Be Glad and Rejoice

I have always enjoyed Thanksgiving. It is probably my favourite holiday, in part because I don’t have to worry about buying gifts, but mostly because it is unequivocally hopeful.

One on our Thanksgiving traditions is to watch the musical, “The Fiddler on the Roof.” It is a story about a family struggling with the conflict between modernity and tradition, set against the systematic persecution of the Jews in the early part of the 20^th Century in Russia. It is a story of love and hope in the midst of tragedy and pain.

Reb Tevye is a poor milk farmer and the father of five daughters, some of whom are at the age when they are to be married. He sings and prays and breaks the fourth wall (speaking directly with the audience), thus working on the challenges of faith, fear and family.

I love the musical for many reasons. It has great and memorable songs. It is filled with humour and wisdom. When it comes right down to it, it is a great example of how to pray. If we think of the actual times Tevye speaks or sings to God and the times he speaks to the audience as prayer, we see the breadth and richness that prayer can bring us.

Tevye’s prayer is at time honest and hopeful, thankful and mournful, angry and questioning, painful and life-giving. And every time Tevye prays he is changed – his opinion, his behavior – something changes in Tevye every time he prays. Prayer is never, and can never be about changing God, it is always about opening out hearts and minds to God’s will. At the heart of prayer is thanksgiving. Not every prayer Tevye prays is resolved, but even those prayers bring him change and understanding. Even if that understanding is a sense of hope, it is good.

On this Thanksgiving, be glad and rejoice and be open to the sense of hope at the core or our human experience.