Dear Friends,
You are all invited to bring an ornament to decorate our tree!
You’ve seen the decorations going up around town. Broadway is all decked out. You’ve likely even put up a few decorations yourself lately. Bring an ornament or two or three with you this Sunday, or even during the week, and add it to our tree.
Our sanctuary has been decorated, with the addition this year of some Scandinavian ornaments curtesy of Marian Bigelow. (Thank you!)
I have heard the word “ornament” or “ornamental” flung as criticism. It’s just a surface level sort of thing, that Scroogian critique claims, nothing that’s substantive or important.
But doesn’t the feel of a place change when it’s decorated? There is a real and palpable spiritual and emotional effect that decoration has. Ornament a tree, and a different kind of space is created. To me it feels like the ornaments invite to the space the presence of joy and playfulness. Seeing those Scandinavian hearts in our sanctuary now, I feel the presence of love and family and tradition and legacy.
The decoration of our space for the winter holidays is a way of celebrating and honoring who we are and inviting us to remember as the days get colder and snowier that beauty is still with us. Joy is still with us.
Even in the midst of troubled times, confusing times,
Even as we feel the presence of loss and frustration and grief and fear,
beauty is with us still
joy is with us still
love is with us still.
I look forward to your ornaments! Come, let us decorate!
love,
posted December 6, 2024