Preparing to Give Thanks

Norman Rockwell's American Icon: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner here in the US.  It is a grand time of year, with low key family gatherings, lots of seasonal food, some time afield, and "Low Sunday" sorts of Church services.  With the passing of Diocesan Convention this weekend, I am starting to gear up for the day.  Next week, I will sit down for an extended lunch with my United Methodist and Roman Catholic colleagues and we will plan our ecumenical service for the year.  There is not much planning involved besides determining who will preach, but it is a wonderful chance to renew friendships and let things run themselves, which is so much in keeping with the spirit of this holiday for so much of rural and suburban America. 

This year is particularly satisfying for us because all of the family is here in Ohio again.  Tristan will be home from University, and Ashley, Matthew, and the girls are just an hour away in Athens.  Everyone is as safe as can be, and the joy of children's laughter rolls through the woods and across the fields as it did two decades ago.  On Wednesday afternoon, Ashley brought the girls up for a visit.  They immediately dived into the dress up bag and came out attired as fairy princesses, complete with tiarras and magic wands for "enchanting" any unfortunate dog, chicken, or horse they happened to encounter.  Then it was "wellies on" and to the barn to feed apples to the equines and to determine what chickens they would take to their farm with them in the weeks and months to come.  From there we wandered over the back pasture and into the woods to visit the old hunting cabin (a marvelous adventure when you are only three feet tall!) Back at the house, we piled into Grammy's garden wagon with "golden Jesus and picture Jesus" (only my grand-daughters are allowed to loot the family chapel with impunity) for a ride around and around and down the lane to collect the mail.  Then, finally, we returned to the house for tea and a story before traveling for dinner to a local Albanian restaurant and then home to Athens. 

Presidential politics and Ecclesial disputes seem so far away here at Briarwood.  The clean air and the occasional smell of wood smoke seem to wash away the cares of the world.  The love of family and the comfort of a faithful dog, the aroma of a newly groomed horse, and the crisp taste of homeade cider make the unrelenting realities of the broader world seem so remote, and clear my heart to concentrate on those things which are truly important: my God, my family, and giving thanks.

More Wisdom from Margaret

Three year old Margaret's catechesis at the hands of her mother is coming along very well. Like her Mother and Uncle Tristan, she is growing up with the solemn understanding that the great men and women of the past were near associates of her family. My children really did believe for a time that Scipio Africanus, Cincinnatus, Horatius, Our Lady, and St. Paul were not that far removed from their grandparents in time and space, and that most of them had probably helped Little Grandpa and Uncle Jake defeat the combined armies and navies of Imperial Japan. And so it is really no surprize that with her mother's help, she is developing a view of the immanence of our Lord's humanity which is most refreshing. Here are her recent comments on what Christmas will be like in "The California."

"...and then we will have a party and have cake and ice cream and we will go to the playground and Jesus will go down the slide with me at the playground and we will have decorations and go to church and have a party and it will be fun and we will have presents for Jesus for his birthday and it will be in December and Mama and Papa will be there and I will play with Jesus on the playground..."

As daughter Ashley wrote, "A clearer version of heaven I have never heard."

A Time for Remembering

Rector’s Rambling: November 2009

November is a month for family remembrances. All Saint’s and All Soul’s call me to remember those who have gone before. They will be especially introspective days for me this year. Veteran’s day always calls me to remember the heritage I have received and sought to pass on to my children. Thanksgiving, while a civil holiday and not on the church kalendar, arouses in me some of the most godly thoughts I am likely to experience in the course of a year. The approach of Advent calls me to consider again what the coming of Jesus into the world means to me and mine. The celebrations are not as large or as commercial as those surrounding Christmas and Easter, but perhaps they are in a way more introspective and in some ways more painful, and more blessed than those great public feast days of our faith.

“Anticipating that the normal course of events will take place in Lancaster,” I will experience another important family day this November. I wish with all my heart that my dad could have been here for it, but God had another posting for him, and so I shall reluctantly content myself with the knowledge that one day we will perhaps be able to talk about it in heaven. On the 20th at 7 PM, given the above caveat, I will be installed as the worshipful master of Lancaster Lodge # 57, Free and Accepted Masons. Like my father before me, I am blessed to be a part of this ancient fraternity whose members are dedicated to the promulgation of brotherly love, relief, and truth to all people of good will, without regard to their political party or religious creed. If you are free that evening, I would invite you to come to the Temple at 224 South High Street for the ceremony and reception to follow. I have often said that as the Church brings me Jesus Christ in the sacraments, and the Regiment taught me the true meaning of virtue, so the Lodge schools me in that morality which has built and maintained our culture. I hope you will be able to share the evening with me.

May November be for you a time of holy thoughtfulness. May you take the time to remember those with whom God has blessed your life. May you shed a blessed tear, and go forth to walk in the way of God, and to do the work He has given you to do.

Sincerely,
Bill+