Belief and the Unitarian Universalist

On the Chaliceblog yesterday, Chalicechick gave a big answer to queries from a recent "convert" to Unitarian Universalism regarding polity in our "denomination" and the structural relationship of minister and congregation in UU "churches." (These words are in quotes here only in recognition of lack of UUnanimity regarding their applicability to the UU experience.) CC's answer covers a lot of ground and defers other parts of the answer for someone else to take up. But in the course of answering, she says something I want to explore a bit, thinking "out loud," as it were:

A lot of people will tell you that the problem with Unitarian Universalism is that is has no center and no core of belief. In my non-religious-professional opinion, that's bullshit. But Katy-the-Wise [whom CC identifies as her favorite UU minister] says it better than I do when she writes of the center of our faith:

"That unique gift is as it has always been a commitment to freedom of belief, of thought and of conscience. Those who confuse freedom with license misunderstand that to mean that Unitarian Universalists can believe anything at all. On the contrary, true freedom means that we are responsible for our own beliefs rather than subject to an outside authority, which puts the burden of truth directly on the individual. The bottom line is that you cannot believe that for which you have no evidence in experience or that you have not examined carefully and tested with integrity. At first people think it is very easy to practice a religion that doesn't tell you what to believe or what to think or what to do. Soon they find that taking the responsibility that freedom requires is a spiritual practice that takes all our strength and courage."

Immediately my mind went to the episode of The Monastery in which participant Nick Buxton, when prodded by one of the monks to plant his flag and state his position on basic theological issues such as the existence of God, says something like the following: "When someone asks me, 'Do you believe in God?' I ask them to define what they mean by 'you,' 'believe,' and 'God.'" Similarly, when someone asks what UUs do/ must/ can/ may believe, the only correct response may be to ask for clarification regarding the question itself.

So let's do a little informal unpacking of the claim Katy-the-Wise finds objectionable: "UUs can believe anything at all," sometimes worded as, ""UUs can believe anything they want to."

First, what does "can" mean? It obviously does not mean "are able" since any individual UU has certain things which s/he is unable to believe. For many among us, that inability is a major part of what brought them to us instead of to the Methodists - sometimes after spending decades trying with all their might to believe the thing they were told they must believe. I, for example, find it impossible to believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, authoritative in all areas of life and practice. I cannot believe that part of "anything at all" in any sense of the word "believe." It would be sheer nonsense to say that one can believe what they find impossible to believe.

So let's assume that "can" means "may." As in, we UUs don't have a creed and we don't have belief police approving some beliefs and outlawing other beliefs; therefore, you may believe anything at all. To the extent this means our beliefs are derived individually rather than handed down from Boston (and this is at least sometimes the intention behind the assertion that we can believe anything), this is a correct understanding of UU belief.

But "anything at all" is pretty damn broad. Though we don't have a creed that says otherwise, the ethos of the denomination would not support certain beliefs as acceptable. You believe that women are morally superior to men? Sorry, that belief is incompatible with UUism. You believe that there is only one way to lead a meaningful and spiritual life? Sorry, that belief is incompatible with UUism. You believe that gays are going to burn in hell? Sorry, that belief is incompatible with UUism. Clearly, though UUs qua humans may indeed believe any of these things, UUs qua UUs may not simply believe anything. Some things are indeed beyond the pale.

But what does "believe" mean? In common American religious parlance, "believe" frequently refers to the intellectual conviction of the factual or symbolic truth of a specific theological assertion. For many Americans it matters more what is in your head than what you do in the world. That is one kind of belief. UUs qua UUs do not share that kind of belief. We may and do believe "anything at all," in the sense of not accepting that the content of our mental processes is more important than our actions in the world.

But what if we take "believe" to mean a relinquishing of decision-making regarding theological issues to some authorized person or body, as may be meant when people in certain traditions simply follow the instruction of those with ecclesiastical authority? If that is the meaning of "believe," then UUs may not, perhaps must not, believe anything at all. That is, that sort of belief of anything is incompatible with UUism. Not only can't we believe "anything at all," we must not.

If we take "believe" to refer to a standing in solidarity with a community by means of a verbal formulation that serves as a grounding for life in common, as when many Christian churches recite their creed together, saying "I believe..." whether or not they intellectually accept the factual or symbolic truth of the content of the creed's assertions, UUs, as members of a non-creedal faith, simply do not have the option of believing this way. UUs qua UUs may not believe anything this way because we cannot.

And that alternate wording that we "can" "believe" "anything we want to"? Depends which "believe" you choose. It would be patent nonsense to say you can choose what you believe when belief is "intellectual conviction of the factual or symbolic truth of a theological assertion." Neither UUs nor anyone else can believe anything they want to in that definition of believe. Either one is convinced or one is not. It is not a choice. You can, perhaps, want to believe whatever you want to want to believe, but you can believe only what you actually believe, not what you want to believe. And the other two forms of belief we sketched out above aren't UU options.

So unless we use additional optional meanings for the word "believe," it is absolutely false that UUs can believe anything they want to, and UUs qua UUs may, cannot, may not, AND must not believe anything at all.

The problem for me, though, with Katy-the-Wise's statement on UUs and freedom of belief is two-fold:

1. She writes, " ...true freedom means that we are responsible for our own beliefs rather than subject to an outside authority, which puts the burden of truth directly on the individual." Sounds good. I might even phrase it that way myself, but if we are only responsible FOR and not responsible TO (which I would agree with), what difference does this make? Without being responsible to something, our responsibility boils down to one thing: not blaming something outside ourselves for what we have done. There is no burden for truth here beyond the simple fact that if you get something wrong, there's no one to blame. Is the "free and responsible search for meaning" anything more than, "Quit your bellyaching!"?
   
   
2. She writes, "The bottom line is that you cannot believe that for which you have no evidence in experience or that you have not examined carefully and tested with integrity." But that simply isn't so. People can and do believe things without evidence or testing. And UUs are no different on this score. How many UUs believe in reincarnation or some other afterlife? Have they any evidence in experience? Have they tested these beliefs with integrity? If you can answer yes to either of these questions, then the whole idea of "evidence in experience" and "testing with integrity" is meaningless. Is their belief in these things anti-UU because of the lack of evidence and testing? Absolutely not.

What we can say, hopefully with clarity, though, is that :

• if we believe something that does not serve us well or which leads us to harm others, no one else is to blame;
• certain beliefs are incompatible with the whole, though uncodified, UU ethos;
• among beliefs that are not incompatible with UUism, there is freedom;
• reason, experience, and testing are advisable tools to use in evaluating beliefs;
• many beliefs do not submit to any of these tools for evaluation;
• any time you use the word "believe" or "belief" * without defining it ad nauseum, you will be misunderstood - you probably will be even after the best of explanations;
• whatever your definitions are, they are yours and do not apply to what other people have to say, so it is still necessary to get them to explain their comments or questions or else you run a high risk of misunderstanding them.
  

