What is it about November?
Perhaps it is thoughts about setting back clocks, the shortening of days, the falling of leaves which have come to the end of their time, the parting call of geese as they leave for warmer places, the journey unknown?
November, if nothing else, is a time for remembering. It is a time for settling, a time for thoughts of cocooning for the long winter days to come. Even creation knows that it is time for self-care as instinctual survival memories kick in.
But there is something else about November and that is Remembrance Day.
I think of the words “all gave some, some gave all” first uttered by Howard William Osterkamp, a Korean War Veteran and Purple Heart recipient who continued to fight for his country (USA) even after his leg was broken. He was acknowledging the fortuitous fact that he made it out of Korea with his life; whereas, approximately 36,574 soldiers did not.
This Sunday, the second part of our reading from the Gospel of Mark speaks to giving all one has:
Mark 12: 41-44 - The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you; this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Is it serendipitous that this particular reading from Mark should touch us as we prepare for Remembrance Day?
I think not, for Scripture has the power to touch us both in the most unexpected of ways and at the most opportune of times.
Perhaps there is no better time than November for remembering; for thinking about social injustice, racial inequality, refugees seeking some sort of peace in far off places, the safe journeying of migrating birds, the industrial de-greening of the planet and yes, hope. Hope that will come to us at the end of the month as we begin our Advent journey back to the stable. That place of light and living hope for all.
Welcome November! Touch us, open us, guide us to that place of new birth as we begin our journey through the dark of winter.
In peace,
Pastor Beryl, DLM