Category Archives: Thursday worship

02/2/10

Candlemas and Carnival

As happens roughly once every four years or so in Reform Unitarianism, Candlemas is falling on Carnival Thursday.

In most Christian churches, Candlemas celebrates only the presentation of Jesus at the Temple as a baby by Mary and Joseph.  However, AUR also celebrates another Temple-related event on this day: the Disputation, when a 12-year-old Jesus debated the Torah with Jewish elders.

In this way, both biblical narratives of the life of Jesus between the Nativity and Ministry are brought together on one day, the first Thursday in February.  Candlemas is a special day for celebrating children and childhood, and particularly for recognizing the maturation from helpless infancy to the assertive character of youth.

Carnival, on the other hand, has traditionally been for revelry of a more exuberant and adolescent nature, and in AUR a moment of respite between the Winterval fast starting on Resolution Day and the Lenten fast beginning Ash Wednesday.

Candlemas-Carnival Conjunct!

From the canonical scriptures, we know nothing of Jesus’ youth after the Disputation.*  But, there are clues in his later ministry as to how he spent his youth, clues that bring Christian meaning to Carnival … and a little Carnival spirit to an often-staid and dry Christianity.

In the Gospel of Matthew (11:18-19), Jesus is recorded as saying:

John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet Wisdom is vindicated by Her deeds.

Jesus clearly liked good drink, good food, and interesting company!

This is, of course, not to endorse the vicious extremes of drunkenness or alcoholism, but as part of a general celebration of the pleasures of God’s Creation, including food, music, and the company of our neighbors, Carnival certainly has Christian meaning with a liturgical connection to the life of Jesus himself.

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NOTE: Carnival celebrations for Reform Unitarians should not start (or continue, in years when Carnival begins before Candlemas) until after 6 p.m. that on Candlemas Thursday.

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* Non-canonical “infancy” Gospels, however, contain some interesting (if dubious) tales.

01/28/10

The Day Of The Spark

Saturday will be the Day of the Spark, the 12th Day of Action and end of the Winter Interval Season. 

The subject of this Ultimate Thursday’s posting will be “The Spark” itself: a story of inspiration for those who seek justice and truth in matters where politics and religion are already inextricably intertwined.

Continue reading →

12/22/09

Liturgical Calendar Graphic Added

A new graphic depicting the American Unitarian Reform liturgical calendar has been added to AUR’s LC page.  The chart shows the 10-Day Gap, and the rough dates for the Four Great Thursdays: Harvest (or Thanksgiving) Thursday, Garden (or Gethsemane) Thursday, Ascension Thursday, and Declaration Thursday.

Please note, of course, that the seasons from Carnival through Pentecost can vary broadly from year to year.

A rough depiction of the liturgical calender; note that many seasons move from year to year.

11/29/09

Andrew, Advent, and Annunciation

The Reform celebrates the transition from November to December with the feast of St. Andrew on November 30th (honoring the first disciple of Jesus) and Advent/Annunciation on December 1st.

This differs significantly from other Christian traditions, which celebrate Advent four Sundays before Christmas, and celebrate the Annunciation (the day on which Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel that she would conceive Jesus) on 25 March, a materialist nine months of gestation prior to Christmas.

For the Reform, the historical placement of the Annunciation is not as important as the inspirational role it plays as part of the Nativity story.   By observing this herald of the Nativity together with Advent, AUR brings the entire narrative of the birth of Jesus together in one ritual season, setting aside December as a month of preparing for new beginnings: the beginning of the life of Christ, the beginning of the age of the Tree of Life, and the beginning of the new year when December finally turns over to January.

And, on the Eve of Annunciation, as disciples of Christ we celebrate St. Andrew, the first disciple of Christ.

Reform Unitarian Advent is also the traditional feast day of St. Eligius, patron of goldsmiths, giving us the start of the first Dozen of the Advent/Christmas season: the Twelve Days of Gold celebrating Mary as the Mother of Jesus, which ends with the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th.

Now is the time for unlit Christmas decorations, and for placing Mary and the Angel in the crèche!

(NOTE: Our Lady’s Day falls on Thursday in 2009, setting the observation of the Twelve Days of Gold to Thursday the 5th.)

06/29/09

Declaration Thursday

[originally posted 03 July 2008]

AUR celebrates Four Great Thursdays, two for the universal expression of virtue and two for the specifically American expression of virtue.

On Garden Thursday, Jesus celebrated a feast with his disciples and, later in the Garden of Gethsemane, recognized the contingent nature of human life by accepting his fate: “If it be Your will, take this cup from me; nevertheless, Your will be done.” This feast day was followed by the violence of the Passion. AUR celebrates this Thursday as a Feast Day and a day of commitment to the contingent condition of the individual life.

