The Story of the Birth of Jesus
Once, a long,long time ago–before you were born–another baby was born. The story is that the baby’s mother, Mary, and his father, Joseph, had to leave their home city of Nazareth and goon business to the town of Bethlehem. To go from Nazareth to Bethlehem Joseph walked, but Mary, who was going to have a child soon, rode on a little donkey. They reached Bethlehem late in the evening and went to the inn to ask for a room for the night. But the town was crowded with people, and the innkeeper told them that there was no more room at the inn, and that they would have to find another place to stay. At last Mary and Joseph found shelter in a small barn with the animals. When the baby was born that night, Mary said, "His name will be Jesus," and she wrapped him warmly and laid him in a manger. There he went to sleep.
That night there were shepherds in a field nearby looking after their sheep. And suddenly there was a bright light all about them, and an angel came to them. The shepherds were afraid, but the angel said, " Fear not, for I bring you good news for all people. On this day, there is born in Bethlehem a child, and you will find him warmly wrapped and lying in a manger." And then there were, not one angel, but many angels saying:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all people." And the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
There were also in that country three kings,who had seen a new star rise in the East and had followed it. The star seemed to come to rest just above the barn where the family was staying, and when the three kings entered there, they found Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. The kings remembered this very first birthday of Jesus by bringing him gifts. This story is a story of long,long ago, but this year, and every year, we still remember Jesus’ birthday by giving gifts and by singing, like the angels:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all people."
Family Stewardship
We define stewardship as the act of caring for our congregation, our community, and the Unitarian Universalist movement. People care in various ways: by giving of their time, by sharing their talents, and by contributing financial resources (a.k.a. treasure). Unitarian Universalists have a long, rich history of contributing to their congregations, their communities, and the world. This important aspect of our congregational life begins with the role model of good stewardship in the home. Examining how we spend our time and money as families may help us evaluate how we can be good stewards in the congregation as well.
“For a child to develop into a functional adult and good citizen of the world, the family must mirror society. Volunteering helps kids learn that service—not self-interest—holds our world together.”
As family counselor John K. Rosemond states in his article “Volunteering For Kids,” parents can begin teaching the social value of volunteerism by assigning simple daily household chores to children as young as three years old. Such children learn that being a member of a family involves not just sharing the family’s wealth, but also its work. Parents can impress upon children the importance of community service with a simple civics lesson: without volunteer support, there would be no community sports programs, no scouting, no 4-H, no homeless shelters, and no summer programs at the local Y. By including children in community and congregational service activities, parents can teach that one person can make a difference in this world. Guiding a younger child toward compatible community service requires that parents help the child answer the following questions: What are my interests? What do I really enjoy? What’s something I’ve always wanted to do? Would I prefer working with large or small groups? Indoors or out? What problems in my community or congregation need solutions?
Jim and Kathy McGinnis, founders and directors of the Institute for Peace and Justice, list seven ways to teach our children stewardship in their newsletter, Parenting for Peace & Justice:
Tithing for the congregation. Children can give a percentage of the weekly allowance.
World Bank donations. This program is similar to the UU Guest at Your Table Box.
Shalom Box appeal letters. Decorate a shoe box and use it to store appeal letters received from charities. At quarterly family meetings, discuss which letters to honor and what amount to give.
Split our energy savings. Encourage family members to turn lights out, lower thermostats, and save energy in other ways. Then, spend half the money saved on a fund for those who need utility bill assistance. (The other half can go toward a family event.)
Alternative gifts. Encourage children to be generous with their time and talents by making their own birthday and holiday gifts.
Exposure to hurting people. Prepare, serve and eat meals at a local agency, visit shut-ins, travel and work in countries with poor people.
Discussing our will. Explain to children that groups working with hurting children will receive the same bequest as each of them.
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To assist you in exploring these issues in more depth, we’ve attached reprints of two articles—“Children, Money and Values: Ten Principles” by Susan Vogt, and “Helping Children with Allowances and Savings,” from Parenting for Peace and Justice Newsletter.
The Grumps
Once upon a time there was a family of Grumps. Papa Grump, Mama Grump, Sister Grump, and Brother Grump. Everyday they would grump at each other from morning to night.
Papa grumped at breakfast, “My porridge is too hot!”
Brother grumped at lunch, “My soup is too cold!”
Sister grumped at dinner, “It’s no fair. Brother got a bigger piece of cake than me!”
As for Mama Grump, she would roll her eyes, bang the plates down hard, and grumble, “If you don’t like what you’ve got, go fix it yourself!”
