It is December. How did that happen? In a year when days have run into each other, somehow the calendar has rolled us into one of our more connecting months of the year. The month of December encompasses major Christian and Jewish celebrations of Christmas and Hanukkah. It also includes spiritually significant days for Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, and Zoroastrians. The Interfaith Calendar actually lists 14 different spiritual celebrations in December. Add onto that Kwanza, which is an important week-long African heritage cultural celebration that occurs at the end of December. As you can see, December is a very significant religious and spiritual month in many different families and communities.
It is also a great month to remember our common human connections, when so many communities gather to celebrate and honor what is valuable to them. Think about it. We are indeed so much more alike than different. As we celebrate our own beliefs and heritage, it is also good to reflect on and honor the values that bind us to each other. Our individual worlds (as well as our global world) can get rather scary at times. We may feel isolated and vulnerable. However, when we experience the kindness, the caring, and the sensitivity of friends, family, and medical staff, we feel less isolated and vulnerable. Why is this? Well, it is because we have connection with something that is larger than just us. We connect with compassion in humanity.
As I have studied different religions, I find that the element all major religious groups share is compassion.
The schema below shares how this compassion is understood in different religions around the world. It is an interfaith expression of what we know as ‘The Golden Rule”, that principle of treating others as you want to be treated.
- Hinduism
This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you - Buddhism
Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful - Confucianism
One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct… loving-kindness. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself - Islam
Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself - Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary - Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss - Christianity
In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. - Native Spirituality
We are as much alive as we keep the earth alive
So, as we gather in our communities and with our families during these significant days of December, no matter what our faith backgrounds may be, let us:
- Love one another, be thankful for one another, and work for the common good;
- Treat others with the respect and compassion that we also need;
- And, in all things, err on the side that makes peace and justice.
We wish you and yours opportunities for compassionate connections during these December days.
Lucretia Hurley-Browning, MDiv, MS, is a guest writer whose recent background includes Chaplain of Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Director of Juniper Tree Counseling Center. She is a therapist and ordained United Methodist Minister. Currently she is a writer by day, a reader by night, and is passionate about living life meaningfully with a good dose of fun.