"List in his freedom, Man pursues
The shadow of his images."
(W.H. Auden, "For the Time Being")

More years ago than I want to remember our Daughter, then twelve years old decided she wanted to go to summer camp. We agreed on the basis that she would earn part of the cost. She baked and sold brownies to our long-suffering neighbors.

She chose a camp in Vermont which, based on all the literature seemed to be just right - no uniforms, none of the typical, at least for those days, typical daily schedules. The camp owners were proud of the freedom they gave the young people. So Martha went to the second session of summer camp. When she arrived, she decided she wanted to try riding horses. When she went to the stables, the counselor in charge indicated there were no bridles. Evidently in their "freedom" all the first session campers had mis- laid the bridles and other equipment!

James Luther Adams warns about the loss of freedom through license: He writes, "(Unchecked freedom) can produce the mind that is simply open at both ends." Freedom can be lost through license.

About fifty years ago an English educator, A.S. Neill became disenchanted with the strictures and loss of freedom which was part of the English public school system. He began an alternative school called, "Summerhill," known for encouraging students to exercise their freedom in education. Neil described his educational philosophy and the school in a popular book, "Summerhill."

The book made a big splash in the United States with mock "Summerhills" springing up in various places. However what Neill had understood to be freedom became license in most of those schools. The result being that Neill wrote a second book, specifically for the American audience, entitled "Freedom Is not License."

Those are examples of the loss of freedom through license. As you notice, I used two other readings this morning, both of which seem bleak - too bleak for the Holiday season. These two readings deal with how freedom may become a burden; the loss of freedom by giving it away. An illustration of the burden of freedom is found in an incident in Dostoevsky's classic novel, "The Brothers Karamazov."

The scene is Seville at the time of the Inquisition. In the story the Grand Inquisitor confronts a vision of Christ. The Inquisitor complains that human beings have been overrated; that freedom is too great a weight for humans to bear. He says, "I tell thee that man is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over his gift of freedom . . . ."

The excuse of every dictatorial regime has been "law and order." One of the frightening aspects of the "Rampart scandals" a few years ago was that some people in the neighborhood were more interested in security than in illegal police action.

Years ago Robert Heilbroner wrote "An Inquiry into the Human Prospect" in which he predicted ever increasing authoritarian regimes. He said those regimes would come about not through military coups de etat but through democratic outcries for someone to help us feel secure in the face of decreasing natural resources.

While not directly related to decreasing resources, the jury is still out about how much we citizens in this "land of the free" are willing to abandon our freedom in order to feel secure from terrorist attack. The Senate is properly questioning provisions in the Homeland Security legislation which seem to deprive citizens of basic civil liberties. In some respects the "war against terrorists" has become a mantra to excuse invasion of privacy with the loss of personal freedom.

I am talking about human rights. This is the Sunday nearest to the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Eagan, this Congregation's "envoy" to the Unitarian Universalist office at the United Nations is making available pamphlets about human rights. You will find these on the Faith in Action table in Forbes Hall. Eleanor has also provided a limited number of copies of this bi-lingual booklet which would be particularly helpful to teachers in middle and high schools.

Human rights can be lost because sometimes we human beings prefer security rather than freedom. I am amazed at myself and my fellow citizens that we have not raised a loud, enduring outcry protesting torture by agents of our Government. The Vice President is wrong in protesting portions of Senator John McCain's anti-torture legislation.

Maureen Doud's "New York Times" column this past Wednesday is a clarion call. In that column Ms. Doud responds to the Secretary of State's "tortured explanation" to European leaders. The Secretary of State is quoted as saying, "The United States government does not authorize or condone torture of detainees." Ms. Doud responds, "It all depends on what you mean by 'authorize,' 'condone,' 'torture,' and 'detainees.'" Ms. Doud continues:

"The President said he was opposed to torture and then effectively issued
regulations to allow what any normal person . . . would consider torture.
Alberto Gonzales, et al, have defined torture deviancy downward to the
Point where it's hard to imagine what would count as torture.
"Under this administration, prisoners have been hung by their wrists and
had electrodes attached to their genitals; they have been waterboarded,
exposed to extreme heat and cold, and threatened with death - even
accidentally killed." (Maureen Dowd, "Offering Up a Tortured Explanation," "The New
York Times," December 7, 2005)

Have I - have we - become so comfortable in our freedom that we fail to use our freedom on behalf of basic human rights? That kind of comfort is known by an ancient word, acedia or apathy. Perhaps the modern word is ennui, boredom or lack of interest. Rather than using our freedom to actualize our potential as human beings to protect basic human rights we settle for whatever requires the least of us.

As you know the sermons this month are based on W.H. Auden's free-verse setting of the ancient Christmas story, "For the Time Being." The first Reading for this Service, as well as the title of this sermon deals with the loss of our freedom through pursuit of the "shadow of (our) images." The shadow of our image in relation to basic human rights could be either of two opposing factors: We could lose our freedom through a desire for security; or we could lose our freedom through failure to care.

The hope proclaimed by W.H. Auden, indeed the hope of this season of darkness moving toward Winter Solstice and light - the hope of Christmas and Hanukkah is that we can regain our humanity and our freedom.

