Yesterday was the Thanksgiving Eve Interfaith Service. Sean and I both participated. Sean was asked to lead the singing of "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands." Most of the chaplains were asked to do things a bit more spiritual. I read the presidential proclamation establishing the Thanksgiving holiday.
Actually, it was a nice service, but clear to me it was written by Protestants. Efforts were made to weed out Jesus references, but mistakes were also made, and there were three references. Hymns, with or without Jesus, always strike me as Protestant. The nicest part was a musical presentation by three members of the Protestant congregation, a prayer to Jesus in English and Hawaiian. When so many efforts are made to appeal to all the result is rather bland. The wonderful thing about Thanksgiving is we can come together as an interfaith community. Why whitewash the differences?
Rather than interfaith, I'd like to see a service that is multi-faith, including presentations from each of the faith groups involved, from the heart of each one.
Thanksgiving Day
A day like all others, although my first day of home sickness. Thanksgiving should be a special day spent with people who have meaning in your life. Today was perfectly nice. I think this is the most difficult part of military life, the special people are separated from you. During the Hagim my focus was on the day and it's meaning. For Sukkot, on getting the sukkah done. For Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret we had no minyan, and so the disappointment was as if we'd lost the holiday. But today it was the people, nice enough, but not yet special.
[One of the niceties of military life is the special people you do meet. With the constant transitions, military families often open to others more quickly than most. Lifelong friends are made in moments. Shared memories are strong, both communally and individually.]
[One of the niceties of military life is the special people you do meet. With the constant transitions, military families often open to others more quickly than most. Lifelong friends are made in moments. Shared memories are strong, both communally and individually.]
