Home for the Holidays

Newsletter December 25, 2023 Together, we're #keepingitsacred...

Each year, instead of ordering the stereotypical Chinese food dinner on Christmas Eve, I pop into Winchell’s for a glazed donut (or 2!) on my way to church. It has become a ritual, over the past 10 years, to join the sacred community of All Saints Church of Pasadena for their Christmas Eve services. It is their community’s tradition to invite leaders of the interfaith community in Los Angeles to their Holy Night, and they invite some of us to speak from the lectern, in the spirit of peace, love, and hope— in the spirit of Christmas.

After my dinner of champions, I park and walk into the cavernous nave alight with candles, amidst the sounds of the ebullient ambient music performed LIVE by their orchestra, and the smells of incense and fresh evergreen wreaths, to see the faces made familiar after year over year of sacred relationship. The rector, and his family, associate rectors and priests, members of the vestry, and so many community members--  for myself, and other leaders in various faith communities across Los Angeles County, this is what it means to come home for the holidays.

This year, we have put in extra effort to be present with, and for, one another. To compassionately bear sacred witness to one another's grief; to hear the concerns and the feelings of insecurity and trauma responses of one another; and, to open our hearts to the complexity of what one another has been going through. Seeing from the vantage point of one another.

As Rabbi Hillel said nearly 2,000 years ago in the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot 2:4, right after he insisted, "do not separate yourself from the community," and "do not trust yourself until the day of your death," he insisted, "do not judge your fellow until you have reached their place." We have refused to separate ourselves, we have refused to blindly trust what has been fed to us, and we have reserved judgement of the other. We have sat with one another to hold sacred space for the other. We have listened. And we have spoken. As The Rev. Mike Kinman noted, in these moments we were able to share our fears and hopes for our shared future together.

This is what it means to be in beloved community. To build when it feels all around you, everything is crumbling. To give attention, when everything inside wants you to look away.

And do you know what happens when you meet fear with community-- the isolation part of things fades away. And that makes it all a little easier.

Even if this is just a little corner of the Los Angeles interfaith scene-- if we can imagine a way forward together, and nurture relationships, and create community here, maybe, those in the center of conflict will be encouraged knowing that somehow, somewhere, even though far away, people across perceived difference are valuing one another. People are seeking to understand rather than seeking to destroy. People are looking for ways of holding one another up, rather than tearing one another down.

Sometimes our work seems so small and insignificant. And sometimes it feels like it means everything in the world. This past Christmas Eve especially, and especially amidst the backdrop of the stunningly gorgeous sermon delivered by Rev. Kinman (see it HERE, beginning at 40:35), we reflected on these past 2 1/2 months, and 10 years and more. And it was a blessing to be together in community. This is what it means to keep it sacred.

Together, we’re #keepingitsacred…

Rabbi Heather Miller

Founder, Keeping It Sacred

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The above is an excerpt from a Keeping It Sacred newsletter. If you want to read the entire newsletter or any from our archives, please head over to: keepingitsacred.com/news 

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Thanks for your interest, and thanks for #keepingitsacred...