A week from today will be Thanksgiving, and I take this moment to reflect on what I am grateful for. As a few flakes of snow fall outside my window and the temperatures have settled into the 30’s, I am grateful for the heat in my house—and grateful to have a roof over my head. As the COVID surge continues and Michigan has the highest percentage of cases in the nation, I am grateful for my health. In 20 months of this pandemic, only one member of my family circle has come down with COVID, and he recovered. For so many families, that is not true.
 
Indeed, the pandemic puts a whole new light on Thanksgiving. Last year we didn’t dare gather with family members because there was no vaccine. This year I know many families that are considering whether to gather based on the vaccinated status of their loved ones.
 
Family is what I’m most grateful for. I’m thankful to have a loving spouse. I’m thankful that my kids live within a half day’s drive. I’m thankful that the relationships with my siblings have deepened during the pandemic: the six of us gather on Zoom every Sunday from four different states and two different countries. I’m grateful that I can check in with my dad and step-parents on that same Zoom call; and for my mother, I’m grateful to the caregivers and hospice workers who care for her every day as she enters the next stage of her journey.
 
Finally, I’m grateful for the ministry work I’ve been called to do and the chance to do it here. This work carries the challenge and fulfillment of encountering people in need of support and offering what I can to them. This work includes the beauty of relationships that are evolving and deepening within the congregation. This work challenges me to bring my best self emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually every day. I have joy of seeing this congregation grow, and the joy of connecting with Unitarian Universalists across the state and the nation, deepening my sense of this sacred and life-affirming movement.
 
As Thanksgiving arrives, I hope that everyone is able to pause and reflect on gratitude. May we see that each day, each breath, is a gift we are given.
 
PRAYER:
Divine Light in the universe, present in the waning sunlight of these late fall days, present in the light of the full moon, present in the candle flame and the hearth fire, be here now.
 
May the light of love and truth fall upon each of us this harvest season. May the light of love and warmth bless every family with no exceptions. May all know that they are held in love.
 
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew (Drew) Frantz
November 18, 2021

Here is one of my favorite poems. It’s by e. e. cummings. He didn’t give his poems titles, but this one is usually referred to as “Loneliness: a Leaf Falls.” I hope you will be able to see it on your electronic screen the way that the poet intended to present it on paper:
 
 
l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness
 
 
I love the way that this poem uses just four words to combine a feeling (loneliness) with an image (a leaf falling). I love how e. e. cummings broke all the rules of poetry to create his own art form. In this poem, I notice that the shape of the letters on the page are like a leaf fluttering down through the air and then landing. I also notice that the two “L’s” together in the fifth line look like two people together, and the single “L” in the second to last line looks like a person alone. I honor Professor Larry Daub, because it was in his college poetry class that I first encountered and learned to appreciate this poem.
 
This poem is appropriate today as the leaves are falling and have fallen in my yard and my neighborhood. Today I walked through sidewalks thick with leaves—bright yellow; bright red; red and yellow with a few green ones sprinkled on top. My feet go shush shush through the leaves. I love that! When I came to my sacred spot in the woods where two giant oaks stand, their leaves were a golden russet brown, thick on the ground and falling steadily through the air.
 
In contrast to the above poem that I celebrate so much, the feeling that I have on this day of falling leaves is not loneliness. I feel mostly joy and connection with nature. On the other hand, I was alone on my walk and I know that for me to be healthy I need connection with other people. I think we all do.
 
If you are feeling lonely, I hope you will reach out. I believe that connection is possible and that there are people who care. If the autumn leaves are falling where you are, I invite you to experience their beauty in whatever way is accessible to you.
 
PRAYER:
Sprit of Life and Love, Spirit of Beauty, be here now.
May we all find ways to appreciate the beauty around us. May we know that we are connected to trees and to earth in this time of changing seasons.
May those who are lonely find companionship. May every human being know that they are not alone and that they are loved.
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew (Drew) Frantz
November 11, 2021

The weather turned cold enough this week that I got my winter coat out for the first time. The Magician in me loves storing things in the many pockets of this coat, and there they were: tissues and lip balm; gloves; a face mask--so that’s where that purple one has been all these months!
 
The day was November 2, which Mexicans call Dia de los Muertos and Pagans call Samhain and astronomers know as the day exactly halfway from the fall equinox to the winter solstice. Because of the tilt of our planet and my location on the northern hemisphere, this day is the beginning of the dark quarter of the year. Noting the day’s spiritual significance, on this day I began a new commitment to practice yoga and meditation every day from now until December 21.
 
November 2 was also Election Day this year. There were only two items on the ballot in my district: a city commission race and a school levy. The polling place was quiet. However, my reflections on elections elsewhere today—and on the election a year ago today--are disquieting. A year ago I spent Election Day as a poll watcher in a Detroit suburb. I experienced the tension of activists and officials from both sides verbally clashing; I remember the stressful days and nights waiting for the votes to be counted in Arizona and Pennsylvania and Georgia. This week, I watched with growing worry as the Virginia’s governor race was decided in favor of a candidate who used racial fear about schools as a key issue. I agree with Charles M. Blow, who writes in today’s New York Times that this is the latest iteration in a long line of issues that white Americans use as a vehicle for their racial anxiety about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—from the war on drugs to the fear of immigrants to Critical Race Theory in schools.
 
Election Day has come and gone for another year – now we return to the work of building the society of love and equity that we dream of, including holding accountable whoever is in elected office. The Day of the Dead has come and gone for another year – and we continue, every day, to remember our loved ones who have passed on, to heal any old wounds and to be blessed by their memory. The cycle of the year turns: weather is colder, daylight is shorter day by day. Our time is what we make of it, through intention and connection.
 
PRAYER:
Beloved Goddess/God, present in the sunshine on the fallen leaves, bless me now with the courage to do what I can do in my work and in my family and in my time alone, to spread love in this world. May all who live in the North of this planet embrace the growing dark in this season.
 
May all who vote in elections be moved by the purest intention to improve human society; and may those elected fulfill their sacred duty with integrity and transparency and humility.
 
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew (Drew) Frantz
November 4, 2021