How quickly the weeks of Fall have passed and we enter the winter holiday season. Already travel plans and invitations are being made. The grand cycle of time repeats, beginning for most with Thanksgiving.

The mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “If the only prayer you utter is ‘thank you,’ it will be enough.” I like that we have an official holiday with that as its purpose, just noticing one’s blessings and being thankful.

Thanksgiving for me is truly a holy day as it is happily free of commercialism. It is holy because it is focused on gratitude, a religious virtue. It is holy because we come together with beloved family, friends and often guests who might otherwise not enter our homes. It is holy because there are rituals, notably family traditions around turkey stuffing, arguments over cranberry recipes, or pumpkin pie. Beyond the Macy’s parade, the Detroit Lions vs. the Green Bay Packers game, the day is a time for arresting time’s pell-mell and just breaking bread together. No grander scheme. No lesser purpose.

Unitarian Universalists are a generous and blessed people. It is good we pause to utter our own prayers. And a simple thanks more than suffices.

Blessings on you and your family, now and always.

Rev. Kenn

In the fall of the first year I lived in Florida, a friend asked, “Have you opened up yet?” I had no idea what she meant. I learned and came to appreciate that there comes a time in Florida when you just open all the windows and leave them that way until spring. As November comes ’round, it remains hot here and I’ve yet to “open up,” I am impatient for cooler weather.

This set me to recalling a long ago “For All Ages” moment discussing “warm fuzzies” and “cold pricklies,” a fable of how people relate to one another, who’s “in” and who’s “out.” With time, I’ve come to see a paradox in all groups: the very factors that make any group a warm fuzzy experience to its members — informality, shared norms, ways of speaking and doing things, even jokes, deep loving connections — all these are felt as cold and prickly-ish to those first arriving on the scene.

I encounter this phenomenon repeatedly as I travel to our various congregations: There is so much warmth, so much mutual enjoyment among those who are already part of the congregation. Yet, I am not alone in feeling I’ve trespassed on a private party, at times. I’m not alone in feeling the cold pricklies of being ignored or treated as a “visitor” [meaning just passing through]. My ears have been blistered by complaints from others who also came to one of our congregations only to be looked right through before and after the service — notwithstanding gracious words of welcome from greeters or the pulpit. Too often, in our delight to see one another, we inside-members often forget to open up the windows and doors for those looking in.

A ministry of hospitality is a first step toward creating a truly different kind of community our congregations aspire to be. It ought to be part of our self-identity that we don’t proclaim friendliness unless it includes the stranger as well. A ministry of hospitality ought to be a core ideal for our beloved communities.

As the season changes, take a look and see if you remain still closed up to our guests. And do all you can to open up, welcome the breezes of news faces, voices, and interests.

Blessings on all your ministries.
Rev. Kenn