At the church Epiphany party Sunday, the one where traditionally we burn Christmas trees, eat cake with a baby Jesus or a ring hidden in it to determine who hosts the next party (and last one before Lent), and choose stars with attributes to guide us through the next year, I got lucky.
The stars symbolize the star that guided the three kings that visited Jesus and gave him gifts in the story that we celebrate as Epiphany, as well the light in our lives, and the light of change and new ways of being that we call personal epiphanies. This little light of ours, we’re going to let it shine.
We plucked the paper stars randomly out of a hat. They had words like courage, patience, joy, prudence, kindness, tenacity, faith, humility, mercy, hope, charity– that kind of thing- written on them. I drew fun.
Fun!
So watch out.
The first thing I’m doing is packing up for about a week in Mexico. Really. Totally spur of the moment on airline miles and a cancelation at a favorite place– We leave for Juneau and beyond tomorrow, after tonight’s assembly meeting, and return on the 22nd before the next meeting. (And we leave before the snow predicted for Thursday and the weekend, in this lull in the weather.)
Also, speaking of fine weather- Chilkoot Lake is paradise for skaters- but be careful– and check with the regulars before heading off– the ski trails out the road are great too- and the rink at the fairgrounds is good. The basketball teams finally made it in once the ferries ran again, and there are games at noon today.
I was also thinking, regarding fun, that to add more laughter to assembly meetings, and help us work together, we should consider singing the Alaska state song, Alaska’s Flag, following the pledge at the opening of each meeting. The music was composed by a Haines resident, inspired by our beauty, so that’s something local as well and part of our history– Maybe assemblyman Tom M. could play it on his trumpet sometimes, too? That would make even the confirmed grumps smile, wouldn’t it?
