We’ve turned the calendar page. As December has now come to a close, the lessons of the previous year hover between one year’s end and the other’s beginning. The old, the icky, the struggles, the issues of that past year shift into the focus of lessons learned and goals for a new year.

You stumble through your days, got your head hung low
Your skies’ a shade of grey, like a zombie in a maze, you’re asleep inside, but you can shake away
‘Cause you’re just a dead man walking, that’s your only option, but you can flip the switch and brighten up your darkest day.
Sun is up and the color’s blinding, take the world and redefine it
Leave behind your narrow mind, you'll never be the same

We’ve been rolling in 2020 for a month now, and it’s been quite a tough–at times it feels like we’ve experienced an entire year in one month. Bushfires in Australia are taking their toll, the US government is in the middle of an embattled impeachment trial, a new virus is plowing through China, and in a tragic accident, the world lost a legend beyond the court of basketball; this year is off to a difficult beginning. Each of these will surely see their spots in the history books. Each has earned their place in water cooler conversation, shed tears, and the annals of anxiety.

Autumn comes with harvest time, with gathering in, with thinking of home and sharing. There are people who may not be doing that this season. There are -- through the past and in the present time -- people who are immigrants or refugees by circumstances they control and ones they don't. Perhaps you know some of these people; perhaps immigration stories are embedded in your family history. Maybe not -- maybe you've seen images or read history books.