The Christians and the Pagans

Sermon preached by John C. Hall on Christmas Eve 2005

My sermon title is borrowed from Dar Williams, a folksinger whom some of you know. She graduated from Wesleyan back in the late eighties, and The Christians and the Pagans is one of her songs about an awkward Christmas dinner — awkward because some members of this family, the visiting cousins, are not celebrating Christmas; they’re celebrating the solstice. It’s a funny song, but it has a serious message, casting one eye back on those dark times when Christians and pagans did unspeakable things to each other that involved feeding lions and burning people at the stake.

I need to say right away that I’m not using this word “pagan” in a pejorative or negative way at all. As I’ve said before, here at First Church we embrace pagans. We love them. Some of our best members are pagans at heart.

What is a pagan? Pagans are just not traditional monotheists. They’re drawn to “nature religions” that involve the seasons, the cycles of sun and moon, trees, crops, herds, rivers, tides, and so on.

If you read in the Old Testament 1st and 2nd Kings, you’ll how the ancient Jewish priests and prophets came down very hard on these nature religions, as if worshiping up in the hills around a tree was the worst possible thing a human being could do. They called it an abomination. But I’ll tell you a secret. The reason they called these practices an abomination was because these “pagan” practices were very appealing. And they still are. This was Israel’s religious competition. And one way of dealing with competition is to call it evil.

With that background, here’s a verse from Dar Williams’ song, The Christians and the Pagans.

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, "Its 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 as 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.

Over the centuries and still today, some grumpy Christians have refused to celebrate Christmas because of its pagan origins. You may have learned along the way that Christmas grew out of the Roman celebration of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a week-long festival beginning on Dec. 17. No business was practiced; there was a lot of partying, a lot of drinking wine, exchanging gifts. And servants sat at their master’s tables as guests of honor. Except for the “no business” part, it sounds a lot like Christmas, doesn’t it? The present day version of servants sitting at their masters’ table may be the company Christmas party. The Christmas tree and the yule log were pagan symbols in Europe before Christianity arrived on the scene. There was an article in the Hartford Courant just last Saturday saying that even the word “Merry” as in “Merry Christmas” in Elizabethan England meant “drunk, or given to “sensual excess”.

So Christmas has a spotted past and a pagan pedigree. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise, because over the centuries Christianity has adopted and absorbed many pagan practices, not just at Christmas-time. Think about the Easter bunny and Easter eggs. These are pagan fertility symbols incorporated into Christian life. Even the story of the Magi, the “wise men” from the East, may be a reference to Persian astrologers. Both Judaism and Christianity were profoundly shaped by Persian religion. The idea of a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil was imported from the Persian religion founded by the prophet Zoroaster.

So, Christianity has a different way of dealing with religious competition. Just absorb it. Baptize it. Tell the pagans, “You really belong with us, and to make it easy for you to join us, you can bring your religious practices with you and we’ll import them into the church.” All the pagan gods and goddesses show up in Christianity as the various saints people can pray to — a saint for every occasion. You can have your favorite saint. This is part of the genius of Christianity. It can take in just about anything on earth because it’s a very earthy religion.

Think about what we’re celebrating tonight — the incarnation. Incarnation means God becoming flesh. God came down from the remote, inaccessible heavens and entered into the flesh, the tissue, the weave of this life we all live. So, to find God, we don’t have to close our eyes and think abstract thoughts. We need to open our eyes. It’s about paying attention to what’s right in front of us.

The story of Jesus’ birth is the first signal that this is a very worldly religion. It’s all about our flesh. God is with us. Think about it. God is with you. If you ponder that, it can make a big difference in how you feel about your own life.

Here’s a little exercise you can do with this idea of incarnation. Think about everything that makes up your life, from the jewels to the dirty rags. Think about the people you see, the people you like, the people you don’t especially like — the people you work with or go to school with, your neighbors, the cashiers at the stores where you shop or take your dry cleaning. Who cuts your hair, fixes your car, cleans your teeth? Some of these people make you smile. Others are more like a burden. But even the ones who are a burden can make you smile.

Think of the animals in your life. Your dogs and cats, the mouse you hear in the wall sometimes, the squirrels and birds outside, the skunk you smell once in a while. Think of your little collection of objects, your “junk drawer,” your recycling bin, your dishes, your old photographs and letters, the clothes in your closet, maybe a musical instrument somewhere, your medicine cabinet, your memories, your aches and pains.

All of this is your flesh. And this is where God appears in your life. Jesus’ birth brings God down to earth. God is a movement, something that happens in our flesh.

Or think of it this way: All this flesh is a vessel for God. It’s like Mary, pregnant with God, and full of grace. So, God became flesh in Mary. God became flesh in Jesus. God becomes flesh in you. God is a movement in your life.

That’s something to think about and celebrate, whether you’re a Christian, or a pagan, or a mixture. I suspect most of us are a mixture.

This is what the spiritual life is: Pay attention to your own experience. Don’t spend every waking moment trying to change it, or wishing it were different, or waiting for the next experience. Sometimes, just let it be. Enjoy it.

Many of us here tonight are strangers to each other. We’ve never met. But, in a more important sense, we have a deep kinship with each other in this flesh, this life on this planet that we share. God is with us here, tonight, together, in this place.

The mission of First Church is to engage and support people in worship, learning, fellowship, and service, so that all may find in our community the Spirit of the living Christ.  We are an Open and Affirming Church: All are welcome into the full life of our community regardless of their race, age, gender, nationality, marital status, economic situation, mental or physical ability, or sexual orientation.