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PASTORAL MEDITATION by Rev. Thomas Hawkins
THE SMELLS OF AN AUTUMN MORNING AND THE AROMA OF CHRIST
I stepped out of our house early one morning last week to walk our dogs and was greeted by pale sunlight filtered through light fog and the morning’s coolness. One deep breath and I said to myself, “It smells like autumn.”
What does autumn smell like? To me, it’s the woodsy, musky smell of fallen leaves and dried cornstalks on a frosty morning, holding my father’s hand on the way to milk the cows. Smells can be powerful time machines, unlocking memories and triggering specific moments in our lives. Researchers say our sense of smell is actually more powerful than vision or hearing in transporting us back to specific memories and emotions.
Scientists say this is because unlike sight, hearing, touch, and taste—which must first travel through the brain’s thalamus—smells go directly through the olfactory cortex to the amygdala and hippocampus, the two systems in our brain responsible for emotion and memory. Our other senses are routed through various systems before they reach the brain. Smell, on the other hand, goes immediately into two of the brain’s most important organs.
One person interviewed by a researcher shared how the smell of wool recalled the memory and feeling of being hugged by a beloved family member wearing a wool overcoat. The son of a sawmill worker described how smelling sawdust brought on a memory so vivid “that for the moment I live the scenes again” of being in the mill with his father. Just seeing sawdust, on the other hand, never unlocked such memories. This is not just true of positive memories, but also of traumatic ones. The smell of burning diesel fumes can trigger an intense flashback or a post-traumatic stress episode in a combat veteran. The smell of a particular after-shave can do the same for victims of sexual abuse or assault.
Researchers are exploring how to harness the power of smell to evoke memory and emotion and bring comfort or even healing to those with painful memories or those with dementia or Alzheimer’s. According to an issue of Harvard Medicine, Hebrew Home at Riverdale, a long-term care community in New York City, has offered residents kiosks with seasonally rotating smells that evoke a sense of nostalgia, such as the scents of baseball mitts and hot dogs. A neuroscientist at Brown University points to research showing that scents evoking personal memories can promote slower, deeper breathing that calms our nervous system as we inhale an odor linked to pleasant memories.
Maybe this connection between smell, memory, and emotion is why some churches have traditionally incorporated incense as a regular part of worship. The fragrance of incense goes directly to worshipers’ brain centers for emotion and memory whereas everything else in worship takes a more circuitous route into our minds.
There are over 200 references in the bible to smell, odor, fragrance, and perfume. Burnt offerings of grain and fat are described as a “soothing scent” or “pleasing odor.” In the book of Exodus, the LORD gives Moses a specific recipe for incense that he is to use in worship. In Genesis, a frail and elderly Issac receives his son and says to him: “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!”
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he describes those who follow Jesus as “the aroma of Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:15) Without the benefits of modern science, Paul probably understood something about the deep connection of smell, memory, and emotion.
When I bake an apple pie with my grandmother’s recipe, the smells of the baking apples and spices transport me back to her kitchen where as a child I’m standing on a stool beside her helping her make an apple pie. I’m not just remembering this moment. I feel somehow back in that moment. The smells of baking apples, cinnamon, and allspice trigger memories and emotions of loving and being loved, of helping to do something important and valued.
That’s the experience of smell, memory, and emotion that Paul is describing. We are the aroma of Christ, spreading the fragrance of Christ in our words and deeds, Paul tells his readers. A clergy colleague recently wrote that one of his seminary professors said that when he walked into a chapel or classroom, he’d stop, close his eyes, and breathe deeply. He claimed he could smell whether the gospel had been proclaimed in that space or not. He could smell something there to transported him into Jesus’ presence. It’s what those who have faithfully followed Christ leave wafting in the air behind them. It’s the fragrance we spread around us as well.
On All Saints Sunday this week we will remember the saints in our lives and across the church’s history who have left the aroma of Christ trailing behind them in ways that inspire and encourage us in our life journeys. All of us have special people whose fragrance lingers with us long after their physical presence has passed away. In that lingering fragrance we catch a whiff of what the Gospel looks and feels like.
As we worship this All Saints Sunday, may the sweet scent of many beloved lives drift among us and remind us to breathe deeply the aroma of Christ that they have shared with us. An aroma that is the fragrance of love itself.
With prayer,
Pastor Thomas
SUNDAY WORSHIP in the sanctuary or livestream link: http://www.facebook.com/churchontherotary/
JOIN THE ADVENT CHOIR
Rehearsals for the Advent and Christmas season meet on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am for 30 minutes.
Comes try out, connect with fellow members, and make music together! What better way to truly celebrate the festive season than by singing beautiful carols and anthems?
Also, did you know singing can lift your spirits and lower blood pressure?
Hope to see you Sunday!
MAKING APPLE CRISP!
It’s that time of year to make our annual delicious apple crisp for sale at the Christmas craft fair on Saturday, November 7th. We will be meeting in the church kitchen at 9:00 on Thursday, November 5th. Please bring your peelers, knives, whatever you need to peel and fill baking pans with apples. We will then assemble the “crisp” part of the recipe and bake 8 pans of deliciousness.
