Celebrate the holidays

We’ve just celebrated — or are celebrating — three important holidays!

The Winter Solstice or Yule is honored by those whose faith system was decimated by the Roman Empire and then by the Christian empire. The 1960s resurrection of this faith rose from a desire to challenge the empires of patriarchy and environmental devastation embedded in western colonialist civilization.

The Jewish festival of Hannukah commemorates the uprising of a band of Jewish resisters against a Greek empire that was systematically destroying Jewish faith and culture. They won.

The Christian festival of Christmas: in the midst of systematic brutality against the Jewish people by the Roman Empire, a young woman consents to bear a child who will be the Messiah. When the king hears about it, he goes on a killing spree. The holy family becomes refugees. Jesus grows up to train people to look beyond the status quo. He’s a master of civil disobedience and drives the powers of empire to desperation. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the community organizer of resistance against empire.

Today, as the forces of empire threaten the last bastions of the people’s power, we need the rich teachings of these faith traditions more than ever!

The Rev. Suzelle Lynch Wauwatosa