Unitarian Christians regarded Jesus not as a supernatural savior, but as a role model of how an enlightened human person should take care of themselves and the world we share. As we end our study of leadership and prepare to celebrate Christmas we can ask, “How Would Jesus Lead?”
Our Family service for Christmas Eve creates a living creche as the stable slowly fills with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, then Shepherds, Magi and animals. The crowded scene reminds us that symbolically all the world is gathered beneath that humble roof and invited to hold the baby.
In the Christmas story, angels tell Joseph and later the Shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” Something wonderful but challenging is happening, the old order is disturbed. If we wish to change our lives or change the world around us we must accept risk, suffer uncertainty, and go to the place where “hopes and fears are met.”
What happens when our expectations for our lives disintegrate, especially after great loss? One way I found to cope is to focus on how we connect to our community, and to our congregation. Through relationships, we rebuild our lives and create a new plan, revisiting our values to make sense out of the senseless.
The Christian holiday of Epiphany (today) is the day Jesus became, or revealed (depending on your theology) who he really is. It’s a good opportunity to begin an exploration of identity. Who am I? Who are we? One important answer is that we are what our genes and culture formed us to be.
But we aren’t only forced to live out a destiny we inherit. We also shape ourselves. We choose. We respond. We explore our desires, imagine what could be, and walk in the direction of our health and happiness.
Eventually we come to know ourselves. Like a Unitarian Universalist faith, defined by values, but expressed in a multitude of ways, at our center are our personal principles. This is the person I will be, whatever the circumstances where I find myself.