No one ever said, “Thank you!” No one ever said, “Please!” No one ever said, “I’m sorry!”
As you can imagine, all that grumping had a terrible effect upon the Grumps looks. Their faces were wrinkled up sourly, as if they’d been sucking on lemons. Their hair stuck out in all different directions because of their pulling at it in fits of temper. When they walked, their heads hung down so low, all they could see were their belly buttons; so every other step they would bump into something, getting scrapes and bruises on top of scrapes and bruises. It’s no wonder the Grumps hardly ever looked at each other.
The Grumps lived in the middle of a dense and gloomy woods. Under the great trees night and day seemed almost the same, except for the chill that night brought with it. Mama Grump often warned Brother and Sister not to wander away from the house, because they could get lost so easily in the dark tangle of trees and underbrush.
One morning Sister was feeling particularly grumpy. Brother Grump had stepped on her mud pie, because she had broken his stick, because he said, “You smell!” because she had sat on him thinking he was a mossy rock. Sister decided that she was going to leave her family to go wherever she pleased on her own.
So she headed into the woods muttering to herself, tripping over tree roots, scraping against pricker bushes, and aimlessly wandering this way and that, until her head bumped up against a tree. “Waaaaaah!” Sister stumbled, fell backwards, and landed hard on her sitter. She looked up ready to let loose a terrible grump at the tree, when “huh!” she saw something she had never seen. Before her was a small clearing, and stretching from the tops of the trees to the patch of ground in front of her were bright shafts of light.
Sister forgot all about her grumble. Looking into the brightness she could see the green of leaves, the yellow and blue of flowers, and a sudden flash of red as a bird flew past. She picked herself up and lurched forward into the light, feeling its warmth upon her.
In the middle of the clearing sister stumbled upon a spring. As she peered down into the calm water at its edge, she was startled by a dirty, twisted face peering back at her. At first she drew back, but then she realized the face was her own. Full of wonder, she began to smooth back her hair, and wash the dirt off her skin. Ever so slowly, her mouth untwisted and began to curve up at the corners while a good feeling warmed inside her.
Suddenly Sister wanted her family with her. She hurried back through the darkness and prickers trying to remember the way she had come. She would surely have been lost forever if her family’s grumping hadn’t been so loud, penetrating even the darkest and densest of thickets. Led on by her Papa’s roar, “Who’s been sitting in my chair?” she reached the house at last.
Sister rushed through the door. In her haste she knocked over Brother’s chair, and one of its rockers came off. “Look, my chair’s all broken! Sister did it!” Brother wailed.
“I’m sorry!” said Sister.
Mama, Papa, and Brother all stopped and stared at her in surprise. There she was all smiling and shining at them like she’d discovered the bees secret for making honey.
Somehow Sister managed to lead her family back through the tangled darkness to the clearing of light. Perhaps it was the red bird who signalled the way. Finally, there the Grumps were; blinking in the bright light, surprised by beauty, and warmed to their forgotten hearts. It wasn’t long before Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister were all splashing and preening in the spring water, delighted with themselves and each other.
From that day on the Grumps made their home in the light. They held their heads up when they walked, hardly ever tripped, and looked upon each other with new warmth. They said, “Thank you!” “Please!’ and “I’m sorry!” quite often. In fact they were no longer Grumps. On their mailbox they printed in neat letters “Smith.”
Let my people go
Moses was reluctant to be the one to free his people, and the job was by no means an easy one. When Moses first went to the Pharaoh to ask him to let the Hebrews go, the Pharaoh responded by telling his overseers to make the Hebrews work harder. This made the Hebrews angry at Moses. It looked as if they were never going to escape the hardships in Egypt. But God was persistent and didn’t let Moses give up.
Moses and his brother, Aaron, went back to the Pharaoh. Aaron threw down his staff before the Pharaoh, and it turned into a snake. The Pharaoh summoned his magicians, who threw down their staffs, which also became snakes. And the Pharaoh still would not listen.
Because of the Pharaoh’s hardheartedness, ten plagues were inflicted on the Egyptians. In the first plague, Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh again, as he was going to bathe in the Nile. Moses said, "God sent me to say, ‘By this you shall know that I am the Lord. See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall be turned to blood. The fish in the river shall die, the river itself shall stink, and the Egyptians shall be unable to drink water from the Nile."
When the staff struck the water, all the water in Egypt turned to blood. But the Pharaoh’s magicians did the same, so the Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened.
