November comes, and November goes, with the last red berries and the first white snows . . .

  
     Well, outside, we're shivering a bit this third week in November, and there's some snow on the ground already, which makes the lengthening nights a little less dark --some years the snow comes later.  Inside it is the time for planning our annual Solstice Multigenerational service, which will be on the actual Winter Solstice date this year --December 21st itself.  I have been enjoying an old favourite book in the RE library called While The Bear Sleeps, which has a simple story line about
a little girl who has stumbled into a bear's cave for shelter.
     Out of the dark warmth of the cave the bear character surprises the child by speaking, and he tells her she might as well stay and sleep alongside him, because Winter is "the time when you look inside yourself and remember the important things."  She asks him what those might be, and he rumbles "...that the winter is never so cold when you can share stories with the friends of your heart.  That loneliness is never so lonely if you are used to being alone.  That you need never worry about how you look or what people think about you if you are at home to yourself. That's why I come here."

     I found myself thinking that if I were a member of UCM, I might also give those reasons for why I come to join this church each week -- to meet with my "friends of the heart" and spirit, and to let the people, the music, the readings and sermon, ALL of the richness of a service, remind me that I am "at home to [my]self." And of course I would delight in all the stories I hear here . . . As it happens, the little girl in the book gets entertained and inspired by the bear telling her stories appropriate to many of the holidays of this "dark of the year" season. They go on dream journeys together to celebrations in many corners of the earth, and conclude their period of hibernation at Groundhog's Day (also know as Bear Day among some Native groups) with her learning about the constellation of Ursa Major, which points the way north in the night sky.

May this season bring each of you time to "...look inside yourself and remember the important things," and may we all celebrate bringing back the light as we observe the Solstice!

p.s. the title for this post comes from a favourite poem of mine, called "Goodbye, November, Goodbye," written by Elizabeth Coatsworth

p.p.s. I am not actually a member of this faith community, but of the Society of Friends (see post below), but I certainly love being on the staff here!