Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007

Call to Silence and Opening Meditation

Music: “Winter Bourne,” A Winter’s Solstice IV, Windham Hill Artists, 1994 (track 4)

Readings

The History of Yule

Most cultures celebrate winter holidays, whether they are called Christmas, Hanukkah, Las Posadas, Ta Chiu, Winter Solstice, or Yule. It is a time for reflection, resolution, and renewal. Each tradition has rituals to celebrate the balance of light and dark and the welcoming of the healing powers of warmth back into the world.

The winter holidays originated four thousand years ago in Egypt with the celebration of the rebirth of the sun god Horus. The Babylonians took up the festival, celebrating their own Creator/Sun God, Morduck. Next the Persians, then the Greeks began celebrating the rebirth of the sun. Finally, the Romans began honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture, fairness and peaceable living. Saturn was honored until the Sun regained power in the sky and Jupiter defeated Saturn. Celebrations of winter festivals spread throughout Europe.

With the rise of Christianity came the problem of converting the “pagans.” Churches were built on pagan worship sites; pagan symbols were incorporated into church decoration; and gods and goddesses were slightly renamed and made into saints. Many pagans still resisted. A large part of the pagan belief system was the birth-death-rebirth cycle, an element that was missing from Christianity, which concentrated on the death and rebirth of Jesus.

In order to truly convert the Pagans, a Mother Goddess needed to be adopted. Thus, Mary, Jesus’ mother, became “the Mother of God” and the “Queen of Heaven,” linking her to Isis, the Egyptian Queen of Heaven. Finally, December 25 was set as the Christ-child’s birthday, a date that fell in the middle of winter holidays and festivals. The festival was called the “Birth of the Son.” Son/Sun – the new festival was now acceptable to the Pagans.

(Yule: A Celebration of Light & Warmth, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2000)

A Reading – Charge of the Sun God

I am the Light that bursts through the Darkness
And the smile on the young child’s face
I am the warmth that melts the winter chill
And the sparks that dance from the old fireplace
I am the smell of oranges and apples
And the Scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove
I am the holly, the ivy, the mistletoe ball,
And the jocularity of the Great God, Jove
I am found in the twinkling of an aged eye
And in the hope of children Everywhere
Yes, joy and love and warmth am I
Where kindness abounds, I, too, am there
I am your brother, your father, the wise one
And I warm you gently in the light of my love.
I lighten your worries, bring good health and speed growth
By shedding my rays down on you from above
But remember, my children, be grateful
For my brother, the Darkness, and winter’s deep chill
For without them, there would be little reason
For this holiday season of peace and good will.

(Dorothy Morrison, Yule: A Celebration of Light & Warmth , Llewellyn Publications, 2000)

Yule Song - Glory to the New Born King, Ellen Reed

Brothers, sisters, come to sing
Glory to the new-born King!
Gardens peaceful, forests wild
Celebrate the Winter Child!

Now the time of glowing starts!
Joyful hands and joyful hearts!
Cheer the Yule log as it burns!
For once again the Sun returns!
Brothers, sisters, come and sing!
Glory to the new-born King!

Brothers, sisters, singing come
Glory to the newborn Sun
Through the wind and dark of night
Celebrate the coming light.
Suns glad rays through fear's cold burns
Life through death the Wheel now turns
Gather round the Yule log and tree
Celebrate Life's mystery
Brothers, sisters, singing come
Glory to the new-born Sun.
(http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos509.htm)

A Reading from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene

25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?
26) The Savior said There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.
27) That is why the Good came into your midst, to the essence of every nature in order to restore it to its root.
28) Then He continued and said, That is why you become sick and die, for you are deprived of the one who can heal you.
29) He who has a mind to understand, let him understand.

(http://www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm)

Call to Conversation

Candles are one of the most important symbols in all of the celebrations of winter festivals. Fire melts the winter’s chill and was thought to encourage the Sun to shine. The candle’s brightness was thought to chase away dark winter demons. The light “warms our spirits, rejuvenates our bodies, and shows us the way on our personal paths.”
Closing

Music: “Love Came Down at Christmas,” Christmas in the King’s Court, Ann Hayman, Harpist, 1992