My Kind Of Church Music, Silent Night, The Temptations

U.S. puts Jospeh, Mary, and Jesus in cages and takes Jesus from Mary and Joseph at the border.

Jesus and his fam were refugees, so it's only fitting that the folks at Claremont United Methodist Church decided to put its nativity figures in cages behind razorwire.

As Rev Karen Clark Ristine said, Jesus, Mary and Joseph were "the most well-known refugee family in the world. What if this family sought refuge in our country today? Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center."

A separate nativity inside the church reunites the family. Nearly 70,000 children were imprisoned by the US government for seeking asylum in 2019.

Claremont United Methodist Church is in Claremont, CA. For more click here.

Sunday Sermons - Get your stuff together because the Prince of Peace is coming

Matthew 3:1-12 New International Version (NIV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”[a]

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

On this second Sunday of Advent, Matthew lets it rip with this fiery story about John the Baptist who told people that they need to get their stuff together because the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Then Matthew goes off dissing the Pharisees and the Sadducees saying that their teaching falls flat without actions and it is by their fruit that you will know them.

Matthew seems to threaten people saying that if you do good you will find the kingdom and if you do bad you will "burn in unquenchable fire." Matthew is teaching with a metaphor relating the suffering that comes from doing bad or being wrong minded to burning in flames like wheat chaff after the threshing.

What Matthew is talking about sounds a lot like karma. You reap what you sow.

The point of the story is that John the Baptist was trying to help people find their way. In Unitarian Univeralism we covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and where to search? John the Baptist is telling people that the search is not in the external world but an inward search for the coming awareness of the Divine presence in our lives.

Our awareness of the Divine presence is within our reach but we have to look for Love in the right places and a being is coming who will help us find the way. However first, we must tune in to the right channel or we won't be able to hear the Divine song. So clean up your act by eschewing the things of the ego and make way for the awareness of the Divine.

Ask Alexa - What is this search for truth and meaning?

Alexa: What is this search for truth and meaning of which Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote?

It is not the pursuit and desire for external things like wealth, power, sex, prestige, but to find out the answer to the question, "Who am I?"

Alexa: Did you hear about how everyone pestered the judge of the chili context to find out who was the winner before the big announcement?

Yes, and he refused to spill the beans.

Daily reflections, day twelve, When Miracles Occur

Day twelve

When miracles occur.

“Miracles are healing because they supply a lack; they are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less.” T-1.1.8:1

The “lack” mentioned here refers to the awareness of God’s Love of which we are an extension. The ego does not want us to remember what it is that we lack.

Some people are more aware of the presence of God’s Love than others. Most people have forgotten that what they are yearning for, and miss, is the Oneness with God and so they seek fulfillment in the idols on the path of the ego.

The miracle is the reminder that one person offers another that they are loved. This is the great faith and work of the Universalists. The Universalist faith is one of understanding of God’s unconditional love that humanity has forgotten about because the are asleep on the path of the ego. To wake up from this conditioning and become aware of God’s Love is indeed a miracle.

We all need reminders because we are so overwhelmed by the false promises of the idols of the ego. Someone a little farther along the spiritual path can share with us the reminder that we deserve to be happy and have a high quality life but it will never happen on the path of the ego. Peace and love is only found when we enter onto the path of the Spirit which as the Unitarian Universalist  fourth principle tells us is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Searching for Truth and meaning fulfills the lack and sometimes we need some help and guidance along the way. When this connection and alliance is made, miracles occur.

Universalists believe in Sump'n Claus.

While most of the world believes in Santa Claus who knows if people are naughty or nice and only gives gifts to the nice people and coal to the naughty people, the Universalists believe in Sump'n Claus.

Principle two - affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

There are plenty of examples of evil in America. Injustice is rampant in our hyper-capitalist society. The way we treat the poor, the sick, the young, the old, people of minority races, offenders, is legendary. While all of these are important, perhaps one of the most egregious examples of evil is wrongful convictions and the infliction of unjust criminal justice penalties on the wrongfully proclaimed guilty.

The second principle of Untarian Universalism is that we covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. This affirmation and promotion is badly needed in our contemporary society when poor people who can't mount a robust defense against false accusations are oppressed and subjugated by dysfunctional prosecutors and judges who see the administration of criminal justice as a game played in a competitive playing field based on adversarial rules of play which often are misused, abused, and corrupt.

All of this is why I support the Innocence Project which is an organization which tries to correct and rectify the injustice of our criminal justice system.

The Innocence Project has been in existence for 26 years and during that time they have accomplished many significant and wonderful things. For example, to date, 367 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 21 who served time on death row.

For more click here.