* (or "God" or "spiritual" or any number of other key terms)

And now, I believe it is nearing the new year, time to pop a cork and say goodbye to father time and get ready to greet the baby.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's Eve

When I was living in Japan in 1990-1991, Walter came from the US to spend a few weeks at Christmas and New Year's. We did a lot of sightseeing in Kyoto, Nara, and Ise in the last week or so of the year, visiting more Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples than you could shake a stick at, whatever that means, but were back in Okazaki, the town where I was living, for New Year's Eve.

That evening, we went to a small party at a friend's house. There were maybe a dozen adults there, all people I knew pretty well, including "my" bartender. We sat around, ate sushi and sashimi and sukiyaki, talked, drank a little sake, listened to a little music, drank a little more sake. And then, at midnight, the bells of every temple in Okazaki began to ring, filling the night air with heavy, almost mystical resonance.

My friend and his wife who were hosting the party woke their small children, and then their whole family and all the guests walked together up the hill to the Rokusho Jinja, the nearest shrine in the neighborhood, a shrine established in 1602 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who finally succeeded in unifying Japan. The purpose of the midnight trek to the shrine was hatsumōde (初詣), the first prayers of the new year.

Rokusho Shrine, Okazaki, Japan

The streets were teeming with people. At the shrine, there was a very thick crowd, making their way to the front of the shrine to pray. Approach the shrine, toss a coin in the box, clap twice, hold hands in the namaste pose, and bow. On the grounds of the shrine, prayers complete, people partook of various traditional, symbolic refreshments - something culturally unique yet not un-akin to communion or prasad.

Having thus communed with the kami, the tutelary deity of the shrine, we each went our own way home - down the hill, through dark streets, past the train station, over the river, past department stores and hotels and Okazaki Castle, through the park, to Itaya-machi and my apartment and the first sleep of the new year. It was a very moving way to see the new year in, and I think of it most every year since  - certainly in those years when Walter and I stay home and merely open a bottle of champagne at midnight...

Japan,  America, Romania - the whole world celebrates renewal by marking the arbitrary turning of the calendar to a new span of months and days and hours:

Happy New Year!

Unfinished Geography

ENLIGHTENMENT


The important projects
are never finished.

Babel,
aimed for heaven itself,
grew red brick on yellow,
organic ramp curling into
dreams of infinity, low wall
narrowly averting lawsuits
of absent workmen's widows,
whose burly husbands daily
pushed brick-barrows past
spitting black nimbostratus,
past puffs of altocumulus,
negligent wisps of cirrus,
into the stratosphere.

Geography,
the 3-D lay of the land,
expanded, unfolded, rose.
Before husbands descended,
their language and their wives'
split in two, humanity now
bifurcated sexolingually,
torsos ripped and dripping,
exhausted by that effort,
that painful exertion of
reaching for some God above
it all. Down the cosmic
slide, patriarchy flowed.
Men who could not find God
found power or the will of it.
The rest is mystery.

Future projects, really big ones,
never looked for God. Questioning
not whether God could be found
beyond, men knew that God was
power. Cities with broad shoulders
hacked off feline extremities,
finding all the God they wanted in
stockyards and shipyards and
currency exchanges - factories
and station houses like Romans'
baths or palaces - transportation,
moving goods of commerce to addled
buyers - boxcar boxcar freight liner
and passenger trains moving people
needing hotels and restaurants and
prostitutes and movie palaces and
department stores, the dwelling place
of the new old gods who flowed down
Babel's tower.

The wall was built to keep God out -
the God Babel's workmen could never
find. The station never reached the
stratosphere before the geography
changed again. Fords and Hudsons and
Buicks liquidated the effort before
it mattered. But the walls stood.
Rough brick and arched windows
aimed to exclude, withhold, control
Nature, red in tooth and claw -
and brick by brick graffiti canvas
grew. Geography matters. It may be
all that matters. Technology changed
economy and displaced thousands
of souls imprinted with the will
to power that flowed down Babel's
eroding ramp. Cave art and cuneiform
proclaim their will, their power in
this new gangland Babel.


Then one morning God bursts through
the shattered glass illuminating
unhabitable, broken emptiness...

Maybe it was day.


© 2009 by Paul Kent Oakley

"Shotgun Blast" by Shane Gorski

read write prompt #107

Religion - Science - Professional Wrestling

Religion Dispatches contributors and Wofford College professors Byron R. McCane and Dan Mathewson reveal how the equally toothless performances of New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and creationists like Ken Ham share more with the garish world of Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik than with serious scholarship:

Rasslin' with Religion and Science
from Religion Dispatches on Vimeo

Reality TV and the Monastery

Stephen Lingwood, minister of Bank Street Unitarian Chapel in Bolton, UK, blogging at Reignite, ruminated recently on a British Reality TV show titled  Make Me a Christian. Stephen wrote:

Unlike programmes such as The Monastery and The Convent which gave people a chance to experience an entire lifestyle lived by religious orders, this programme is entirely based on not answering back, replacing pagan trinkets with Catholic trinkets and keeping it in your trousers.

After the first episode no one's mentioned peace, justice, good news for the poor, freedom for the oppressed or freely giving away your money. No one's being made a Christian.

I started to respond purely on the basis of my intense dislike of so-called reality TV. After all, what reason do we have to believe that the same people in the same setup would behave the same way if there was no TV camera to play to, recording their every move, their every conversation? The rules of the few "reality" shows I had seen a few episodes of before running from the room screaming were so fully artificial that, even if observation didn't change anything, the activity up for observation would be totally fake. Might just as well watch Jackass or a Japanese contest show. And finally, what I had seen was thoroughly unaesthetic and uninteresting to boot. So I stopped myself from making an equally unaesthetic and uninteresting response.

Next I started thinking about one of the more positive examples of religious "reality TV" that Stephen had mentioned: The Monastery. I had never seen an episode of this show that was broadcast some four years ago. However, my time spent visiting my friend who is a monk in a Trappist monastery and my correspondence with him led me to a very strong conclusion that there is no way that a TV show could capture what life in a monastery is about. I mean, The Monastery places five willing participants selected by the BBC for their variety and in hopes of their being "interesting" as they go through the experience of 40 days in Worth Abbey, a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery in West Sussex, England, with the proclaimed goal of, through the monastic experience, gaining something worthwhile to take with them into their regular lives.