Seven days later, Moses again went to the Pharaoh. "Let my people go," he said. "If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs; the river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, and into the houses of your servants and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls; the frogs shall come up on you and your people and on all your officials."
The Pharaoh refused to listen, so Moses let loose the plague of frogs. The Pharaoh’s magicians did the same, and the Pharaoh did not know what to do with all these frogs; so he promised to let the Hebrews go if Moses would get rid of the frogs. Moses promised the frogs would all die the next day. After the frogs were dead, they were gathered into huge piles, and the land stank.
Once the frogs were dead, the Pharaoh went back on his promise, so in the third plague Moses caused gnats to swarm over all of Egypt, on both the people and the animals. The Pharaoh’s magicians told him that this was beyond their magic, but still the Pharaoh would not listen.
As a fourth plague, Moses caused great swarms of flies to cover the Egyptians, but the Hebrew people were not affected. The Pharaoh begged Moses to pray to God to make the flies go away. Moses said he would if the Pharaoh would let them go and not trick them this time. The Pharaoh promised, but as soon as the flies were gone he changed his mind again.
The fifth plague caused all of the Egyptian cattle, horses, sheep, and camels to die, but not one of the cattle of the Hebrews died. Still the heart of the Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
For the sixth plague, before the Pharaoh, Moses threw soot from the ovens up in the air, which caused boils to break out on people and animals. Even the Pharaoh’s magicians were afflicted with the boils; but still Pharaoh would not listen.
The seventh plague was hail, which ruined most of the crops. Next came the ou and your people eighth plague, locusts, which ate the remaining crops. The ninth plague brought darkness over the land for three days. But still the Pharaoh was not willing to let the Hebrew people leave Egypt with their flocks and herds. Then God announced the tenth and final plague, and Moses reported to his people, "Thus says the Lord: about midnight I will go out through Egypt; every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits upon his throne to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock." So that the plague would not affect the He- brews, they sacrificed a lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts. In this way, God would know to pass over that household and let the Hebrew firstborn live.
Finally, all the Egyptians rose up and cried out to the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. He agreed, and about 600,000 men, women, and children and all of their livestock set out. But once more the Pharaoh changed his mind. When he saw that all of his Hebrew slaves were gone, he and his army set out after them in chariots.
As the Hebrew people were camped by the Reed Sea, they saw the Egyptians coming, and they were very much dry ground afraid. Moses told them not to be afraid, and he stretched out his hand, with his staff, and divided the sea on dry ground. Once Moses and his people were across, Moses again stretched out his hand, and the sea closed in upon the horses, chariots, and chariot drivers who were pursuing them.
Moses and his people were now free from the Egyptians, but they had many years of wandering in the wilderness yet before them. Eventually, however, they found Canaan, the land that had been promised to them.
Background for Passover
Passover (Pesah) is an ancient Jewish festival which celebrates the Exodus of the Hebrew people from slavery and oppression in Egypt. The name Passover is taken from the Exodus story found in the Hebrew scriptures in the Book of Exodus: "During the tenth and final plague inflicted on Pharaoh to break his will, God passed over the Jews and struck down only the Egyptian firstborn. It was that night that the pharaoh finally agreed to let the Jewish people go. Ever since then, Jews gather together on that night to commemorate and contemplate the meaning of freedom.
The central meaning of Pesah is liberation– from slavery to freedom–and so is called the "season of our liberation." But Pesah has an- other name–the holiday of spring celebrating the liberation of the earth from the grip of winter. Therefore, the holiday of liberation is the holiday of spring with the themes of hope and rebirth. Pesah proclaims the possibilities of liberation and renewal, reminding us that freedom is as intrinsic to human nature as blossoming trees is to the natural world.
After the destruction of the Temple, Pesah became a home festival, its observance kept alive through the generations even under great oppression and persecution. The last supper shared by Jesus and his disciples was a Passover Seder (ritual meal). When appropriate, either at Passover and/or Easter, tie the Jewish and Christian scriptures together recognizing the source of the Christian mass and communion service with the Jewish Seder. In contemporary Judaism, Passover is sometimes celebrated in community Seders.
Many Unitarian Universalist churches (and many Christian churches) now observe Passover with a Seder. Through participation in an age-old tradition, we connect with our Jewish heritage. Although there ate Jews who believe it really happened as it is written in Exodus, there are others who believe that some parts of the story are true and some are not. There are some Jews who say they cannot believe in a God who would kill the first-born child of every Egyptian family or break the laws of nature to save certain people. But no matter what the many beliefs ate about the story, this is a celebration which speaks to all who value freedom.