Our fearless leader, will be out of commission on that day 😥, so I am asking for help from the usual gang of folks (and any of you who would like join us) to meet on the 5th of November to quickly assemble and bake this highly anticipated dessert for our annual craft fair.
WE NEED PLASTIC BAGS
Please gather up plastic bags with handles that you don’t want and drop off in the library for the fair bake sale shoppers. Thanks.
IT’S TIME! CRAFT FAIR donation time!
- Please look through your gently used novels to donate for that area.
- Please look through your costume jewelry with an eye to donating pieces for another to enjoy.
- Please check those house plants to see if they might be divided. Do you have extra gently used/nearly new indoor/outdoor plant related items (pretty pots, gently used hand tools)? How about garden or plant books?
- Please consider baking for our bake sale room. Package these items in an attractive, easy to transport way. It also is very helpful to label what you’ve made. Pretty food sells quickly!
IT’S TIME! Volunteer time!!
Hello Church Family!
The Christmas Collection Craft Fair is scheduled for Saturday, November 7th from 8:30am to 3pm. Planning is well underway! Our well-known and well-attended craft fair cannot happen without many, many volunteers before, during and afterwards. Please contact the office if you would like to volunteer. Helpers of all kinds are needed. Please make a small commitment of your time by attending, shopping, baking or making chili for the bake sale, helping with a church booth for an hour or two, as a shuttle driver, or any other task! Many hands make light work.
The Christmas Collection Craft Fair committee also needs ANYONE WILLING to assist in relocating classroom furniture and setting up tables on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th at 6:30PM to prepare for the fair on Saturday, November 7th.
ANYONE WILLING TO ASSIST WITH clean up, replacing furniture, sweeping and vacuuming? We’ll also need help immediately following the fair at 3:30pm on SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7th.
Our well-attended fair has an excellent reputation, and is an amazing fundraiser for our church. We have a plan…we just need helpers. Thank you!
YOU HAVE ALREADY NOTICED…IT’S GETTING COLD
As you are once again able to take out your heavier winter clothes, remember that you have neighbors who have nothing to keep them warm. The First Congregational Church on the rotary will once again be collecting gently used, clean, warm clothing until NOVEMBER 22 for men, women and children (even infants and toddlers). NOW we will also collect CLEAN, warm blankets. Everything will be donated to the critical work of the Springfield Rescue Mission serving your neighbors in the greater Springfield area.
Please place your donations in the box in the breezeway, or the big, blue bin outside. We accept warm clothing: coats, sweaters, vests, sweatshirts, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, boots, etc. We also ask for NEW socks and underwear. Thank you for caring and taking the time to go through your closets. Your continued generosity will warm the lives of our neighbors in need during the coming cold winter months.
Mission & Outreach
PUB THEOLOGY
As you are aware, next Tuesday November 3 is Election Day! I hope you plan to vote…if you haven’t already done so. It is also Pub Theology night, so plan accordingly. If you have never attended please speak to me so I can add you to the email invitation, which I will send out before Monday. Our number keeps growing, hope you will join us. The food is great, and so is the company.
MODERATOR’S CORNER
Happy Wednesday!
I wanted to share a few thoughts on personal and family preparedness. Preparedness is something we should consider regularly, rather than only when a severe winter storm is on the horizon.
Having worked with various levels of government on emergency preparedness throughout my career, I often encourage people to think beyond short-term power or water outages. For example, consider what you would do if grocery store stocks were delayed, or if a tech outage temporarily impacted electronic payments. Do you have cash on hand for essential supplies? Do you have enough daily medication to last more than a couple of days?
Asking these questions helps us plan effectively without fear. Here are a few key areas to focus on:
1. Water: Plan for a minimum of 1 gallon per person, per day.
2. Food: Keep extra supplies of foods you normally eat so you can rotate stock regularly.
3. Medication: Try to keep at least a one-week buffer of prescription medications (consult your doctor on how to manage this) and maintain a basic supply of over-the-counter items.
4. Basic Supplies: Maintain working flashlights, a battery-powered radio, and extra batteries.
5. Contact Information: Keep a physical list of important addresses, phone numbers, and work details for family and friends in case your phone is unavailable.
6. Pets: Ensure you have adequate food, water, and medications for your pets.
7. Vehicles: Keep your gas tank as full as reasonably possible.
8. Have a contact plan within your circle of family and friends to check on each other
Preparing can be done gradually over time to remain affordable, and every household will have unique needs. Remember the old saying: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
Please reach out if you have any questions about personal and family preparedness. Enjoy the wonderful fall weather!
PRAYER
God of unfailing light, in your realm of glory the poor are blessed, the hungry filled, and every tear is wiped away: When we grow weary in well-doing, remind us that we never labor alone in Christ’s mission to heal a wounded world. In our songs of praise are the voices of thousands who now praise you around your heavenly throne. In our hands and feet flows the strength of unnumbered generations who have been your presence among those yearning to hear good news. Strengthened by this vision, may we follow you with courage and humility. Amen.
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
7 Somers Road, East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Web: churchontherotary.org ~ email: office@churchontherotary.org ~ 413.525.4121