| By Lysa Allman-Baldwin Now through the week of January 4, 2011, the public is invited to the Unity Library and Archives at Unity Village to enjoy an exhibit entitled “The True Meaning of Christmas.” The exhibit explores the historical and metaphysical themes behind the stories of the birth of Christ from the sermon “The True Meaning of Christmas,” given by Unity's co-founder Charles Fillmore on Sunday, December 24, 1911. Set against the backdrop of a large nativity scene, numerous artifacts and memorabilia in the exhibit focus on the Bible stories found in Matthew 2:1-12 and Luke 2:8-20, the only two places in the Bible that speak of Jesus' birth. A Tale of Two Christmases Unity archivist Eric Page says it is interesting to note that these two scriptures from Matthew and Luke express two very different stories about the birth of Jesus. “The writer of Matthew wrote for primarily a Jewish audience. His tale about the birth of Jesus refers to statements from Jewish prophets about a Messiah,” explains Page. “Only the Matthew story includes a star, the Magi and the delivery of gifts proper for a King. In this story, an angel also appears to Joseph and the family flees to Egypt.” On the other hand, scriptures in Luke were written for primarily a Gentile audience, emphasizing that Christ was for everyone. It is here that the story of the birth of Jesus includes shepherds, a throng of angels and a solo angel that appears to Mary. In Fillmore's sermon, he calls on each person to explore the various symbols in these stories and interpret their meaning for our individual lives. “We have the historical side of Christmas and the symbolical side,” he writes. “Both are worthy of our attention; but the great lesson will come through the understanding of the real … inner meaning of all these outer interpretations.” For example, Fillmore refers to Bethlehem as “the house of bread,” a place of substance where in our physical body “must be formed the Christ body.” The “wisemen of the East” he says, “are those true thoughts that there is all-providing Good that comes from … within.” Several ministerial students from Unity Institute and Seminary contributed their perspectives on the meaning of Christmas for the exhibit. Student Jesse Tanner notes that although the viewpoints of the scriptures are different, they also complement one another. “Both point to Jesus' birth as an important biblical event that contains and demonstrates powerful religious meaning across time and cultures,” he says. “Each approach, in its unique way, provokes us toward greater spiritual understanding.” According to student Pat Veenema, discerning the “facts” surrounding Jesus' birth is not as important as discovering our own personal meaning of his birth. “[The authors of Matthew and Luke] developed stories mixed with facts and imagery to recreate the feeling—the experience—they were trying to convey: [that] Jesus was real,” Veenema says. “If we can view these stories as human attempts to describe an experience that is beyond human description, we can see that these stories were written to convey the experience of [God within us].” The Exhibit Exhibit artifacts and memorabilia include a cover of Daily Word® magazine, from December 1946, which depicts the baby Jesus from the Nativity scene. There is also an original copy of the Unity pamphlet “Gifts for the Christ,” published in 1942, and a booklet cover of O, Be Joyful in the Lord from The Myrtle Fillmore Collection. Selections from Wee Wisdom®, Unity's magazine for children published from 1893 to 1991, offer additional insights into the evolving Christmas story interpretation from Unity. “In the 1940s through the 1960s, [the magazine] was printed with wonderful color illustrations that focused on Biblical stories of Christmas,” says Page. “After that time, those stories were replaced by tales of Santa Claus.” That transformation, Page notes, speaks to the culture of the day. “From my understanding, Wee Wisdom was one of the most widely distributed children's magazines in the country in the 1970s. It was also distributed to hundreds of elementary schools. So I think that secular trend was more about character-building than religious orientation.” Whether scriptural or contemporary in interpretation, Fillmore says the Christmas story is about our own individual spiritual awakening. Read Charles Fillmore's sermon, “The True Meaning of Christmas.” Special Thanks The Unity Library and Archives staff are grateful to Toni Stephens Coleman, Barbara Hadley, Jennifer Sacks, Jesse F. Tanner, Pat Veenema and Janice Richer Wuerfel for their assistance with the Christmas exhibit. |
Unity Library and Archives The Unity Library and Archives, located at Unity Village, is home to an extensive metaphysical collection of historical materials relating to the Unity movement. Offering over 40,000-catalogued items, including a collection of rare early New Thought materials, the Library and Archives is a spiritual and educational resource center open to the general public. |
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