Pesah acknowledges the universal human yearning for freedom and expresses compassion for all the people in the world who are not free. The Seder is a time of hope and gratitude celebrated with family and friends. It is a time for each person to rededicate themselves to the cause of liberty and justice.
The Spirit of God is There When Someone Dies
Many years ago a baby was born and as that baby began to breathe for the first time, the spirit of God was in the baby’s breathing.
The baby nursed and slept and opened her eyes and nursed and slept some more and as time went by the baby could do more things. The baby learned to sit up and to crawl and soon the baby learned to walk. Now she could go all over, exploring everything. And the spirit of God was in her exploring.
Soon the baby was a girl who could run and talk and pedal a bike. And the little girl became a bigger girl who went to school and leanred to read and write and do arithmetic. And she could swim and ride a bicycle and row a boat. And she could play a piano. And she could make all kinds of things: bird houses, cookies, and gardens. And the spirit of God was in her learning.
Before long the girl was a youth who went to high school. She Iearned to drive. She began to think about what she would be when she was all grown up and she could decide more things for herself. And the spirit of God was in her deciding.
Now the girl became a woman. She found work to do and she found people she loved and she had her own home. One day she became a mother and had children of her own. She cared for her children, played with them, and taught them lots of things. And she worked to help make the world a better place for all people. And the spirit of God was in her loving.
Time went by and this woman grew older. Her children grew up and they had children and the woman became a grandmother. The time came when she retired from her work. She had more time to do the things she liked to do for fun, like playing with her grandchildren. And the spirit of God was in her playing.
This grandmother grew older and older until she was a very old woman. Some of her grandchildren even had children and she became a great-grandmother. Now she tired more easily and she moved more slowly. She couldn’t see or hear things as easily as before. And the spirit of God was with her in her aging.
And then this very old woman’s body became very tired and her family knew she was dying. As they went to visit her they did whatever they could to make her more comfortable, they talked with her about all the wonderful things they remembered doing with her, and they shared their sadness at the thought of losing her. And some of the time the very old woman was sad that she was dying and some of the time she was glad. And the spirit of God was with her in her dying.
And then the very old woman’s breathing became slower and slower and her breath became softer and softer and then she breathed her last breath out and she died. And the spirit of God was with her.
Later her friends and relatives came together and they shared their sadness and they talked with each other about the things she had said and done in her life. And the spirit of God was in their remembering.
The Story of Buddha
Characters:
Siddhartha Guatama
Queen Maya
An elephant
A charioteer (Channa)
A sick man, an old man and a dead man (one person)
A monk
Siddhartha’s wife and child
A large tree
Mara, the evil spirit
Props:
an umbrella
a large tree
a belt with sword
paper flowers
cane
bathrobe
Scene 1: Buddha’s birth, 563 BCE in India
Characters: Queen Maya, elephant, Siddhartha
Props: paper flowers
One night Queen Maya had a wonderful dream in which an elephant with six tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched her right side. At that moment a child was miraculously conceived. When Queen Maya told her husband of this dream he called the Brahmins (or wise men) to interpret it. They predicted that a son would be born who would become either a great king or a great religious leader. His name would be Siddhartha, which means "he whose aim is accomplished." According to legend, Siddhartha later emerged as an infant from his mother’s right side, walked seven steps in the four directions of the compass and said, "No further births have I to endure, for this is my last body. Now shall I destroy and pluck out by the roots the sorrow that is caused by birth and death." According to tradition, it rained flowers at the time of Siddhartha’s birth.
Scene 2: Siddhartha grows up
Characters: Siddhartha
Props: umbrella
The King very much wanted Siddhartha to grow up to become a great king, not a religious leader. So he decided to give him everything he desired and protect him from all sorrows and trouble, so he would never want to leave the palace. The prince was never allowed to go alone outside the palace grounds. He never saw sick, injured, or old people, and he was never told of death. He learned all the arts of royalty: to shoot with a bow and arrow, drive a chariot. ride a horse. He wore silk clothes and always carried an umbrella over his head to protect him from the sun and dust. At age 16 he married a beautiful princess. In time they had a child and were very happy together.
