Don’t Let the Lights Go Out
UUCO
12/09/07
Rev. Theresa Novak
What is Hanukah all about anyway? A relatively minor Jewish holiday originally, it is celebrated much more in places like the United States where Christmas is a very big deal. The holiday is about a lot more, however, than kids getting presents eight days in a row, playing dreidel, and eating latkes. If we look closer at the Hanukah story, I think it has a message for us here today, as Unitarian Universalists in Ogden, Utah.
Although there is mention of it in Maccabees 1 and 2, the story of Hanukah is in the Talmud, the core document of the rabbinical tradition of modern Judaism.
Let me read from the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, Chapter II
“The rabbis taught: "On the twenty-fifth day of Kislev 'Hanukah commences and lasts eight days. When the Hellenists entered the sanctuary, they defiled all the oil that was found there. When the government of the House of Asmoneans prevailed and conquered them, oil was sought (to feed the holy lamp in the sanctuary) and only one vial was found with the seal of the high priest intact. The vial contained sufficient oil for one day only, but a miracle occurred, and it fed the holy lamp eight days in succession. These eight days were the following year established as days of good cheer, on which psalms of praise and acknowledgment (of God's wonders) were to be recited.”
When I read the phrase “holy lamp,” I think of our chalice that we have kindled here this morning.
Isn’t it a miracle that we have this place, and this flame that symbolizes our free faith?
I love reading the discussions in the Talmud partly because, very like many Unitarian Universalists the Rabbis always seem to have different opinions about how to do things and why.
Again from the same section of the Talmud:
The rabbis taught: Those who seek to fulfill the law in the best possible manner should light according to Beth Shamai the first night eight flames, and every following night one flame less. And according to Beth Hillel the reverse--the first night one lamp, and be increased by one on each succeeding night.
They each had, of course, reasons for their differing opinions.
"There were two sages in Zidon; one did according to the decision of Shamai's school, and gave the reason that the Hanukah lamp is to be lit in the same manner as the sacrifices of the feast were offered, and the other according to the school of Hillel, with the reason that holy actions should show (emblemize) increase and not reduction.”
Hillel’s opinion eventually carried the day, and Hanukah menorahs are now lit with one more candle each night. Tonight, just before sunset, on this, the 6th day of Hanukah, 6 candles will be lit in Jewish homes around the world. Increase. A brighter flame shines out over time, increasing its effect on the surrounding darkness.
We only light one chalice flame each week, and it is always the same size, but don’t we also want what our flaming chalice symbolizes to grow brighter over time? Here in Utah, there are not actual armies that are surrounding us, eager to defile our sanctuary, our safe place. We do not have to actually fight and risk death as the ancient Maccabees did in order to protect our freedom to practice our religion of love and inclusion.
But I would maintain that we are not in a particularly very friendly space either. The majority religion that surrounds us does not have the same values. Love not fear is spoken here, but fear is everywhere around us. Fear of the immigrant, fear of Muslims, fear of gay people, even fear of certain movies for goodness sake.
We are not immune to fear. I am afraid of snipers in shopping centers, terrorists, and politicians who say that faith in God and a free society must always be linked. Atheists are people too, and most that I know are exceptionally good citizens. I am afraid of a town where the very first thing anyone asks of you is what religion you are. I am afraid of a society so ruled by other people’s narrow religious values that our children don’t get the information they need to stay safe from sexually transmitted diseases.
Teen pregnancy rates are currently rising from simple ignorance. I am afraid of poverty and racism, gang violence and police violence. I am afraid of a society that invokes the death penalty for more and more crimes. I am afraid of global warming and the ever increasing damage being done to the earth’s ecosystem. I am afraid that there will not be enough clean water, enough food, enough peace in the world for humanity to survive. I am afraid for my children, for all of our children for they are inheriting a temple that has been defiled.
Yes, back to the temple and the Hanukah story. The temple in Jerusalem had been defiled. There was only enough sacred oil to last for one day. Then, like in the stone soup story, and like in the Gospel tale of the feeding of the five thousand, that we talked about a couple of weeks ago, miraculously the scarce was made abundant and there was more than enough to go around.
All miracle stories are pretty much the same.
Our world, like the temple in Jerusalem back in the day, has been defiled. How do we find enough holy oil to purify it, to save ourselves, our society, and our planet?
How do we keep our light burning?
There are many ways to do this; there are a million avenues for activism. Many of you are involved. You are involved in nature centers, the library, the Sierra club, the ACLU, Amnesty International.
