One of the blessings of this season...

One of the blessings of this season for me is our annual "Thanksgiving Eve" gig. It is something I have been celebrating and working on for over 30 years - in one form or another - and with each church I serve, it takes on a new charism.  This year, for example, ALL of my buddies from the past two years are returning - ALL OF THEM - and that is such an incredible blessing to me.  They are all profound and generous musicians.  They are a wonderful collaborators who are a hoot to make music with, too. And at a deep, deep level we all share the same values.

This year's theme, "Come On Up to the House" comes from St. Tom Waits with a little help from our friends at the various "Occupy Wall Street" encampments.  It will be a benefit to raise funds for the Berkshires Emergency Fuel Assistance fund, to be sure. But it will also be something more - much much more.

It will be a time to share the beauty and justice of those cooperative miracles created whenever passionate and creative  people share their voices and hearts in song. It will be a gathering of the tribe, if you will; a meeting of those of many faiths - and none - who are more interested in people than profits, more aware of the ties that bind rather than our differences and more committed to community and compassion than polarization. 

I like the way Rowan Williams put it today in the NYTimes as he expressed his support for those who have been encamped at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.  He said: “There is still a powerful sense around — fair or not — of a whole society paying for the errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of messages not getting through; of impatience with a return to ‘business as usual’ — represented by still soaring bonuses and little visible change in banking practices.” 

The article continued that  Archbishop Williams supported a Vatican statement last week endorsing the idea of a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions and for a separation of retail and investment operations at banks that have relied on bailouts from public funds. He concluded: “If we want to take seriously the moral agenda of the protesters at St. Paul’s, these are some of the ways in which we should be taking it forward. If religious leaders and commentators in the U.K. and elsewhere could agree on these three proposals, not as a fixed agenda but as a common ground on which to start serious discussion, the struggles and questionings alike of protesters and clergy at St. Paul’s will not have been wasted.”  (see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/world/europe/archbishop-of-canterbury-endorses-tax-on-bankers.html)

So to my mind and heart, our Thanksgiving Eve event has become a low tech version of the OWS movement, a little bit "Prairie Home Companion" and old-time revival married to a 21st century take on the "human be-in" that came to flower in Golden Gate Park on Sunday afternoon in October 30, 1966. It is the joy of a festival celebrating a way of living beyond the status quo. It is a gentle introduction to the counter-cultural critique of all contemplatives with a playful sense of self rather than a grim self-righteousness persona; a strong tenderness that practices radical hospitality rather than fear-mongering and demonizing those who are different; and a quest for discerning common ground instead of name-calling and the blame game. (I think this Seeger Session clip from the Boss captures some of the atmosphere that I cherish at these events when everything comes together...)

And every year I experience some of this vision being shared and nourished when former strangers choose to sing harmonies together. When people from throughout the community decided to share some of their time and resources to help those they have never met. When children get caught up in the beauty of group singing in an era of IPODS and MP3s.  When the notion of "we're all in the same boat now" is so palpable that our best selves are encouraged rather than diminished.  When Christians and Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and atheists and everybody else grasp what it means to sing, "Amazing Grace."

This year we're adding a few more musical friends to the mix - and this will only bring more joy.  So, if you are in town, why not check out the "Come On Up to the House" party at First Church on Thanksgiving Eve?  Wednesday, November 23rd at 7:30 pm (27 East Street, Pittsfield, MA) It will be a gas!

Like the prophet Isaiah said so long ago:

Comfort, oh comfort my people," says your God."Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear that she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! She's been punished enough and more than enough and now it's over and done with."  Thunder in the desert! "Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth,  a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God's bright glory will shine and all flesh shall it together."

So come on UP to the house...