Scene 3: The "Four Sights" that changed Siddhartha’s life
Characters: Siddhartha, Channa (charioteer), old man, monk
Props: cane, bathrobe
At age 29, Siddhartha called his faithful charioteer Channa to take him for a secret ride outside the palace grounds. As they drove through the city, Siddhartha saw three things he had never seen before. One was an old man lying on the road, groaning with pain. "What is the matter with this man?" he asked Channa. "He is sick and in pain," Channa answered. "But why should anyone have to suffer such pain?" Siddhartha asked. Channa shrugged his shoulders, "It is the way of life." And they traveled on. Soon they came to another man, all bent over and hobbling: along with a cane. "What is the matter with that man?" Siddhartha again asked. "He is old" answered Channa. "It is something that comes to all people who live a long time. Bodies become tired and weak." Finally, they came on a man in rags, Iying beside the road as if he were asleep. "What is wrong with this man?" asked Siddhartha. "He is dead," came the answer. "What does "dead" mean?" Channa answered, "I cannot tell you, but it happens to all people, rich or poor."
Later that same night, when Channa and Siddhartha returned to the city, they saw a man dressed in a yellow robe with a shaven head, begging for food. Siddhartha stopped the chariot and questioned the man, "I am a monk," he replied, "I have adopted a homeless life to win salvation. I search for the most blessed state in which suffering, old age, and death are unknown."
Scene 4: Siddhartha leaves the palace
Characters: Siddhartha, Channa, Siddhartha’s wife and child,
Props: belt with sword, bathrobe
Shocked, Siddhartha returned to the palace and thought about what he had seen. For the first time he was aware of suffering in life, and he felt he could no longer enjoy his own life of ease and riches. That very night Siddhartha decided to leave the palace. "If I were to live like one of these monks, perhaps I could learn the truth about suffering and how to end it." Silently kissing his wife and child goodbye. he asked Channa to drive him to the outskirts of the city. There he took off his jeweled sword and cut off his hair and beard. He took off his Princely clothes, put on the yellow robe of a monk, and told Channa to take his possessions back to his father.
Scene 5: Siddhartha’s wanderings
Characters: Siddhartha
For years Siddhartha wandered throughout northeast India, seeking holy men who taught him, among other things, techniques of meditation. He studied the teachings of Hinduism, the ancient religion of India. He was most interested in Samsara, or reincarnation, the idea that after death a person’s soul is born again in a new body. The common Hindu belief at the time was that only by leading a highly spiritual life (or several lives) could a person break the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Siddhartha was attracted by this idea and he adopted a life of extreme self-denial, not eating or sleeping and meditating constantly. For six years he stayed along the bank of the Nairanjana River, eating and drinking only enough to stay alive. He was determined to force himself to this highest state of being through self-denial. But over time he only became extremely weak.
Scene 6: Under the Bo Tree
Characters: Siddhartha, evil spirit Mara, Siddhartha’s wife and child
props: large tree
One day, Siddhartha realized that his years of denial had weakened his body to the point where he could not think clearly about the world or religion. So he started to eat normally again. Refreshed by food, he sat down under a fig tree (known to Buddhists as the Bo Tree, the Tree of Enlightenment) and entered a state of very deep meditation. Buddhist scriptures say that during this meditation an evil spirit, Mara, tempted Siddhartha with all sorts of pleasures to distract him. But he was not swayed. His deep meditation continued until he had recalled all of his previous rebirths (550 previous states of existence). He gained knowledge of his cycles of births and deaths, and was able to cast off the things that bound him to the world. He had attained enlightenment, "Nirvana," the end of suffering.
From that day on Siddhartha was known as the Buddha, "the enlightened one," or "the one who has found the light." The light that Buddha found was not the kind that you see with your eyes. It was an inward light that makes you feel peaceful and helps you to think more clearly. Tradition says that when Buddha reached Nirvana, he could have cast off his body and his existence. Instead he turned back to the world, determined to share his enlightenment with others so that all living things could end the cycles of their own rebirth and suffering.
During his lifetime Buddha institutionalized his teachings by forming Sangha, a community of monks and nuns who practiced the religion and taught it to others. Buddha’s wife and son joined him in the Sangha, as well as other relatives. Today members of the Sangha continue this tradition and provide an important link with the religion’s founder.
THE END
Background for "God is Like a Father"
The metaphor of God as father is a familiar one to those of us raised in Jewish or Christian cultures. For many Unitarian Universalists it now is viewed in a negative way for it is a potent symbol of the patriarchal bias of religions which use it exclusively to describe the gender of God. As Mary Daly said in her book Beyond God the Father, "…if God is male, then the male is God." (p. 19). It represents the belief that ultimate reality and ultimate values have only masculine qualities and so then it logically follows that feminine qualities are of Iesser importance. Obviously, this is not a belief that Unitarian Universalists can hold.