What I knew of monastic formation from my friend's experience, though, made me as doubtful of this as grist for "reality TV" as I was of the aesthetic qualities of Survivor. My friend spent 40 days in the monastery simply in preliminary discernment, at the end of which, after a cooling off period of a few months, he decided whether he still felt the call and the interest to proceed, and the monks voted whether to take him on as a postulant. When he returned a few months later, he spent six months as a postulant, after which he proceeded into a two year novitiate. The 40-days discernment and six-month postulancy, while requiring self-evaluation and growth, were nothing compared to the emotional difficulty of dealing with his two years as a novice. The hard work of formation barely started before his novitiate. It is far from uncommon for novices to break, to realize that this life is one they are not able to live. Sitting alone in a monastery "cell," forced to face one's own reality, is more than many people can bear. There is no shame in not making it through the novitiate.

But if the tough stuff happens long after initial discernment and postulancy, how could five guys who hadn't felt the call, while under the camera's gaze, achieve something meaningful in a period equal to what men who felt called and are interested in actually becoming monks spend discerning whether the monastic life is a life they are willing and able to be formed to? I was so skeptical I nearly wrote it off as meaningless entertainment without even viewing the series.

But that would have been a shame, I discovered, when I did watch it. First of all, the monks are not trying to form the participants into monks - or even necessarily into Christians generally or Catholics specifically - but it was something significantly more than a mere retreat at a monastery. Rather, the clear aim was to impart something positive to the participants that they could take out from the monastery, having learned it through even a brief exposure to living according to the Rule of St. Benedict under the guidance of the monks of Worth Abbey.

There is none of the contest atmosphere that pervades a large swath of "reality TV," no one getting voted off the island, no reason to form alliances to trash the competition. But there is conflict, human conflict between participants, and there is resistance to living according to the Rule.

Let's just say that I was surprised by the seriousness with which the artificial experience was structured by the monks as something nonetheless real and meaningful. I appreciated the respect with which it was filmed and edited by the BBC team and carried through by the participants - with doubt and skepticism and faith and struggle and resentment and dealing with emotional baggage - seeing it through to an end that did not include a winner's circle but quiet departure back to their lives, which though by no means perfected were apparently affected quite a bit by their monastic experience. I was impressed with the series: a spiritual experiment edited in a way similar to a documentary with attention to aesthetic details and gently presenting some bit of portable wisdom that may cross faith lines:

The Monastery
18 Segments, Autoplay

Total run time: 2 hours 31 minutes

Playlist Link

The morning after...

Today is the 119th birthday of Mao Zedong (毛澤東 - Mao Tse Tung, as we learned it during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 無產階級文化大革命, when he was still living and I was in school in the rural Midwest). But I'm not going to write about him...

You may have thought you had a holiday reprieve until New Year's Eve, but no! A lens casting its view to the world finds today is:

• St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and in Slovakia.
• Synaxis of Theotokos and Feast of St. Joseph, King and Prophet David and St. James the Just (Orthodox Christianity)
• The Second Day of Christmas (of twelve) in Western Christianity.
• Boxing Day in the UK and the Commonwealth of Nations - except that when 26 December is a Sunday Boxing Day is transferred to 27 December by Royal Proclamation.
• Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man.
• Australia – Proclamation Day (South Australian public holiday), for the foundation of the Australian state of South Australia on December 28, 1836 but commemorated on this day.
• Solomon Islands – Thanksgiving, a public holiday.
• South Africa – Day of Goodwill, a public holiday.
• First day of Kwanzaa
• Abadiu of Antinoe is commemorated in the Coptic Church on this date.
• First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year's Day)
• Slovenia – Day of Independence and Unity, national holiday.

So the following video misses when the Feast of Stephen falls, but how many people know better than the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre the lyrics of "Good King Wenceslas" and what they mean? (grin)




Here is a gemütlich, at-home-hangin'-with-friends-casual, folksy rendition with banjo, guitar, bass guitar, and voice, featuring John Browne, Lonnie Fiener, and Greggory Stockert:



Have a happy Feast of St. Stephen, Second Day of Christmas, Boxing Day... or just plain December 26th - whatever does it for you!

A little grownup Christmas music

Out magazine has put Tori Amos's "Pink and Glitter" at #5 on its list of the ten Gayest Christmas Songs this year:

Not only does Amos hit us with a drag queen–inspired title, but she gets bonus points for successfully slipping a lyric about a vibrator ("grown-up motor toy") into her horny big-band Christmas ditty.

Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Joyeux Noël!

God Jul!

Feliz Navidad!

С Рождеством!
Natale Allegro!

Maligayang Pasko!
Gëzuar Kërshëndellat!

Vrolijk Kerstfeest!
Καλά Χριστούγεννα!

Hauskaa Joulua!
Crăciun fericit!

Glaedelig Jul!
Nadolig Llawen!

Boas Festas!
聖誕節快樂!

Oíche Chiúin

Yes, for one last go this season, the song over which Unitarian Universalists felt truly bludgeoned, bloodied and betrayed by that self-confessed crusty and curmudgeonly comic, Garrison Keillor (was he being anserous, asinine, acerbic, absurd, or abusive?) - performance only, with no further commentary other than, "Hey! look at the adaptations of those lyrics when translated from their Gaelic translation into English, the imperial tongue of the global economy. Are they kosher for Christmas? Is there a hechsher on that?"

But even if only because it is beautiful, here's Enya performing "Oíche Chiúin" with a children's choir on the UK TV show This Morning last December:





Gaelic Lyrics :

Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Cách 'na suan dís araon,
Dís is dílse 'faire le spéis
Naoín beag gnaoigheal ceananntais caomh.
Críost, 'na chodhladh go séimh.
Críost, 'na chodhladh go séimh.


Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Aoirí ar dtús chuala 'n scéal;
Allelúia aingeal ag glaoch.
Cantain suairc i ngar is i gcéin.
Críost an Slánaitheoir Féin.
Críost an Slánaitheoir Féin.


Oíche chiúin, oíche Mhic Dé,
Cách 'na suan dís araon,
Dís is dílse 'faire le spéis
Naoín beag gnaoigheal ceananntais caomh.
Críost, 'na chodhladh go séimh.
Críost, 'na chodhladh go séimh.

English translation of the Gaelic version:

Silent night, night of God's son.
Soundly in slumber, the pair together
The pair and love, watching with affection
The small bright beautiful child, darling little one.
Christ, calmly asleep.
Christ, calmly asleep.

Silent night, night of God's son.
Shepherds first heard the tale
The angels crying out Alleluia.
Lovely chanting near and far.
Christ, the saviour himself.
Christ, the saviour himself.

Silent night, night of God's son.
Soundly in slumber, the pair together
The pair and love, watching with affection
The small bright beautiful child, darling little one.
Christ, calmly asleep.
Christ, calmly asleep.

