Circles

Whoever decided to put Christmas right next to New Year's Day was a genius; must have been the same person who decided that dessert comes at the end of the meal. This year, the theme has been "life as a big circle", i.e., the ends of things smashed up against new beginnings. Life has provided more than it's share of circular happenings this year, it seems. Daughter M. graduated from college this month, and begins more school next year. Daughter K. graduated also, and begins the next phase of her life. Son E. now has a son of his own, the beginning of acute responsibility and the end of "laissez faire" - the same for daughter-in-law S.

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year, so I attended the morning worship service, then later attended the Christmas Eve service in the evening.

Christ Church, in Fairfield, is a melting pot of a church. Holy Communion there is different than most; we all stand in a big circle, old and young, rich and poor, red and yellow, black and white, while the priest makes his way around to each of us to give us the consecrated host. Sometimes the children, not able to stand still, will dance like they're at a party.

I like standing in that big circle, at the end of the week and - at the same time - the beginning of the week; remembering "the last supper", and realizing that it was just the beginning of a new thing that lasts forever, a celebration without end...