In righting this wrong, many of us, men as well as women, now are consciously choosing to search out and promote feminine images of the divine. At the very least, we are no longer using masculine pronouns for God in an exclusive way and we are making sure to include images and concepts reflective of a feminine God. Ultimately though, we do not want to promote exclusively feminine images of God, either. It is hoped that it will be possible for our young children who are just developing their concepts of what the word God means, to grow up understanding God to be both like a mother and like a father, to have both masculine and feminine qualities.
It is important to use the story, Mother of Us All, and this story, God is Like a Father, one after the other, if at all possible, in order to reenforce the idea that God can be like both a mother or a father. Unfortunately, many congregations cannot always count on all of the children in a class being there in a regular way. For those who miss one or the other of these sessions, it might be important to briefly tell them about the story they did not hear.
The relationship of father to child is familiar and so there will be many associations with it. Jesus used this image to reflect a relationship to the ultimate which honored the transcendence of God yet retained an intimacy. Many of us can identify with this relationship in a positive way because we had a positive relationship with our fathers. However, for some of us, this image might instead reflect unhappy memories of absent or abusive fathers. This, of course, can be said, also, of the metaphor of God as a mother. This possibility is not a reason to decline to use these images, in general, for there can be negative nuances to any image of God for certain individuals, but do be sensitive to these possibilities in the conversations with your group of children.
Although the image of God as a father was occasionally used by Jeremiah and Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, Jesus stems to have found it especially appealing and it gains much more prominence in the Christian Bible. Talking to God as you would to a father, instead of as a lord, allows the conversation to be much more personal and intimate.
Jesus’ teachings reflected what such conversations with God bad revealed to him. He told his listeners that God loved them as a father would love his children. He told them that what their "Heavenly Father" wanted of them could be summed up in what is called the Great Commandment (Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27): love God and love your neighbors as yourselves. He also told them that God wanted them to forgive others of their wrongdoing just as God would forgive them. The prayer called the "Lord’s Prayer", or more often now "The Prayer of Jesus", (Matt 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4) is another summary of Jesus’ beliefs about the relationship between God and people. The metaphor of God as a father implies that people are God’s children and since God is the father of all, all are therefore members of one family. The teachings of Jesus that tell us to love, care for and forgive one another follow from this image of humanity as one family.
These images are supported by the UU Principle that urges us to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person and by the UU Source which uses Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
The Half-Boy of Borneo
This story about the half-boy of Borneo is very, very old. It has been told by the people of the island of Borneo in the South Pacific for hundreds of years. How much is really true in the story and how much has been imagined as true is for readers today to think over and decide. Here is the story:
Long, long ago on the island of Borneo, in the village of Tambahillar, there once lived a boy who was the dread and worry of all who came in contact with him. This was because he was only a half-boy. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, he had lost his good half. Now he was merely his bad half, and the bad half was always doing bad tricks.
A woman in the village might be doing her washing in the shallow part of the river, pounding the clothes with a stick to get them clean. Half-Boy, who had only one hand and one leg, would hop by on his one leg and spatter mud all over her newly-washed clothes. Another woman might be spinning. Half-Boy would slip up behind her, and with his one hand, would tear the wool off the spinning wheel. A man might be picking fruit and Half-Boy would pelt him with coconuts.
When Half-Boy played games with the other boys, he always seemed to find a way to spoil their fun. The women of the village called Half-Boy a pest. The boys jeered at him behind his back and threw sticks at him and the men scolded him and chased him off their fields.
As Half-Boy grew older, he became more and more annoying to the other villagers. They were almost ready to drive him out of the village, and some even wanted to kill him. There was only one young woman of the village who felt sorry for him. She believed that he might change.
One day the young woman said to him, "You are only half a person. I am sorry to say you are only the bad half. Somewhere in the world is the other half of you—the good half. If you will go away and find your other half and then come back with it and let it live with you, I will marry you!"
Half-Boy was surprised; he could hardly believe what he had heard. He even hopped away as if he had not heard. But later he came back to the young woman and said, "You are the first person who has ever said a kind thing about me. I will do what you say. I will start tomorrow and I will never come back until I have found my good half and am a whole boy."
