Religious Education Update: November 19
Finding Joy in the Holidays
This is the weekend when the Abels are creating the Thanksgiving menu and buying the big bird. Philip, my son in culinary school, is making elaborate plans for brining and smoking the turkey. Lara is asking that we shop for a turkey which enjoyed a happy life. My older son is bemoaning his need to work on Thanksgiving Day, and his absence from the family feast. Each of us brings skills, concerns and great expectations to the meal.
I consider the upcoming holidays with some trepidation. As a musician, I’m entering the holiday concert season, which has me out late on many nights. This is wonderful; musicians adore having many gigs. It is also a busy work time for me, with numerous holiday happenings at church. This is also wonderful, much anticipated, and not to be missed. But will I remember to find joy in the next few weeks? Will I be able to avoid the insanity of shopping mall traffic and frantic crowded stores? Will I fit all the demands on my time into a reasonable schedule, while getting enough sleep, and staying healthy?
While I worry about my personal “hardships”, I remember the experience of our forebears who created so many religious events at this time of year. The land was cold, the nights were long, food was often in short supply, and it could be a time of great sickness. The Pilgrims had been blown far off course in their tiny ship by strong Atlantic storms on that long ago November. They had planned to land in Virginia, but were too tired and too sick to continue their voyage. So, they landed in a cold harbor, and watched half their group die over that first, dreary winter. The Wampanogs, the people who watched the Pilgrims arrive, had also suffered great losses from diseases brought unintentionally by earlier ships.
When I think about the very real hardships faced by our ancestors, I am able to adust my attitudes towards the crowded malls with their abundant wares. I realize my good fortune that my family will eat their fill in a house that I can heat and light with the magical powers of gas and electricity.
It is no wonder that early peoples created festivals of warmth, thanksgiving, hope and light to help them survive the long winters. At times when all seemed lost, light appeared, whether in the form of helpful strangers, Divali lights, a Hanukah menorah, a young girl with candles on her head in the St. Lucia tale in Scandinavia, or in lit candles on German Christmas trees. These lights brought warmth and hope to world which desperately needed comfort.
My hope for finding joy in the next few weeks, is to remember these stories of light, warmth and love. The material abundance which blesses me is wonderful, but I shouldn’t permit its allure to become so powerful that I forget why I am celebrating.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
This is the weekend when the Abels are creating the Thanksgiving menu and buying the big bird. Philip, my son in culinary school, is making elaborate plans for brining and smoking the turkey. Lara is asking that we shop for a turkey which enjoyed a happy life. My older son is bemoaning his need to work on Thanksgiving Day, and his absence from the family feast. Each of us brings skills, concerns and great expectations to the meal.
I consider the upcoming holidays with some trepidation. As a musician, I’m entering the holiday concert season, which has me out late on many nights. This is wonderful; musicians adore having many gigs. It is also a busy work time for me, with numerous holiday happenings at church. This is also wonderful, much anticipated, and not to be missed. But will I remember to find joy in the next few weeks? Will I be able to avoid the insanity of shopping mall traffic and frantic crowded stores? Will I fit all the demands on my time into a reasonable schedule, while getting enough sleep, and staying healthy?
While I worry about my personal “hardships”, I remember the experience of our forebears who created so many religious events at this time of year. The land was cold, the nights were long, food was often in short supply, and it could be a time of great sickness. The Pilgrims had been blown far off course in their tiny ship by strong Atlantic storms on that long ago November. They had planned to land in Virginia, but were too tired and too sick to continue their voyage. So, they landed in a cold harbor, and watched half their group die over that first, dreary winter. The Wampanogs, the people who watched the Pilgrims arrive, had also suffered great losses from diseases brought unintentionally by earlier ships.
When I think about the very real hardships faced by our ancestors, I am able to adust my attitudes towards the crowded malls with their abundant wares. I realize my good fortune that my family will eat their fill in a house that I can heat and light with the magical powers of gas and electricity.
It is no wonder that early peoples created festivals of warmth, thanksgiving, hope and light to help them survive the long winters. At times when all seemed lost, light appeared, whether in the form of helpful strangers, Divali lights, a Hanukah menorah, a young girl with candles on her head in the St. Lucia tale in Scandinavia, or in lit candles on German Christmas trees. These lights brought warmth and hope to world which desperately needed comfort.
My hope for finding joy in the next few weeks, is to remember these stories of light, warmth and love. The material abundance which blesses me is wonderful, but I shouldn’t permit its allure to become so powerful that I forget why I am celebrating.
Marlene Abel
Director of Religious Education
posted by Unitarian Universalists of Petaluma @ 3:23 PM
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