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November/December 2006 Featured Stories
Exploring Ritual and Meaning of the Holidays

New Connexion asked five faith leaders representing Christianity, Buddhism and paganism to share their perspectives on the spiritual meaning of Christmas, which occurs during the Winter Solstice.

Other religions and paths have sacred times throughout the year. Judaism honors Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, and Islam celebrates Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. African Americans celebrate family, community and culture during Kwanzaa. And Native Americans hold ceremonies throughout the year, going inside the sacred womb of Mother Earth in sweat lodge rituals, emerging reborn and renewed.

In this moment, we pause to explore the return of the light in winter.

All Paths Lead to Hope
Rev. Grace Young, Writer and Visionary, Spiritual City Forum, www.spiritualcityforum.org

We are living in powerful times where every choice we make is of vital importance. We are choosing our future with every step we take and every word we speak. This time for humanity is of such vital importance that we have been offered an incredible variety of spiritual and religious paths to take in becoming our best of selves, opening higher consciousness and awakening to the truth.

As long as humans have been on this Earth we have gathered together for times of renewal, celebration and connection to the greater story. In recognizing this history, one can see the essential need of humans to be in a place of connection where it is safe to be centered in the heart. All spiritual and religious groups gather to celebrate the great events of their particular story. These gatherings are designed to open our hearts and view the world from altered eyes. It is a celebration of being with others who are traveling the same path and it is always about hope for a better world.

There are many doors into the home of spiritual connection and we are all heading in the same direction.

The Unity of One
Rev. Lynn Johnson, Community Spiritual Leader, Portland Center for Spiritual Awareness, www.pcsa.us

At the heart of New Thought is the awakened awareness that all life is a sacred creation. We believe there is only one power and presence that continually creates, animates and permeates everything and everyone. Its essence is born anew in each being everywhere with each new breath. As this all-knowing, all-loving being, we call Spirit or God, has never created anything that is meaningless, your DNA is anchored in divine intelligence, divine creativity and divine love. Is this not reason to celebrate every single day?

The holiday season for us then is an opportunity to consciously choose to cultivate those qualities of Spirit within that enrich and enhance our human experience: creativity, harmony, joy, beauty, peace and love. It is a time to participate in the many celebrations recognizing the light of life existing within all people. From the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, to Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, to earth-based rituals such as the Solstice - all of these events provide an opening to a soul-remembered connection with our true nature - that of a universal spiritual being born of eternal life.

As we open to different ways of celebrating life, we begin to shift our individual perceptions about the life experience. This can end the feelings of separation and open us to the realization that we are more alike than we are different - at our core we are one. We all want to be seen, heard, valued and loved. Life is good, no matter any appearance to the contrary, and this is the time of year to pause and remember what really matters is how we love and express love to those all around us. We invite you to open your heart to your own magnificence and lift someone else this season by extending a smile, or a thank you, or a positive thought about the difference they make in your life.

At the Portland Center for Spiritual Awareness, this year we will celebrate the Equinox on Dec. 22 with ancient Celtic rituals that include drumming, a candle-lighting ceremony and the singing of a powerful Jewish chant. We will practice opening our hearts to the light of love as a community and invite everyone to join us in actually celebrating this fantastic life that flows through us all the time. Namaste.

Winter Solstice: Buddhism in Retreat
Jacqueline Mandell, President, Longchen Nyingthig Samden Hla Kang, leadership.pure.heart@worldnet.att.net

Joyously many Buddhist practitioners as well as those who are seekers look forward to the winter months for intensive meditation retreats. Buddhist practitioners and those who wish to try, take this time of the winter solstice for awakening the inner light of wisdom-awareness. The continuity of meditative stabilization, and developed expertise of meditation techniques and skillful means are strengthened by the exclusive environment of a retreat. Winter provides the natural silence of the earth and inspires practitioners to connect with deep calm.