Next morning, with his spear in his belt, Half-Boy started off. But where could his other half be? He had not the slightest idea. The first day he hopped along for twenty miles, almost without stopping. At evening time he came to a village deep in the jungle. The people were all sitting about a big fire when Half-Boy hopped up and asked, "Is there a half-boy here? Is there one who has only one hand and does nothing but what is kind and good?"
The villagers shook their heads. "We heard once of a person like that," one of them said, pointing to the setting sun. "He is supposed to live two days journey from here."
Next morning Half-Boy started on his second journey. This time he hopped thirty miles before he found anyone. At last one evening he came to another village, beside a lake. Again he asked the same question, "Is there a half-boy here who has only one hand and does only good and kind things?" Everyone shook his head. They had heard of no such person.
Finally a stranger stepped up and said, "I saw a half-boy once in a village a day’s journey west. But I do not know whether he is good or bad, or whether he has only one hand. I only know he was a half-boy."
With that encouragement, Half-Boy started off again on his journey. This time he hopped forty miles. It took him several days. At last at evening time he came to the ocean and a little village on the shore. Even while he was quite far off from the village, a loud cry went up from the people.
"Another half-boy!" they shouted. "Another half-boy! This one has the opposite hand missing. Where is our own half-boy? We must find him right away. He must see his brother. While the people were still shouting and hurrying about excitedly, Half-Boy saw the other half-boy coming toward him. There could be no doubt whatever that he had at last found his other half. The two boys were the same size. They wore their hair done up the same way. One had only a right hand; the other, only a left hand. Each had a bracelet and an anklet to match the other’s. The only difference anyone could see between the two was in their eyes. The eye of the other was soft and warm and happy.
"Brother," said the bad half-boy, "I have come a long way to find you!"
"I am glad," said the other half-boy, "For I certainly would never have gone a long way to hunt you!"
"That may be true," said the bad half-boy, "but what are we going to do about it? Can we be joined together so as to make one whole boy again?"
As the two half-boys stood watching each other uneasily, the chief of the village came near. Taking each boy’s one had in his, he said, "The two of you must go off by yourselves into the bush and wrestle there. If necessary, you must wrestle for a day and a night or longer. As you wrestle, you will find yourselves growing together."
"It will be a short wrestle," said the bad half-boy. "I am strong and up to all sorts of tricks!"
"Don’t be boasting," said the good half-boy. "You may find a match in me, for I too am strong. I have a spirit in me, the spirit of the sunrise, which will help me."
The bad half-boy smiled. "I have a spirit in me that is more powerful than yours," he said, "It is the spirit of the night. It can blow out the fires of the sunrise."
So the two half-boys went alone into the jungle. When they had found a clearing, they grabbed each other. Back and forth they swung as they wrestled. All night long they struggled. At sunrise the good half was clearly the stronger, but they still wrestled on. By sunset time. when it began to be dark, the bad half had got the upper hand. But they were not ready to stop.
All the while in the village a heavy storm raged. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and rain flooded the land. The villagers said to one another, "Those two half-boys are not the only ones who are fighting. The stars are shooting their silver arrows at each other. Listen to the north and south winds. They are wrestling together in the palm trees."
Finally, the next morning at sunrise all was calm. The birds were singing. The wind went to sleep in the palm trees. And when the people of the village went forth from their huts, they looked out toward the jungle and behold! They saw a beautiful boy coming toward them. He held his head high and was looking in the direction of the rising sun.
The good half must have conquered!" said the chieftain of the village. "The two half-boys are now become one person."
The people shouted for gladness. They ran to the young man and asked him to come and live with them in their village. He shook his head. "No," he said, "I shall go back to the other village where my bad half has been living. I must find the maiden who believed in me, and marry her."
After thanking the chief of the village for the help he had given, the boy with two halves said good-bye to all the villagers. He started off again alone.
After some days he finally reached his own village, but his old neighbors did not recognize him. They thought he was a stranger! Only the one young woman who had believed in Half-Boy knew him at once, and she showed the others by what signs she knew him. "Our old half-boy accepted his good half," she said, "and the two together make a real person like the rest of us."
As his old neighbors looked and listened, they began to like the new boy. But the maiden loved him and the two were married that very day.
(This legend is found in New Found Tales From Many Lands by Joseph Burke Egan, published by John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, 1929.)
"Mark and Paul"
Mark had just moved; his parents were busy unpacking boxes and moving furniture. He didn"t know anybody and was sad he had left all his friends.
He walked down the gravel path behind his house to the playground. It was full of children about his own age. Most of them were playing kickball. Mark sat down on one of the swings and watched them play. Soon a girl with long brown hair came up to him. "Hi! My name is Joanna. Who are you?"