A Christmas Eve with the choir boys

Thomanerchor (St. Thomas Boys Choir)

Leipzig, Germany

"Von Himmel hoch da komm ich her"

(From Heaven Above to Earth I Come)
Words and melody by Martin Luther
16th Century

The Choir of King's College

Cambridge, United Kingdom

"In Dulci Jubilo"

(In Sweetest Rejoicing)

usually rendered in English as "Good Christian Men, Rejoice"

Anonymous medieval music and mixed German and Latin text
German translated to English by Robert Lucas de Pearsall
14th Century

Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Choir Boys)

Vienna, Austria

"Adeste Fideles"

(O Come, All Ye Faithful)
Tune by John Francis Wade
Latin Lyrics possibly also by Wade
18th Century

Tölzer Knabenchor (Tölz Boys' Choir)
Bad Tölz, Bavaria, Germany

"Es ist ein Ros` Entsprungen"

(Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming)

Music by Michael Praetorius

Words are Anonymous
16th Century

Libera

London, United Kingdom

"Silent Night"

Music by Franz Gruber

Words are an anonymous loose adaptation of the original

German lyrics "Stille Nacht" by Joseph Mohr
19th Century

Tölzer Knabenchor (Tölz Boys' Choir)

Bad Tölz, Bavaria, Germany

"Es wird schon gleich dunkel"

(It's dark now)

A Christmas Lullaby
Folksong from the Brixental, Tirol, Austria
Unknown century

Lyrics:

Es wird schon gleich dunkel,
Es wird ja schon Nacht,
Drum komm ich zu dir her,
Mein Heiland auf d'Wacht.
Wir singen ein Liedlein
Dem Kindlein dem kleinen.
Du magst ja nicht schlafen,
Ich hör dich nur weinen.
Ei, ei, ei, ei,
Schlaf süß, herzlieb's Kind.


Vergiß jetzt, o Kindlein,
Dein' Kummer, dein Leid,
Daß du da mußt leiden
Im Stall auf der Heid'.
Es zier'n ja die Engel
Dein Krippelein aus,
Möchte' schöner nicht sein
In dem vornehmsten Haus.
Ei, ei, ei, ei,
Schlaf süß, herzlieb's Kind.


Schließ zu deine Äuglein
In Ruh' und in Fried'
Und gib mir zum Abschied
Dein' Segen nur mit.
Dann wird auch mein Schlafen
Ganz sorgenlos sein,
Dann kann ich mich ruhig
Auf's Niederleg'n freun.
Ei, ei, ei, ei,
Schlaf süß, herzlieb's Kind.

Rough translation:

It's dark now,
It is already night,
And so I come to you,
My savior, at the late watch.
We sing a little song
To the babe, to the little one.
You do not like to sleep,
I hear you cry.
Ay, ay, ay, ay,
Sleep sweetly, dear child.

Forget now, O child,
Your grief, your sorrow,
That you must suffer there
In the stable on the heath.
Indeed,the angels
Adorn your manger,
More beautifully than
The grandest house.
Ay, ay, ay, ay,
Sleep sweetly, dear child.

Shut your little eyes
In calm and in peace
And in parting give
Only your blessing to me.
Then my sleep,
Will be quite peaceful,
Then I can quietly
Rejoice when I lie down.
Ay, ay, ay, ay,
Sleep sweetly, dear child.

Lullaby

ON CHRISTMAS EVE


at intervals we return
we seek our parents, hoar origins
we shove past angels with flaming swords
looking for eden, derelict paradise
a worn out savannah of toxic fruits
replaced in thin memory by apples
and figs and pears and pomegranates
bursting with fecundity and lust
with promises long since broken

ay, ay... ay, ay
sleep sweetly, my sorrowful love child
sleep sweetly, my heart's deepest longing
sleep against my milk-ripe breasts
may you see no evil and do your best

at intervals we return
we search for the first schoolhouse
demolished many years ago, yet not long
we look for that green playing field
where we learned to trust and to bluff
where we learned we were good at the game
that we were useless, pitiful players
we seek again some smoky, mystic mount
where first our purpose then appeared
where we drank burnt, bitter gold

ay, ay... ay, ay
sleep sweetly, my sorrowful love, child
sleep sweetly, my heart's deepest longing
sleep against my muscular chest, protecting arms
may you hear no evil and escape all harm

at intervals we return
we stand on a hilltop looking for a star
comets rarely appear, miracles never do
yet we seek, we stand on cliffs looking up
we stand there ever gazing into heaven
awaiting a salvation that seems never to come
a redemption we do not, will not understand
mercies we do not deserve and cannot afford
mercies we need not for us but our children

ay, ay... ay, ay
sleep sweetly, my sorrowful love child
sleep sweetly, my heart's deepest, longing
sleep secure in my endlessly rocking cradle
may you speak no evil and do good as you're able

ay, ay... ay, ay
sweetly sleep, my sorrowful love, my child

© 2009 by Paul Kent Oakley

read write prompt #106

This Christmas Eve lullaby was inspired by "Es wird schon gleich dunkel," a folk lullaby for the Christmas season from the Brixental, Tirol, Austria.

Silent Night, Unitarian and Universalist

In 1927 a Commission on Hymns and Services was appointed by the Directors of the American Unitarian Association; their purpose was to prepare a revised edition of the New Hymn and Tune Book (1914). In 1931 a Commission on Hymns and Services was appointed by the Universalist General Convention with the purpose of creating a new hymnal based on Church Harmonies and Hymns of the Church, the two hymnals then in common use in Universalist churches. Very quickly a proposal was made that the two commissions work together. The result of their joint efforts was a first jointly Unitarian and Universalist hymnal: Hymns of the Spirit for use in the Free Churches of America, or Hymns of the Spirit, for short, (Copyright 1937) which went through many printings in the years up to the consolidation of the two denominations into our current UUA. [As Scott Wells comments below, the final printing was 1981, well beyond consolidation.]

For this season, the hymn of interest is "Silent Night." The tune is printed, separately from the words of the carol, as #166, with the tune titled "Holy Night." It is the tune we all know by Franz Gruber, harmonized by Carl Reinecke, with a concluding Amen. Below the musical notation and before the words of the carol is the following note:

Nos. 166 and 167 are two versions of the same hymn. The second is the better known form, in general use, and has been included by request, although the editors consider the first version to be the preferable form.

The first, or preferred, version is the one that was in the 1914 Unitarian hymnal. I do not know what the places of general use of the other version were, but it is not the version in general use in the 1960s when the first UUA hymnal Hymns for the Celebration of Life (1964) used the version that I grew up with around the corner in a fundamentalist church, the version that Garrison Keillor considers the only acceptable version.

So, without further ado, for your perusal, enjoyment, and enlightenment, here are the 1937 Unitarian and Universalist prefered version #166 (of Unitarian heritage), followed by the 1937 better-known, general-use version #167:

#166

1)Silent night! peaceful night!
All things sleep, shepherds keep
Watch on Bethlehem's silent hill,
And unseen, while all is still,
Angels watch above,
Angels watch above.

