Activities: Worship: Thanksgiving

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, which means I can share an idea for a children's focus that my American colleagues can use this November! Actually, we were inspired by a poem by Max Coots that someone shared on this list [reach-l] earlier in the year. (Thank you!)

Here's what happened:

Our facilitator Debra Faulk began by holding up an empty cornucopia and explaining to the congregation the meaning of it's shape and why it is a symbol of thanksgiving. At the appropriate moment I started up the aisle singing in my best hammed-up farmer voice--

Oh, the world is good to me
and so I thank the world
for giving me the things I need
the sun and the rain and the apple seed
oh the world is good to me!
    (Johnny Apple Seed tune)

I was dressed as a farmer with boots, jacket & hat (with my 2 1/2 & 6 year also dressed & in tow--their choice) carrying a full bushel basket. When I got to the front, Debra & I got into a banter about the glorious harvest this year, how I had carefully tended my garden and cultivated with love. {It's a good thing no one can see the weed pit taking over my back yard!} She asked me if I would be willing to help fill the empty cornucopia, and I asked for volunteer farm hands to assist me. I had written a number on each of the 21 fruits & vegetables in the basket, and as Debra slowly read the poem, I held up the appropriate one for the congregation to see and then gave it to a little farm hand to put in the cornucopia. (Our RE chair helped the children stuff the cornucopia.)

The whole thing was a lot of fun--the poem uses such a lovely metaphor. And of course the unpredictable things that happened made it rich: my little boy kept taking the harvest from the basket when I wasn't looking and marching it over to the cornucopia, much to the delight of the congregation. I had forgotten to bring a cob of corn, so when Debra reached that part of the poem I yelled out "Crop failure!". People of all ages told me afterwards how much they enjoyed it.

And here, again, is Max Coots' poem:

LET US GIVE THANKS

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people.
For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds
and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation
and
remember fondly where their roots are.
Let us give thanks:
For generous friends...with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright
as their blossoms
For feisty friends as tart as apples,
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding
us that we've had them,
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible,
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a
row of corn,
And the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you,
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and as amusing as
Jerusalem artichokes,
And serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions.
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages,
As subtle as summer squash,
As persistent as parsley,
As delightful as dill,
As endless as zucchini,
And who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter,
For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time
And young friends coming on as fast as radishes,
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our
blights, wilts, and witherings,
And, finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past that have been
harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter.
For all these, we give thanks. Happy Thanksgiving!

Jan Smith
Comox Valley Unitarian Fellowship
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Canada