Because meditation takes focused practice, whenever possible retreats are beneficial to learning. The sheltered retreat environment provides a place to nurture meditation. Enhancing and embracing practice throughout the day takes a bit of discipline, and a forward-looking faith established in a 2,600-year-old tradition. The energy one puts into a retreat by following the instructions, keeping to the schedule and exerting effort into the practices reaps its own rewards.

This winter, Pacific Northwesterners can experience the meditative practice of Tara, the female Buddha. For the first time in the U.S., Tibetan teacher Adzom Rinpoche will be working from the ground up on how to generate Tara and become Tara. This is a classic Tibetan Buddhist practice to assist in the overcoming of fear and suffering, and to promote the enlightened mind. For details on the Dec. 12-15 Tara retreat, email leadership.pure.heart@worldnet.att.net.

Because meditation is the heartbeat of Buddhism, during the solstice, Buddhism retreats.

The Deeper Meaning of Gift-Giving
Rev. Dr. Wes Taylor, Pastor, Tualatin United Methodist Church, www.tualatinumc.org

Christmas means many things to me. Christmas Eve night stands out as the holiest of nights. Every moment is magical and filled with the divine. The late night traditional candlelight service is a highlight. The church is lit up only with candles and we sing, Silent Night. That is the moment of moments.

But Christmas is also about friends and family, and peace on Earth, love and stories. I especially embrace the story of St. Nicholas, the 4th century bishop of Myra. Bishop Nicholas quickly developed a reputation for helping the poor and needy.

In the city of Myra, lived a father and his three daughters. This family was quite poor, which made it almost impossible for the daughters to be married. It was the custom that when a daughter was to be married, the parents would gift the groom-to-be with a dowry. Bishop Nicholas heard of the plight of the family, so late one night, he brought a bag of coins, tossed the money into the house and then quickly disappeared into the night. The daughter was married.

Some time later, Bishop Nicholas again secretly brought money for the second daughter to be married. Then again, some time later, he did the same for the youngest daughter. However, some say the father this time caught Nicholas, but the saint begged that his gift giving be kept quiet.

For some time it was, but finally the story was told, and the power and promise of gift giving since that time has taken on an even greater significance and meaning.

A Pagan Perspective of Christmas
Kathleen Verigin, Minister & Priestess, Teachings of the Triple Spiral, www.triplespiral.info

Before there were religions or holy texts, our pagan ancestors focused their spiritual lives on the presence of the divine in nature. The Latin root of the word pagan simply means country dweller. Ireland is the country of my soul, and it is there that I discovered a pagan perspective of Christmas.

Newgrange is a 5,000 year old passage-grave north of Dublin. At this site every year on the Winter Solstice, the light penetrates the tomb and illuminates the central burial chamber. I first visited Newgrange as a tourist in 1998. I was especially attracted to the large triple spiral etched into a massive curbstone guarding the entrance.

Imagine every December 21, the sunlight entering the long passageway and making its way to the inner sanctum that once held the bones of our ancestors. What did this mean to them, and what does it mean to us now? The triple spiral has revealed to me a sacred trinity that has brought new joy and wonder into my experience of Christmas. I will be blessed again to visit Newgrange when I lead a sacred site tour through Ireland in March 2007.

Every December, I celebrate the Winter Solstice through pagan rituals that include drumming, chanting, storytelling and meditation. Together we invoke the power of the Sun. Mother Nature shows us that we have left the darkness behind as we tip towards the light. A few days later I celebrate Christmas by honoring the birth of the Son. The masculine path of Jesus is one of showing us how to move out of inner darkness and into the light of the Christ consciousness. If I look at Sun and Son as two spirals, one feminine and one masculine, then the third spiral is who I am as a bridge between the ancient pagan beliefs and contemporary religions.

I believe the Winter Solstice could become a universal holy day that connects people of all faiths. After all, we are all country dwellers, living in a country of religious freedom.

Let us together celebrate the light that shines equally upon all people of all faiths.