Dear First Parishers,
Sunday’s Ingathering Thanksgiving service was so much fun! Several people told me afterwards how much they enjoyed the festivity and joyfulness of it all. We had music. We had fun stories about bread. We helped our neighbors by collecting food and money for the Open Pantry of Greater Lowell. It was delightful to see the faces of folks we have not seen for a while and to see so many new faces and families.
This service always marks the beginning of what I call the “holiday gauntlet”, the time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day which is filled with special services and events. Do read the website, the newsletter and the announcements to keep up with what is happening. There will be greens and donuts; evening Advent services; our traditional Christmas Eve Candlelighting services; all concluding with our “Pancakes and Carols” service the Sunday after Christmas, which is really just a community breakfast in the vestry!
At the same time as all of this, I recognize that there is a lot of anxiety and even despair. It can be a hard time of year for people anyway, with the longer nights and colder days. A time when loss and grief can be especially piercing. Add to this the concerns around the political landscape. We are a nation divided by celebration and fear and that divide is not only causing conflict, perhaps, with friends, neighbors and even family. It could, it is putting people’s lives at risk: the lives of immigrants; of trans persons, of women, to name a few.
Larry Peers, my clergy coach, led a leadership discernment exercise where he took us through a series of questions. One set was around “inner resistance”: the kinds of thinking that can get in our way— emotionally, spiritually and even ethically. He asked which, if any of
these inner voices were in our thinking: the voice of judgment; the voice of cynicism, the voice of fear. I admit that all three have been present in my thinking from time to time. He then took us through the spiritual impact of each voice. The voice of judgment closes our minds and shuts down inquiry—when we judge, we are no longer curious about others or their situations (or ourselves for that matter). The voice of cynicism closes our hearts. We stop caring about others (or ourselves) when we tell ourselves that people deserve what they voted for or that no one can be trusted anyway. And the voice of fear shuts down our will. Which I think is the most insidious of all because it can
lead us to feel overwhelmed, despairing and alone.
I believe that community, specifically our First Parish community, can help us overcome the impact of these voices, to help us remain curious, open-hearted and willing to risk loving ourselves, our neighbors, and our world.
Our December Soul Matters Theme is “Living Love Through the Practice of Presence.” So, as we enter into this season of both joy and mystery, fear and unimagined possibility, I invite us to consider how we can practice being present to all that is to come, with curious minds, open hearts, and courageous spirits.
In faith,
Rev. Ellen
