (“oo-mo-ja”), which is Unity
Kujichagulai (koo-ji-cha-goo-lee-ah”) , meaning Self-Determination
Ujima (“oo-jee-mah”), which is Collective Work and Responsibility
Ujamaa (“oo-jah-mah”), meaning Cooperative Economics
Nia (“nee-ah”), or Purpose
Kuumba (“koo-oom-bah”), which is Creativity
Imani (“ee-man-ee”), meaning Faith
The seven principles are symbolized by the seven candles on the Kinara (“ken-ah-rah”), affirming and nurturing the strength of African American individuals, families, and communities.
Kwanzaa, the African American celebration of the lights of community values.
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Seven traditions: Hindu, Baha’i. Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Christian, African American.
Seven lights: Lights of faith; Lights of joy; Lights of truth; Lights of peace; Lights of justice; Lights of love; Lights of hope.
Seven languages to speak to mystery so deep that none can approach its totality.
I have come to understand the world’s diverse religions to be like different languages, each speaking aspects of the same Truth, but none of them perfectly.
Why does it matter? Well, look at the world. If you thought ancient Babel was a mess, consider contemporary Kabul, or Baghdad, or Nairobi or New Orleans.
Nadine Cruz, a retired University of Southern California professor with whom I was blessed to study, once told me that she sees this wonderful world as a beautiful tapestry, hanging in a dark room. Each of us is looking at the tapestry with a pen light, seeing only that part that our own light illuminates, only one little part of the whole, entire, amazing thing. And meanwhile – the tapestry is raveling at the bottom! It matters because we still have time to save this wonderful world, but none of us can do it by our own lights alone.
Another great teacher, Professor Hans Kung, lectured at USM a number of years ago, and his teaching has inspired and sustained my work in the interfaith arena ever since. He said that there cannot be peace in the world without peace among the religions; that there cannot be peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions; and (thanks be to God!) THERE IS, WITHIN THE GREAT WISDOM TRADITIONS OF ALL THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS EVERYTHING WE NEED TO BUILD A WORLD OF PEACE.
LIGHT! LUZ! LUX! LICHT! LUMIERE! PHOS! LUMAN! LUCE! LIGHT!
Light in any language. Let it shine on us. Let it shine through us. Let it shine beyond us!
Amen.