"I’m Mark. I’ve just moved here. I live in the middle of that row of townhouses." He pointed towards the brick buildings. "What grade are you in? I’m in the fifth grade."
"Me too. Maybe youll be in my class; there are only two grade five classes."
Mark and Joanna sat on the swings talking. After awhile the others stopped playing and came over to meet Mark–Amy, Michael, Harry, Bobby, Susan, Peter, Janice and lots more. Mark was sure he wouldn’t remember all those names. "It’s easy for them," he thought, "they only have to remember one more name but I’ve got to remember tons!"
Joanna stood up from the swings, "I’ve got to go home now. I’11 see you at the bus stop tomorrow." She walked over to the sandbox where a boy, an older boy, was playing by himself. He took Joanna’s hand and they left the playground.
"Who is that?" asked Mark.
"That’s Paul–he’s Joanna’s brother," Amy replied.
"He’s a retard-spastic!" Harry said nastily.
"Is not. Paul’s exceptional," Amy answered back.
"Exceptionally stupid," Harry retorted and some of the children laughed. Amy’s face burned red. "I’m going," she said and ran off behind Joanna and Paul.
Mark was troubled and embarassed. Soon he left the playground, too.
The next day Mark’s mother drove him to school. He had to enroll so when he went up to his room, the class had already started. Mark was in Mr.Humbert’s class and Joanna, Amy and Harry were sitting at their desks. Mark liked the students and Mr.Humbert seemed like a nice teacher, but-the work was much harder at this school. Mark never had had to do math word problems or diagram a sentence at his old school.
Everyday Mark liked school more. He enjoyed doing experiments in Science, was good in Reading and learned the trick of math word problems. But he still had problems in Grammar. He was good in sports, too, and everyday after school Mark went to the playground and played with the other children. He felt odd, though, when he saw Paul playing in the sandbox alone. Joanna would take Paul to the sandbox, play with him for a bit and then join the others.
One day at school Mark asked Joanna why Paul didn’t play with the other children.
"They don’t want to play with him because he’s retarded and he’s clumsy," she said.
Mark didn’t say anything because he knew how clumsy Paul was but he didn’t think it was fair that Paul was always alone. That afternoon Mark brought his own ball to the playground. He went
over to Paul and said, "Hi! Do you want to play ball with me?" Paul looked up at Mark and said, "No. You just want to make fun of me."
Mark was horrified. He felt his face burn. "No," he said, "that’s not true. I just want to play with you."
Paul smiled, "OK."
Mark helped Paul up from the sandbox and they walked to a quiet corner. Mark felt a little awkward holding a big boy’s hand but inside he knew he was right in doing so.
"You stand there," he told Paul, "I’ll kick the ball to you and then you kick it back to me." Mark gently kicked the ball to Paul’s feet. Paul looked at the ball, hesitated and then kicked. The ball went wide and Mark ran to retrieve it. Paul looked upset but Mark smiled at him and told him not to worry.
"Hey look! Mark is playing with the retard!" Harry yelled.
Mark was angry but tried to ignore Harry. Paul’s lower lip trembled as though he was going to cry.
"Don’t listen to him," Mark said.
"Mark and the retard! Mark and the retard!" Harry jeered.
Mark was really angry then but he just clenched his jaw tight and continued to play with Paul. Joanna came up to them and said, "I’m playing with you guys."
The next day at school Harry went up to Mark, "Hey," he called, "why do you want to play with that retard? You’re good at sports you should play with us. Anyway, if you keep on playing with him you’ll be a retard too. That stuff rubs off."
Mark trembled with rage. "Paul is my friend," he spat out, "and I like him. Just because he’s slow doesn’t mean he’s not a human!" Mark stalked off. He knew if he stayed there he would punch Harry.
That afternoon in the playground Mark took Paul aside and taught him how to kick the ball. Every atternoon Mark helped Paul and little by little Paul improved and learned different techniques. Mark learned to ignore the shouts and jeers of the other children. It became easier because everyday fewer children teased Mark and some came to play with him and Paul.
One day Amy said to Mark, "It’s more fun playing with you because nobody calls you an idiot everytime you miss the ball or fall down."
Harry and a few of the others still laughed at Mark. He didn’t care because he knew that most of the children liked him and admired him not just because he played with Paul but because he was able to find time to help anyone who asked. At the end of the school year Mark, the new boy, was voted the most popular boy in school.
