Starting Down the Rabbit Hole....

I wrote this for my church newsletter - and should have posted it here a couple of weeks ago. However, I think my thoughts hold true even a couple of weeks into the month.....

I’ve always thought of November as an empty, in between sort of month - at least until Thanksgiving. I always have this sense of stillness when I take the dogs out first thing in the morning on November 1st, All-Saints Day. All is quiet. The earth seems to be taking a long and deep breath.

Early November seems like it is the end of something and not quite the beginning of something else. There are always a few stray candy wrappers on the lawn, which has been mowed for the last time until next Spring - perhaps the small remnant of a costume, more likely that crazy spray neon-colored stringy stuff in the road. The jack-o-lantern is beginning to mold on its inside and will soon be headed for the compost heap where it will winter over and maybe even be gone by June. The trees are mostly bare of leaves, their empty branches silhouetted against the sky. The wind brings only cold thoughts of winter and snow.

The first part of November is like a no man’s land. You can’t go back to summer - even Indian summer. And you are really not sure that you are ready to go forward to what will come next.

The world seldom stops but it does in November at least for a little while until the stubby candles in the shape of Pilgrims come out of hiding and the kitchen begins to smell of molasses and cinnamon, of fruitcakes and plum puddings, until the guests arrive with their pumpkin pies and oyster casseroles, until the candles are in the windows and the carols begin to play and Santa Claus arrives on a fire truck and the children go crazy with excitement and anticipation and we remember the joys and sorrows of holidays past and we decorate the tree in the living room and we bake and we wrap and we mail and we search the malls until we find the perfect gift for everyone including the guinea pig and the dogs and we lament over spending too much money for yet another year and we fall like Alice down something like a rabbit hole that doesn't let us out until Christmas.

In early November, take a breath like the earth does. When life gets too frazzled and you can’t find God or a reason for the craziness, go outside, and let the cold winds of winter chill your face. Look at the barren branches on the trees. Breath and remember the quiet and stillness of that long ago first day in November, of that even longer ago family in a stable in Bethlehem. Then smile and say a prayer of gratitude for life with all its glitz and glitter, for all its holiday hoopla, for all that Thanksgiving and Christmas are meant to be.

Thoughts for Thanksgiving

Though it’s only a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving – and many of us may already have worship plans in place - I thought I would share a Thanksgiving worship tradition in my church.

I have always felt that it is important to spend some time with this particular holiday since in the stores (if your towns and cities are anything like those around me) are now on a direct course sweeping us rapidly along to Christmas. The Halloween candy is no sooner discounted and then removed from the shelves than all the Christmas paraphernalia takes its place. From orange and black to red and green – and Thanksgiving is completely bypassed and marginalized. So much for my little bit of ranting…..

On Thanksgiving Sunday, the congregation together creates a filled cornucopia on the altar. In advance of the service, people are asked to bring fresh fall produce – fruits and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkins, gourds, onions, etc. In addition, I leave potatoes, carrots, etc. here and there on the pews – in case people forget, are visitors, etc. There is a large, empty cornucopia on the altar.

I don’t generally preach on Thanksgiving but have a number of readings – scriptural and non – interspersed with times that people are invited to come forward with different types of produce and lay it on the altar. That is, at one point everyone with squash and pumpkins come forward, later on everyone with potatoes and onions, etc. One year, when the worship theme was “Count your Blessings, I also included a leaf shaped cut out in the bulletin and asked people to write down something they were thankful for and bring that to the altar along with their produce.

By the end of the worship service, the cornucopia on the altar is overflowing with produce and makes a strong visual statement.

When the service is over, the produce is used in the 50+ Thanksgiving dinner baskets we make for people in the community who need some help with food for the holiday – and beyond.

I’m curious about what others do for Thanksgiving. Please feel free to share……