On Thanksgiving in 1621, two worlds met in Massachusetts: the Old World represented by the Pilgrims and the New World represented by the Wampanoag. Rather than one group dominating the other in oligarchy, they met as brothers and sisters. It was a moment of human community that, unfortunately, was followed by violence. AUR celebrates this Harvest Thursday as a Feast Day and a day of commitment to the contingent place of each social group.

On Ascension Thursday, 11 disciples gathered to witness Jesus rise up to Heaven. Here they received the Great Commission to spread the Christian message to all humanity. AUR observes this Thursday as a reminder of our duty to spread the message of personal liberation.

On a Thursday in Philadelphia, 1776, 11 colonies (New York abstained) sided with the Massachusetts delegation to declare to the world the right of human beings to rise up against oligarchy. Charged with writing a document announcing the reasons for the colonies’ rebellion, Virginia delegate Thomas Jefferson went beyond this and declared rights for all humanity. AUR observes this Declaration Thursday, the first Thursday in July, as a reminder of our duty to spread the message of social liberation.

HAPPY DECLARATION THURSDAY!

05/21/09

Ascension Thursday

The Twelve Days of Commission conclude today in the Ascension of Jesus. This feast day is one of the Four Great Thursdays of AUR, the other three being Garden Thursday, Declaration Thursday, and Thanksgiving Thursday.

Ascension commemorates the return of Jesus to Heaven between two angels. This imagery confirms the centrality of reconciled, complementary virtues to Christian morality by closing Jesus’ time on Earth with symbolism that echoes a consistent theme throughout religion.

In the book of Numbers, we read that the Word of God came to the Jews from between the two angels on the “Reconciler,” a device which sat atop the Ark of the Covenant.

Medieval Jewish theologian Moses Maimonides explained that these two angels on the Ark represented the punitive and beneficent aspects of God, reconciled in God’s Unity.

This moral message of reconciled virtues can also be seen symbolically in the prophecy of Isaiah that the Anointed returns when the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, and the lion and the calf lie down together.

In the Christian idiom are repeated lessons in reconciled, complementary virtues:  Law and Wisdom reconciled in true religion, Faith and Hope reconciled in Divine Love, the shrewdness of serpents and the innocence of doves reconciled in the attitude of a true Christian.

Justice and mercy, strength and kindness, the arrow and the olive branch: only together and reconciled are these virtues. Apart and partisan, they become the vices of Beast and Babylon, rage and lust, violence and libertinism, authoritarianism and anarchy.

The Reconciling Word of God, manifest in Jesus of Nazareth, returned to Heaven between two angels representing the benevolent and punitive aspects of God, angels who appeared beside him echoing the cherubim of the Ark. It is this image, and its rich spiritual meaning, that we commemorate on Ascension Thursday.

05/10/09

Agape Thursday

loveToday is the First of the 12 Days of Commission, which is the third dozenal of the Easter Season. The 5th Day of Commission, which is the 6th Thursday after Easter, is Agape Thursday.

The 12 Days of Commission are a celebration of the Christian virtue of Love (ἀγάπη or “agape” in Greek), and Agape Thursday is a day to feast in the reconciliation of Faith and Hope as partners in all-embracing Love.

The 12 Days of Commission culminate in Ascension Thursday, the day in which Christ rose to Heaven between two angels as the Christian virtue of Love is lifted by Hope and Faith. Ascension Thursday is one of the Four Great Thursdays of American Unitarian Reform.

05/7/09

Loyal Thursday

faithToday is Loyal Thursday, the 4th Thursday after Easter and the Ultimate of the 12 Days of Trust, which is the second dozenal of the Ascension Season.

The 12 Days of Trust are a celebration of the clear-minded virtue of Faith (πίστις in Greek, fidelis in Latin), and Loyal Thursday is a day to feast in fidelity to the things we know to be true. Faith is the virtue of steadfast thinking, the antidote of confusion, and with Hope a vital half of the highest Christian virtue of Love.

04/23/09

Joyful Thursday

hopeToday, the second Thursday after Easter, is the beginning of the 12 Days of Blessings, which is the first of the three dozenals of the Ascension Season.

The 12 Days of Blessings are a celebration of the open-minded virtue of Hope (ἐλπίς in Greek), and Joyful Thursday is a day to feast in optimistic happiness. Hope is the virtue of open-minding thinking, the antidote of despair, and with Faith a vital half of the highest Christian virtue of Love.

04/18/09

Notional American Unitarian Reform Church No. 1

This is the first in a series of light-hearted signs for hypothetical American Unitarian Reform churches, created using an online image generator. We hope to show a range of attitudes and ideas all possible within the scope of AUR.

Today’s notional church is named in honor of Reverend Jonathan Mayhew of Boston, who popularized the “no taxation without representation” talking point in the mid-1700s.

01mayhewaur