Why Does Horizon Hold a Christmas Pageant?
by Lauren Daniell, Director of Lifespan Religious Education
Each holiday season parents ask me why we hold a Christmas pageant because doesn’t Unitarian Universalism draw from many sources with other holiday rituals we could honor?
I will admit it – it took me years before I was able to appreciate the Bible again after leaving the Roman Catholic Church as a young adult. But after I became a Unitarian Universalist and my UU faith matured, I began to see stories from the Bible with fresh eyes, including the story of the Nativity.
At Horizon we teach stories from the Bible and hold a Nativity pageant because one of our Six Sources is “Jewish and Christian teachings, which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.” We want children and adults to understand the Bible through a UU lens, meaning that the Bible for UUs is not “the truth” but contains universal truths from which we all can learn. The story of Jesus’ birth may mostly be fiction, but we can celebrate the great truths contained therein: that every child’s birth is wonderous, that offering kindness to those in need is essential, and each of us contains a spark of the Divine. We want UUs to know Jesus not as a harsh judge or personal savior, but as a great teacher and revolutionary for his time. Lastly, when I read Bible stories, I feel connected to our Unitarian and Universalist forebears who read and believed in these stories, and then pushed the boundaries of understanding, eventually leading to our modern Unitarian Universalist faith.
Writer Kate McKenna penned this piece which so eloquently explains the importance of the Nativity story to UUs:
Unitarians (and UUs) at Christmas
They say a story can carry a truth far greater than the literal truth.
We Unitarians* know the value of stories. We know they carry truth. We know they carry more truth than just the plain truth ever can.
Maybe we can’t believe a virgin gave birth to the son of God: but we can believe that all births are miracles, worthy of celebration and wonder.
Maybe we can’t believe angels brought revelations: but we can believe truth can be revealed through the actions and words of those who dare to speak it and to act it.
Maybe we can’t believe the angels sang to shepherds: but we can believe that those revelations about life can come to and through even those we think are the most humble.
Maybe we can’t believe the wise men travelled to see the newborn baby king: but we can believe that we should never be too lofty or think ourselves too clever or too rich to see the wonder and majesty in tiny things.
Maybe we can’t believe that Jesus brought back the light by redeeming our sins: but we can believe in a leader and teacher and prophet who brought and brings illumination to the lives of those who wish to listen.
We can believe in the light. Always, we can believe in the light.
Maybe we can’t believe the Christmas story: but we can believe *in* it as a story which points to a truth greater than we can possibly imagine.
And so we are here. Unitarians/Unitarian Universalists, at Christmas.
Celebrating.
And long may we do so.
*This piece was written by a Unitarian in the United Kingdom, hence the lack of the word "Universalist" in the first section.