2) Bright the star shines afar,
Guiding travelers on their way,
Who their gold and incense bring,
Offerings to the promised king,
Christ of David's line,
Christ of David's line.

3) Light around! joyous sound!
Angel voices wake the air;
'Glory be to God in heaven;
Peace on earth to you is given;
Christ, the Savior, is come,
Christ, the Savior, is come!'

#167

1)Silent night! holy night!
All is clear, all is bright
Round yon gentle Mother and Child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

2) Silent night, holy night
Darkness flies, and all is light;
Shepherds, hear the angels sing.
'Alleluia! hail the King!
Jesus the Savior is here,
Jesus the Savior is here.'

3) Silent night, holy night,
Guiding star, O lend thy light:
See the eastern wise men bring
Gifts and homage to our King:
Jesus the Savior is here,
Jesus the Savior is here.

Interesting that after resorting to the single version apparently then popular nation-wide in the 1964 hymnal, the UUA opted to go, again, to two versions side-by-side for Singing the Living Tradition (1993), Hymns #251 and 252. Also interesting how the phrasing and punctuation of both versions in the 1937 Unitarian and Universalist hymnal emphasize a different meaning than the grammatical phrasing as typically sung in general performance in my lifetime.

And now, a little reward for making it to the end of that, here, in the original German, three of the original six verses of "Stille Nacht," sung by the Tölzer Boys Choir:

Silent Night, à la Wiccan

These words were written by Ellen Reed and were sung to Franz Xaver Gruber's tune as part of the Magical Circle School's 2007 Yule ritual:

SILENT NIGHT

Silent night, Solstice night
All is calm, all is bright
Nature slumbers in forest and glen
Till in Springtime She wakes again
Sleeping spirits grow strong!
Sleeping spirits grow strong!

Silent night, Solstice night
Silver moon shining bright
Snowfall blankets the slumbering Earth
Yule fires welcome the Sun's rebirth
Hark, the Light is reborn!
Hark, the Light is reborn!

Silent night, Solstice night
Quiet rest till the Light
Turning over the Rolling Wheel
Brings the Winter to comfort and heal
Rest your spirit in peace!
Rest your spirit in peace!

In MCS's words that may perhaps be necessary, given the recent piece by Garrison Keillor, "This is a Wiccan/Pagan take on this song. If you are not appreciative of it, that is your right. However no one is forcing you to listen to it."

The December solstice (Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere) will occur at 17:47 (or 5:47 PM) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on December 21, 2009.

A Blessed Solstice to All!
And to all a good night!

The Christians and the Pagans

This morning at church, Shannon played a recording of Dar Williams singing "The Christians and the Pagans" as the opening music. I had missed hearing it before and was interested in the lyrics: a story of a Pagan lesbian couple visiting at the home of an uncle, aunt, and young cousin of one of them on Christmas eve, "So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table/ Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able." Especially if you've not heard it before either, I hope you get as much from it now as I did, by clicking on this URL, as embedding is disabled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Xdk4PujOE

ARTIST: Dar Williams
TITLE: The Christians and the Pagans
Lyrics and Chords:


Amber called her uncle,
said "We're up here for the holiday
Jane and I were having Solstice,
now we need a place to stay"
And her Christ-loving uncle
watched his wife hang Mary on a tree
He watched his son hang candy canes
all made with red dye number three
He told his niece, "It's Christmas eve,
I know our life is not your style"
She said, "Christmas is like Solstice,
and we miss you and it's been awhile"

/ G C Am D / / Em C Am D / / G C Am D / /

So the Christians and the Pagans
sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground
the best that they were able
And just before the meal was served,
hands were held and prayers were said
Sending hope for peace on earth
to all their gods and goddesses

/ G C Em D / / Em C Am D / Em C Am D G - /

The food was great, the tree plugged in,
the meal had gone without a hitch
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said,
"Is it true that you're a witch?"
His mom jumped up and said,
"The pies are burning," and she hit the kitchen
And it was Jane who spoke, she said,
"It's true, your cousin's not a Christian"
"But we love trees, we love the snow,
the friends we have, the world we share
And you find magic from your God,
and we find magic everywhere"

So the Christians and the Pagans
sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground
the best that they were able
And where does magic come from,
I think magic's in the learning
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans
only pumpkin pies are burning

When Amber tried to do the dishes,
her aunt said, "Really, no, don't bother"
Amber's uncle saw how Amber
looked like Tim and like her father
He thought about his brother,
how they hadn't spoken in a year
He thought he'd call him up and say,
"It's Christmas and your daughter's here"
He thought of fathers, sons and brothers,
saw his own son tug his sleeve saying
"Can I be a Pagan?" Dad said,
"We'll discuss it when they leave"

So the Christians and the Pagans
sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground
the best that they were able
Lighting trees in darkness,
learning new ways from the old, and
Making sense of history
and drawing warmth out of the cold

And where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning - 'cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.

Wonderful!

Advent IV - A Traditional Musical Approach

The Cathedral Choir of Paderborn sings songs for Advent IV:

Heinrich von Herzogenberg
"Freue dich du Tochter Zion" (Rejoice, Thou Daughter of Zion)

Felix Mendelsohn Bartoldy
"Frohlocket ihr Völker auf Erden" (Rejoice, You Nations of the Earth)




Welsh singer Aled Jones sings "Gabriel's Message," a Basque folk carol:





German singer Mary Roos sings
"Maria durch ein Dornwald ging" (Mary Wandered Through a Thorn Wood)




Lyrics:

"Maria durch ein Dornwald ging"

Maria durch ein' Dornwald ging,
Kyrie eleison!
Maria durch ein' Dornwald ging,
Der hat in sieb'n Jahr'n kein Laub getrag'n.
Jesus und Maria!


Was trug Maria unter ihrem Herz'n?
Kyrie eleison!
Ein kleines Kindlein ohne Schmerz'n
Das trug Maria unter ihrem Herz'n.
Jesus und Maria!


Da hab'n die Dornen Rosen getrag'n,
Kyrie eleison!
Als das Kindlein durch den Wald getrag'n,
Da hab'n die Dornen Ros'n getrag'n.
Jesus und Maria!


Translation:

"Mary Walked Amid A Thorny Forest"

Mary walked amid a thorny forest,
Kyrie eleison!
Mary walked amid a thorny forest,
Which hadn't had leaves for seven years.
Jesus and Mary!

What did Mary have under her heart!
Kyrie eleison!
A small boy who feels no pain
Mary had him under her heart.
Jesus and Mary!

Then, the thorns grew roses,
Kyrie eleison!
Then the small boy was carried through the forest,
The thorns had roses.
Jesus and Mary!

