S
seeker57
Guest
The Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, released a YouTube video for the holiday season.
He bases it on Las Posadas, a 500-year-old Mexican custom, which is also observed in many Catholic churches in the Southwest United States.
It is a program where a man and woman portray Joseph and Mary during their travel to Bethlehem, and includes their being turned away from house after house, then finally finding refuge in a stable.
In the modern procession, people go from one parishioners house to another, until they finally are admitted at the last house. This is, of course, pre-arranged.
Anyway, The Rev. Morales compared Las Posadas to the horrendous toll paid by those emigrating to the United States. He mentioned some of the racist and discriminatory laws being proposed against emigrants and that there have been many deaths in the deserts of the Southwest this year because of some of the anti-emigrant sentiments now prevalent in the U.S.
But we Americans are not alone. I spoke with a friend today who lives in Sydney, Australia, He mentioned the horrible deaths of asylum seekers on Christmas Island, which is a Aussie territory.
He also mentioned how some people have posted comments on newspaper websites that denigrated the refugees who died, including the small children and infants, and said other hateful things that my friend said were just too terrible to repeat.
Which, in my usual long-winded way, brings me to my point.
The Rev. Morales said people should embrace the spirit of Las Posadas and act to quash the hatred being spewed against immigrants…
Now, the Rev. Morales, like most of us who are Unitarian Universalist, doesn’t necessarily proclaim himself a Christian, although I believe he was raised in that faith tradition.
But he did say that the spirit and impact of Las Posadas reaches beyond cultural or religious boundaries and provides a lesson all can learn from and use as a catalyst to promote change in their communities and in themselves.
I think it is important, during this season of “goodwill toward men,” that we remember what that phrase means.
I hope some who do profess to be Christian, but whose actions are anything but Christian, as my Aussie friend would say, take the hint.
Seeker.
He bases it on Las Posadas, a 500-year-old Mexican custom, which is also observed in many Catholic churches in the Southwest United States.
It is a program where a man and woman portray Joseph and Mary during their travel to Bethlehem, and includes their being turned away from house after house, then finally finding refuge in a stable.
In the modern procession, people go from one parishioners house to another, until they finally are admitted at the last house. This is, of course, pre-arranged.
Anyway, The Rev. Morales compared Las Posadas to the horrendous toll paid by those emigrating to the United States. He mentioned some of the racist and discriminatory laws being proposed against emigrants and that there have been many deaths in the deserts of the Southwest this year because of some of the anti-emigrant sentiments now prevalent in the U.S.
But we Americans are not alone. I spoke with a friend today who lives in Sydney, Australia, He mentioned the horrible deaths of asylum seekers on Christmas Island, which is a Aussie territory.
He also mentioned how some people have posted comments on newspaper websites that denigrated the refugees who died, including the small children and infants, and said other hateful things that my friend said were just too terrible to repeat.
Which, in my usual long-winded way, brings me to my point.
The Rev. Morales said people should embrace the spirit of Las Posadas and act to quash the hatred being spewed against immigrants…
Now, the Rev. Morales, like most of us who are Unitarian Universalist, doesn’t necessarily proclaim himself a Christian, although I believe he was raised in that faith tradition.
But he did say that the spirit and impact of Las Posadas reaches beyond cultural or religious boundaries and provides a lesson all can learn from and use as a catalyst to promote change in their communities and in themselves.
I think it is important, during this season of “goodwill toward men,” that we remember what that phrase means.
I hope some who do profess to be Christian, but whose actions are anything but Christian, as my Aussie friend would say, take the hint.
Seeker.