We all know that penguins probably aren't the most religious animal in the world; however, what is religion without ritual...and those penguins have!! Penguins, every year, flock to the same breeding grounds. Thousands upon thousands of penguins gather and just breed! Breeeeed!!! Its a ritual! They also lay their eggs in almost the same exact spot! Now thats some good aim!
I went to church today...yes I did! Today was different. This Sunday was the Hanging of the Greens service, which ushers in the season of Advent. It is finally Christmas time! The usual service went on with hanging up the wreaths, putting ornaments on the tree, and talking about the meanings of each type of "green". The service went on with a hit. Lunch followed and it was wonderful. I even saw a high school classmate that I haven't seen in years! However, things began to spiral down and down in terms of how the day was going. It all started at choir practice. It is the time for the Christmas Show at our church, which is kind of a big deal. Well, practice literally sucked the life out of me and really not much was accomplished. Tensions where high in the room because of a previous matter in deciding where to have our annual Christmas Eve service. And this is where my mind has taken me. The location was changed from an old, traditional, wonderful Gothic Presbyterian church to my country style church. I personally am outraged and so are many of the members of the church...but the few that want the church service to be at our home church don't care....so basically nothing will change. I know this means nothing to many people but it is quite depressing to me. Ritual and tradition during this time of the year means a lot not only to me, but to many people in the world. Christmas is tradition! It is ritual! Why change something? A moma penguin would not appreciate if someone decided to blow up the annual breeding grounds....a whole flock of penguins would be in an uproar! The problem with people today is....we lose the meaning of why we do things. Penguins go to the same place to breed because its familiar because its tradition because their parents passed on those instincts to them. We do tradition because of the same thing. To bring up memories of great Christmas eve services in a traditional and spiritual setting. Some traditions are pointless; however, some impact the feelings around the holidays. If penguins didn't go back to their "love shacks" every year...what would they do? NO BABY PENGUINS! I don't know...but this sucks!
On to watching Hallmark Christmas movies...leaving early in the morning to go back to Clinton. :)
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