Blessing, Goodbye to Saribenne

This afternoon we had very nice a memorial service at Mt. Vernon Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for Ms. Saribenne Evesong, who was an integral part of our fellowship since its inception in early 2005. UU blog followers have had a view into Saribenne's deterioration from Alzheimer's disease through the blogging of her daughter-in-law Shannon, who blogs at Unmitigated Bliss. In 2004, when Saribenne was no longer able safely to live on her own, it was Shannon suggested she come to live with her and Adam and their family.

When Saribenne first moved to this small southern Illinois town, there was no Unitarian Universalist fellowship here. The nearest was a little more than an hour away. Saribenne missed her home congregation in Atlanta GA and wondered what she would do in her more circumscribed setting in Mt. Vernon without a UU church. So when a local man who had been attending the church an hour away put an ad in the local paper, asking readers, "Are you a Unitarian?" she immediately answered to the phone number listed in the ad.

Through her years with us, most Sundays during Joys and Sorrows she retold the story of not knowing what she would do without a Unitarian church in this town she'd just moved to and then seeing that ad. As her disease progressed, more and more details dropped from the telling. But she continued to express her gratitude for the presence of this fellowship, our fellowship, her fellowship right up to very close to the end. Her ability to say it got weaker and weaker, but she still tried, she still told us every Sunday she could how important our presence was to her.

In the memorial service, there was space for anyone who wished to come forward and share their memories of this amazing woman many of us had known only after she was suffering from and diminished by Alzheimer's. Among the things I spoke in remembrance, I mentioned a memory that illustrated her wonderful sense of humor:

We were gathered one Wednesday evening for an Open Minds Discussion Group meeting. As a preliminary, ice-breaking activity, a set of cards was passed, from which each person was to draw a card with a word on it and then say something enlightening or meaningful about that word. Saribenne drew the word "divorce." She took it in stride, evading all those potential emotional landslides with her wit: "It worked for me," she said with a broad smile, inviting us all to feel comfortable laughing along.

Saribenne never claimed to know the answers to all the big religious and spiritual questions. She always said she didn't know what happened when one died, but she hoped that she could come back. She didn't specifically believe it was true, but she hoped it was. So Shannon read The Mountains of Tibet, a children's book by Mordecai Gerstein, for the children and the rest of us present at the memorial. The book is based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and is a delightful narrative of reincarnation. It was a charming way to bring in Saribenne's hope in a way that was open and accessible even to the children present.

Saribenne was the name her parents gave her, but it is a window into this strong woman that her surname was not one she was born to, nor one she married into, it was one she created for herself: Evesong, from the name of Eve, the first woman in Judeo-Christian myth and scripture, the mother of all females. A name as full of beauty, of poetry and music, as it is of strength and feminist politics.

Because of her disease, many of us only had occasional hints of the strong feminist and flourishing artist who had been one of the founders of the Women's Art Cooperative of Atlanta in the 1970s, an artist whose work had been exhibited internationally. But we knew a woman who, even as she was in decline, expressed gratitude at every opportunity, saw the beauty in everything, and was a loving presence among us.

Saribenne's son Adam is on our board of trustees and his wife Shannon is on several fellowship committees. Through them and through our memories, Saribenne will continue to be a blessing to our fellowship. I am grateful I had the opportunity to know her - even a little in her later years - and will miss her greatly.

Chanukah - Eighth Night

From sundown, Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Cheer from the Heartland

Why would anyone need TV with this out there? ...a letter to the editor published today in The Southern Illinoisan, a regional small-town-and-rural newspaper; the letter writer has been published regularly for many, many years in that newspaper and those of all the neighboring small southern Illinois towns:

To the Editor:

The Death of the old Roman Empire was 476 A.D.

In 1524 A.D., King Henry the 8th of England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and started the Church of England.

The God of Israel is in numbers: Add 476 A.D. plus 1524 A.D. and the total equals the year 2010 A.D. This is the mising link in the new resurrected Roman Empire ...the European Union.

By the end of 2010 on Christmas Day, the new resurrected Roman Empire and the European Union will be completed.

By the end of 2010, the Euro currency, the idol of the European Union, will be the reserve currency of the world.

By the end of 2010, the new resurrected Roman Empire, the European Union, will have the religious, political and military powers in control completed. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. This will reunite Europe for the last time.

The U.K. pound will bite the dust, and the Euro will rise from the ashes. London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

-George Culley, Pinckneyville (IL)

In the final words from one version of Bernstein's Candide,
"Any questions?"

(The final words in another version are, "Ah me! The pox!")

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Chanukah - Seventh Night

From sundown, Thursday, December 17, 2009

Keillor and "Misappropriation"

I was telling Walter, my 79-year-old 16-years-retired partner of 23 years, a pre-merger Unitarian, who managed to finish his professorial career without touching a computer or wanting to, about the goings on in the UU blogosphere regarding Garrison Keillor's sour opinion piece, including mentioning the urging of some UU bloggers to abstain from listening to or reading Keillor. Walter's reply:

"So the Unitarian Universalists have issued a fatwa against Garrison Keillor! Never thought I'd see that!"

In my mind we come down always to that sticky wicket of who owns culture - everybody claiming it, it seems, and fighting everyone else's "misappropriation." This is a completely separate issue from intellectual property, which is an area of law, and the law, as we have heard tell, is an ass. But in the realm of religion and culture, I have just a few, hopefully relevant, observations or assertions to make:

• Once any cultural or religious custom, practice, or artifact enters the public arena, it has no owner and is equally the property of all. If Christians wanted to maintain "ownership" of their customs and carols, they had the primary obligation of keeping them to themselves. Plain and simple, without in any way claiming Christmas not to be a Christian holiday, it is much else too. And all the carols that have been sung door to door and in shopping mall concerts are free game for anyone to do with as they please. Does this mean everyone will be happy with what is done with any particular artifact? Of course not! They just have to grow up and get over it.
  
  
• Unitarian Universalism is not a Christian religion, but its Universalist and Unitarian roots are fully Christian, if heretical. Therefore, everything that was part of Unitarian Christianity or of Universalist Christianity is part of our heritage. No exceptions. No one has the standing or would be in the right to deny any organization its legitimate inheritance. And every heir within a particular lineage has both the authority and the need to reinterpret his or her own heritage in ways that are meaningful to that heir.
  
  
• Any person who grows up Christian but chooses to follow a different path is still a full heir of everything s/he was raised with. All the customs. All the images. All the words and thoughts and expressions. You cannot cease to have the history and cultural experiences you have. So any person in this position is still an heir and "owner" of that heritage, which is his or hers to reinterpret as desired and needed.

So on every count on this issue, Garrison Keillor had his head stuck someplace ludicrous. But let's refrain from getting bent out of shape at his getting bent out of shape. That only leaves the whole world twisted and ludicrous.

The time for a fatwa has not come.