You teach in the schools, you are doctors, government workers, scientists; you are artists and poets, neighbors, parents, and friends. In every aspect of your life you have an opportunity for activism, to say a word for peace, for compassion, for inclusion, for freedom, for hope, for love instead of fear.
Marge Piercy poem:
The low road
What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can't walk, can't remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can't stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again and they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know you who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.
This church is a place where we can say WE and know who we mean.
Look around. I ask you to do this a lot – but it is important. It is important to know that this church is its members, belongs to its members. No matter who is up here in the pulpit, in our tradition, the power, the strength belongs to those of you who have committed to be seekers together. Seekers of truth, seekers of wholeness, seekers of a better life for all in this world, this temple, that we are blessed to be living in, this temple that we do not want defiled by the forces of greed and of fear, this temple of the world that we must take responsibility for.
If you are a member of this church, you are already a part of a very significant WE, the Unitarian Universalists of Ogden, Utah and we are also a part of our larger denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association, our association that because of our support, because of our membership, is able to speak out for our religious values, to keep our flame burning and offer an alternative to orthodoxy and exclusion.
We have two new members who joined us this week. To join this church, you only need to commit to doing three things. Two are really simple. Make a financial contribution for the support of this church, because we are fully supported by our own members and friends. We receive no outside funding; instead we give financial support to our national association.
The second simple thing is to set up a time with me to sign our membership book. The third thing is not as simple. In our by-laws it says that members are expected to participate in the life of this religious community. This can mean simply attending services when you can, but what it really means is to make this your church in fact as well as in name.
Real community can only be built through hard and unglamorous work. Like any effective relationship, it requires commitment. I have heard people say that they want a “spiritual community” but that they don’t want to join, because they don’t believe in “organized religion.” In my home congregation there was a young woman who attended our youth group and loved it. She invited her parents to attend services, and her father, an ex-Catholic, a long time political activist, told her that he didn’t like organized religion. She replied, “Oh you will love the UU’s then; they aren’t all that organized!
He laughs when he tells the story now. He is chair of the membership committee and is working hard to improve the process and organization of integrating new members into the life of the congregation.
When people say they seek a spiritual community, they seem to mean a place that will meet their own religious needs; by organized religion they seem see something that will make demands upon them to support the institution’s needs. The reality is that you cannot have one without the other.
It is a real spiritual truth that it is only by giving that we receive, giving not only our money but ourselves. Only by making a commitment to a community can we hope to build a community. And this commitment consists not of lofty idealisms but of practical realities.
There are visitors here today who have been here only a time or two, or have been coming for several months. You are still checking us out, seeing if you want to join with us, to make a commitment to this faith. To those of you in that category, relax, take your time, when you are ready, we will welcome you with open arms.
There are also individuals here who are members in all but name, who support the church with an annual pledge, who work hard for the community, but have difficulty actually signing the membership book. This can be for various reasons, perhaps because of experience with another church that didn’t let you leave easily if you no longer believed in their particular world view. It can be for family reasons. In this LDS majority area, it can also be for economic reasons. I have deep respect your individual decisions in those cases, and am very glad you have joined together with us as much as you can at this time.
But there are others of you here today who have been coming for a long time, who love Unitarian Universalism, who love this particular religious community, who don’t really have a long list of personal reasons to not to become members. Maybe you don’t know how to join; maybe you even think you already have joined.
Maybe you are still deciding, maybe you were waiting to see what this new minister would be like. But as I said earlier, the people are the church regardless of whom the minister happens to be. You have been dangling your toes in the water, riding in the metaphorical boat. Isn’t it time to really place your hands on the oars? Don’t you want the opportunity to help steer the boat? Don’t you want to say “My Church” and mean it? To know who you mean when you say we?
When you buy groceries for your family, you don’t see it as a charitable donation, it is just part of what you do to support your family, to feed yourself and those you love. This religious community provides food for your spirits, a liberal religious education for your children. It brings light to our larger community, and service to those in need of sanctuary and of help.
Six Hanukah candles will burn tonight, symbol of the holy oil of community that multiplies miraculously as each new flame is added. Our faming chalice will continue to burn as brightly, as miraculously, as each of you begin or renew your commitment to its purpose. Don’t let the light go out, let it shine, let it shine! We will sing that hymn later. But for now, please pull out your hymnals and join me in responsive reading 728. 728. I will read the bold; please read the italicized words in response.
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