Do you remember "Les Miserables"? It is the story of reclaimed humanity with freedom. Valjean was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. His sentence was increased because of repeated escape attempts. Finally he did escape. He had been made angry and hard by cruel imprisonment. His self-image had been dehumanized. Then something happened.

Valjean came to the home of a clergyman, Monsignor Myriel, who invited Valjean in and gave him dinner. After dinner when the household was asleep, Valjean stole the candelabra. Of course he was caught by the police who brought him back to the Monsignor's home. Imagine Valjean's astonishment on hearing Monsignor Myriel tell the police that Valjean was not a thief but an honored guest to whom the candelabra had been given.

This gesture of grace was a turning point in Valjean's life. He learned that goodness really does exist; but more that he could participate in that goodness. From that moment on his life was characterized by using his freedom to do humane acts of goodness. He began to help "les miserables," the poor and destitute. He became so well-liked that he was elected mayor of his village. All went well because Valjean had reclaimed and exercised his humanity and his freedom.

There was one lingering problem. Valjean was an escaped convict. His old nemesis, Javert, the police commissioner, continued to search for the escapee. Javert personified the formal, rigid law which in the name of security allows no exceptions.

For years Javert tracked Valjean until finally during an insurrection, Valjean had an opportunity to kill Javert. Instead Valjean helped Javert. Javert's self-image, his sense of freedom, could not tolerate the possibility of goodness greater than the law. When confronted by Valjean's act of freedom and grace, Javert killed himself.

Valjean symbolized human freedom with self-discipline and care for human rights. Javert symbolized the worst form of freedom - the pursuit of the shadow of the image of security.

I can almost hear the question: "What has all this got to do with the Holiday season? The story of Hanukkah is the place to begin. Hanukkah is the story of freedom found. Here, too briefly, is the setting.

After the death of Alexander the Great his empire was carved up among his leading generals. One of those received the area we know as Palestine or Israel/Lebanon/Jordan. That Greek General, Antiochus Epiphanes, was an evil, horrible person. He hated the Jewish people. His atrocities included killing innocent people, torture, and desecration of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. He used a section of the Temple as a stable for pigs - definitely not kosher!

Finally the people rebelled under the Maccabees. The rebellion was successful. They managed to overthrow the Greeks - at least for a short time. They cleaned out the Temple and re-dedicated it for worship. However there was not enough oil for the holy lamp which was kept burning at all times.

So far I've told the story pretty much according to historical record. However, the historical records becomes mixed with legend. Someone found enough oil to keep the holy lamp burning for one day. According to the legend a miracle occurred and the lamp kept burning for eight days.

The major point of the story of Hanukkah is not the miracle of one day's oil lasting for eight days. I once heard a Rabbi say the story of the miraculous oil is to Hanukkah what Santa Claus is to Christmas. The key to Hanukkah is freedom. More than that, the story is a universal story.

Almost certainly every one of us has at times allowed our better selves to be enslaved by some tyrannical part of ourselves. There have been times when in pursuit of our self image we have allowed "pigs" to run loose in the "temples" of our minds and souls.

Maybe we have desecrated our personal freedom by license. Maybe we have desecrated our freedom by excuses for failure to actualize our potential. Maybe we have desecrated our temple by selecting security over human rights. Maybe we have desecrated our freedom by rigidity, never giving ourselves a break.

Auden describes this human condition with bleak words. We human beings have lost our freedom in pursuit of the shadow of our images. However, and this is very, very important. Auden does not stop there. He says we have been "released by Love." I'll talk more about this in two weeks; but here is a sneak preview in Auden's words:

"Released by Love from isolating wrong
Let us for Love unite our various song,
Each with his gift according to his kind
Bringing this child his body and his mind."

The stories of Hanukkah and Christmas are stories of the re- birth of freedom. To be sure, both stories are set in scenes of unscientific miracles. However the key is not to take the stories literally but to find deep meaning within each; universal and timeless meaning which includes a call to exercise our freedom toward actualize of the human rights of ourselves and others.

At Winter Solstice light gradually returns to the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps that light can symbolize freedom; freedom not as license, which is a denial of our humanity, and freedom not as apathy, which is loss of freedom through neglect. Rather may the light of Solstice symbolize freedom to actualize our human potential for ourselves and for others.

Readings for the Service, December 11, 2005

"Since Adam, being free to choose,
Chose to imagine he was free
To chose his own necessity,
Lost in his freedom, Man pursues
The Shadow of his images." (W.H. Auden, "For the Time Being.")

"To many people the attraction of liberalism has been its openness, its
tolerance its freedom. But unchecked, precisely these qualities can
produce the mind that is simply open at both ends; they can spell the
loss of character and serve as an invitation to confusion, sheer varety
and fissiparous freedom-diffused identity." (James Luther Adams,
"On Being Human Religiously," p. 11)

"Masterless men must take a master!
Order must master us!
Freedom's for fools;
Freedom has eaten our strength and corrupted our virtues!
Man must be ruled!
Fools must be mastered!
Rigor and fast will restore us our dignity!
Chains will be our liberty!
(Archibald MacLeish, "The Fall of the City."