UU Bloggers on Keillor

19th Century Hymn Tinkering

It is often noted how eagerly and often contemporary Unitarian-Universalists alter hymns.  Usually this is done to remove some aspect of the received hymn that is deemed objectionable; sometimes a ... Posted on Transient and Permanent (Site / Info) on Wednesday September 7, 2011

 

And a Happy Boxing Day to you, Garrison Keillor!
on Saturday December 26, 2009 by mrlauer  

I can easily imagine him being sufficiently egotistical to blast the UU's for rewriting lyrics even as he does it himself (possibly by distinguishing “serious” and “humorous” rewrites). I can't imagine him being so ignorant of musical ...
Michael Lauer's Weblog - http://mrlauer.wordpress.com/

. . . and a Happy New Year!

I don't much mind Garrison Keillor's rant on the UU propensity to change things (holy or not) . I'll let it mostly pass but would like to share a quote with Garrison from Earl W. Count, 4,000 Years... Posted on patter pensAe (Site / Info) on Saturday December 26, 2009

A Response to Garrision Keiller: Our Unitarian Universalist Christmas

AN OPEN LETTER TO GARRISON KEILLER ON OUR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHRISTMAS EVE Dear Mr. Keiller , I read your article last week on Salon.com called "Don't Mess with Christmas." The sub head said, "... Posted on Sexuality and Religion: What's the Connection? (Site / Info) on Friday December 25, 2009

God bless us, Every one

I'm finally back online after several complications-another laptop crash (second motherboard this year) and either a cold or the flu. It's out of my head and into my lungs now, which may not sound ... Posted on ministrare (Site / Info) on Thursday December 24, 2009

Thoughts on Keillor's Christmas Rant

So a UU Facebook friend alerted me and the rest of our circle yesterday that Garrison Keillor had published an editorial rant, Posted on Lefty Parent (Site / Info) on Thursday December 24, 2009

Oíche Chiúin

Yes, for one last go this season, the song over which Unitarian Universalists felt truly bludgeoned, bloodied and betrayed by that self-confessed crusty and curmudgeonly comic, Garrison Keillor (wa... Posted on Inner Light, Radiant Life (Site / Info) on Thursday December 24, 2009

 Keillor Anti-UU Rant Generates Humor

I'm usually reading comments that remind me of the awful side of human nature. Took a gander at the white-hot Garrison Keillor rant against Unitarian Universalists (along with Jews and Christmas se... Posted on Radicalhapa.com Liberation and Mutuality (Site / Info) on Wednesday December 23, 2009

Drawing a circle to take him in

My post yesterday was going to be the last thing I wrote on the Keillor matter, and then I saw this . I've been an even bigger fan of Fred Small than of Garrison Keillor for 25 years. For those who... Posted on DairyStateDad (Site / Info) on Wednesday December 23, 2009

Setting Ourselves up for Keillor

Rev Thom writes , It is the part about being vague, fuzzy, and refusing to stand for anything that I take issue with. These comments are insulting. They are cheap shots. And they are false. Our the... Posted on Pfarrer Streccius (Site / Info) on Wednesday December 23, 2009

Not so calm, not so bright

I'm a new UU blogger! Surely I must have something to say about That Article in Salon! Actually, I do. A few things, in fact. Keillor has made fun of UUs for years. I think we tend to dismiss his m... Posted on Sermons in Stones (Site / Info) on Wednesday December 23, 2009

Merry Christmas, Garrison Keillor!

IDEAS: One of the great things about Unitarian Universalism is that, just as we don't all pray from the same prayer book, we don't all sing from the same hymnal. Posted on uuworld.org: latest stories (Site / Info) on Wednesday December 23, 2009

My last word on Keillor

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian for a moment, if I may. Now that I have had time to consider it more, I've come to a conclusion regarding Garrison Keillor's recent controversial essay on Sile... Posted on Strange Attractor (Site / Info) on Tuesday December 22, 2009

Note to Garrison Keillor: Chillax!!!

Image via Wikipedia I really was planning to stay out of the Garrison Keillor blogfest; I always knew he disliked UUs, and I only listened to Prairie Home Companion when I was trapped in a car, str... Posted on Rev Rose (Site / Info) on Tuesday December 22, 2009

Why all the anti-UU hate?

It's been a tough week for Unitarian Universalists in the media. Unless you've been hiding out in a cave, you have probably heard about Garrison Keillor's weird and bitter diatribe against Unitaria... Posted on RevThom (Site / Info) on Tuesday December 22, 2009

Retitled and updated: A personal epiphany

This was originally called "An American in China reflects on Keillor's 'buzz off.' It's grown and changed direction some. Like a rubbernecker turning around on the highway to go back and stare at t... Posted on DairyStateDad (Site / Info) on Tuesday December 22, 2009

Garrison Keillor, righteous Christian, defender of Christmas

Dan is still down with a chest cold so Mr. Crankypants is ba-ack! Mr. Crankypants finally decided to read the Garrison Keillor column in Salon that trashes "Unitarians." It's a mildly amusing littl... Posted on Yet Another Unitarian Universalist (Site / Info) on Monday December 21, 2009

Postscript to the Keillor Matter

Sunday night, I went to a Presbyterian Church's Christmas party. We gathered around the piano and the choir director sat and played many of the well-worn holiday classics. When he came to the UU-wr... Posted on The Chaliceblog (Site / Info) on Monday December 21, 2009

Humorlessness20 Dec 2009 by Assistant Village Idiot  

Your last question (Why are UU's so humorless? ;) )is the one that caught me. I had not thought so before, but as soon as I read it I recognised it as true. Not that there are no funny or congenial people among them, or that they never ...
Assistant Village Idiot - http://assistantvillageidiot.blogspot.com/

Open Letter to Garrison Keillor

Dear Mr. Keillor: I am writing in response to your recent article in Salon.com, which excoriated my home church of First Parish Cambridge (Unitarian Universalist), and the Unitarian Universalist faith in general. I have been a loyal listener of Prairie Home Companion since you first went on the air... Posted on The Garden of Words on Sunday December 20, 2009

Silent Night, Unitarian and Universalist

In 1927 a Commission on Hymns and Services was appointed by the Directors of the American Unitarian Association; their purpose was to prepare a revised edition of the New Hymn and Tune Book (1914).... Posted on Inner Light, Radiant Life (Site / Info) on Sunday December 20, 2009

Silent Night, à la Wiccan

These words were written by Ellen Reed and were sung to Franz Xaver Gruber's tune as part of the Magical Circle School's 2007 Yule ritual: SILENT NIGHT Silent night, Solstice night All is calm, all... Posted on Inner Light, Radiant Life (Site / Info) on Sunday December 20, 2009

 The Chaliceblog: The usual UU excuses for listening to Garrison Keillor

The Chaliceblog: The usual UU excuses for listening to Garrison Keillor Posted on Just Gini (Site / Info) on Sunday December 20, 2009

It hurt my feelings more than anything...

when Garrison Keillor launched his Salon.com diatribe against Unitarians and our penchant for degenderizing, retheologizing our hymns, in this case our Christmas hymn Silent Night. It wasn't so muc... Posted on Ms. Kitty's Saloon and Road Show (Site / Info) on Saturday December 19, 2009

UUA Hymnal is not the Bible when it comes to "Silent Night"

A last note on "Silent Night" as it relates to Mr. Keillor's column. I've had the opportunity to check in on the version that our congregation uses, as well as some other UU congregations. In the c... Posted on The UU Growth Blog (Site / Info) on Saturday December 19, 2009

Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » That's the News From Lake Wobegon ...19 Dec 2009 by Jeff Fecke  

As annoying as Keillor's anti-Unitarian statements were, I find it hard to get too offended and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm very accustomed to people “not getting” UUs? Or maybe I don't feel targeted as a Unitarian in this ... This reminds me of an interesting thing about many UU hymns. I grew up Presbyterian, and when I became a UU 12 years ago, I noticed that some of the melodies of the hymns were familiar to me, but with the words completely changed. ...
Alas, a blog - http://www.amptoons.com/blog/ 

The last thing I'm going to write on that GK column...

...at least until I write something else. In the end, I do find the whole Keillor episode a little baffling. A Talking Points Memo commenter insists it is just satire. Certainly, in the face of thi... Posted on DairyStateDad (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

Digs at Unitarians amid Christmas celebrations

Garrison Keillor tells UUs not to 'mess with Christmas' A column by humorist Garrison Keillor, apparently prompted by his discovery that a UU church uses a slightly modified version of "Silent Nigh... Posted on unitarian universalists in the media (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

Another country heard from

Is it just a coincidence? In the wake of the Keillor flap (and especially his seemingly anti-Semitic throwaway line) this New York Times commentary from the singer Michael Feinstein couldn't have b... Posted on DairyStateDad (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

Garrison Keillor Goes Rogue

The Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association email list-serve has been abuzz for the past 24 hours after one of my colleagues called our attention to a piece by Garrison Keillor published on sa... Posted on RevThom (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

one more UU blogs about Keillor's Salon piece

Garrison Keillor is a truly great storyteller. His tales display an empathetic ear and eye for the characters of his fictionalized youth and childhood. When I hear his stories, I love those people,... Posted on Word, Music and Meaning (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

changing carols

Garrison Keillor wrote on salon.com that it is "wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite 'Silent Night.'" While I may agree with Mr. Keillor for aesthetic reasons, I disagree on theological grounds. I think ... Posted on the yes church (Site / Info) on Friday December 18, 2009

 Eclectically Digital: A Woebegone Excuse for an Opinion on Holidays
17 Dec 2009 by Josh Sheldon  

As a member of the congregation that sponsors the Cambridge Forum, where Mr. Keillor was a guest on Monday, and where it appears that he picked up a hymnal and read the words of Silent Night, as interpreted by Unitarian Universalists, ...
Eclectically Digital - http://eclecticly.blogspot.com/

Keillor in a Teapot

I was going to post on Garrison Keillor's recent article, but I find that plenty has already been published. Paul Oakley's take on the subject is well worth reading. Keillor should focus on his own... Posted on Strange Attractor (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

You can have Garrison Keillor when you pry him...

I guess I have to be the contrarian here. You see, I generally agree with CC's complaints against GK, and the similar sentiments expressed at Chalice Spark. Well... I can't say that without the cav... Posted on Tete-A-Tete-Tete (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

Garrison Keillor Is no "Companion" for Unitarian Universalists

Many Unitarian Universalists, myself included, are regular NPR listeners. And among them, many listen regularly to Garrison Keillor's " A Prairie Home Companion ." It's on weekly at about the time ... Posted on Rev. Cyn (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

Keillor and "Misappropriation"

I was telling Walter, my 79-year-old 16-years-retired partner of 23 years, a pre-merger Unitarian, who managed to finish his professorial career without touching a computer or wanting to, about the... Posted on Inner Light, Radiant Life (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

If We're Talking "Real" Translation. . .

I wonder if Garrison Keillor sings the literal English translation of the German Stille Nacht: DEUTSCH Music: Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818 Words: Joseph Mohr, 1816/1818 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, All... Posted on Jess's Journal (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

The usual UU excuses for listening to Garrison Keillor

For years I've been saying that Garrison Keillor sucks and we shouldn't listen to him. I now expand that to say we shouldn't read him either. The factual issues in his recent piece Don't Mess with ... Posted on The Chaliceblog (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

Mr. Keillor and Silent Night

Oh, I am swearing off Peter Bowden's "UU Growth Blog" until after Christmas. It keeps sending me on these long tangents of excellent and thought provoking information. But come on! I've got a LREDA... Posted on chalice spark (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009

A Unitarian response to Garrison Keillor's "Don't Mess with Christmas" campaign

On December 16th Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion (PHC) published a syndicated column titled "Don't Mess with Christmas." In it he states "...it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite 'Silent ... Posted on The UU Growth Blog (Site / Info) on Thursday December 17, 2009  

And, for good measure, here is a non-UU defense of Keillor's piece, not on the basis of its content but as satire:


A Christmas Eve Defense of Garrison Keillor -- and Satire ...

Dec 24, 2009 ... Garrison Keillor wrote a Christmas-related column for Slate that has ... Nothing is, hm, sacred, in that sense, in that the UU-ers are ...
www.politicsdaily.com/.../an-xmas-eve-defense-of-garrison-keillor-and-satire?...

And this Christian response:

Garrison Keillor's Secret Celebration

One of our readers at Brandywine Books alerted me to this recent column by Garrison Keillor, of whom I imagine you've heard. It's a very odd column, from someone who (I'm told) is a very odd man. The most interesting part is here: ...
http://merecomments.typepad.com/

And, of course, this piece that includes the WGBH video of Keillor's full 1 hour 28 minutes talk/ performance/ Q and A/ and closing "Silent Night" that fateful night in Boston:

That Hottness » Cambridge Unitarians Ruin Christmas For Garrison ...18 Dec 2009 by Jim  

The campaign against secular holiday ads finally jumped the shark this year, and with only a few weeks left in the season, the ‘09 Christmas War was shaping up to be a real dud. But then, an unlikely culture warrior stepped into the fray. Garrison Keillor, writer and host of NPR’s Prairie Home Companion, was panned this week for a syndicated column he wrote about his visit to First Parish in Cambridge. The author, speaking Monday during a promotional tour for his new book, took inspiration from a handful of Unitarian audience members who altered some of the words in Silent Night at the end of his appearance.
That Hottness | Boston Lifestyle Blog - http://www.thathottness.com/blog/