☀️A Less Smokey Sun
Friday, October 21, 2022 - Vol. 01 No. 22
Parents please check your children’s Halloween candy carefully. Someone’s been trying to hide the Marsyville Sun inside candy bars.
☀️Halloween is dead. Long live Halloween.
The scariest part about the end of October in Washington State is the anticipation that Democrats are going to win governing seats again. The Sun plans to provide a Voter’s Guide the next couple issues leading up to the election on November 8th, but for today, let’s touch on a less polarizing topic: Halloween.
Of course that’s tongue-in-cheek; in our current culture Halloween causes as many conflicts as it sells candy and costumes. One pastor in Snohomish County called it “HELLoween” on his Facebook page. Many yards are decorated as graveyards, others with more festive fall colors. The unhealthy levels of wildfire smoke in the air over the last week has added to the atmosphere.
It should be surprising that more people don’t consider what the hallow in Halloween means. Where did that part in the word come from? And what is the history of this holiday? Was Sesame Street just so popular a generation ago that parents wanted an excuse to dress their kids up as Cookie Monster and have an excuse to share processed sugar between neighbors?
There are a lot of articles online about Halloween. I’m only linking to one here, not because it’s the best, but because readers are busy. Even better would be watching this 180-seconds long video.
So what do you think? Here’s a poll, for fun, and voting closes in a week.
☀️Community Dinners
by Maggie Rothenberger
As our culture continues to dig deeper into delivered fast food and convenience meals eaten in solitude, it is uncommon to see groups meet together over a hearty homemade meal. Large scale hospitality requires amounts of time and effort that simply aren’t worth it without a good reason. Though rare, you can still find pockets of people gathering to share each other’s company as well as delicious food. In fact, almost every Tuesday night, at the Marysville Historical Society’s building, members of the community congregate for a free, (and delicious) homemade dinner.
The Neighborhood Community Dinners are an excellent example of local open-handed hospitality that lends itself to community strengthening. Megan Monterossa, one of the event organizers, was kind enough to answer some questions. “We [the dinner] welcome people from all walks of life, age, and background to come and enjoy the delicious food, friendly conversation, laughter and encouragement. We love that we have a great diversity of people coming!” Visiting this week, I was greatly impressed by the range of community members present, and loved how easy it was to mingle with those at your table. This was a motivation for starting the dinners: “Our heart is to meet tangible, relational, and spiritual needs of individuals and families while fostering togetherness and building true community.”
The food itself is a great conversation starter. This week a filling, prosciutto wrapped meatloaf was just the start, supplemented with roasted veggies and salad, followed by a frosted zucchini bread. The menus, posted to the Facebook page each week, are substantial and worth the outing. Not only is the food delicious, but sharing meals is an effective way to build relationships. Megan said, “When we are around the table, our walls come down and the usual barriers of social or economic status keeping people apart are able to dissolve. Eating together allows us to enjoy another person, our neighbor, simply for who they are, and value one another with presence. The table is a special place where community grows stronger with each meal and each connection no matter how big or small.” Finally, if the food isn’t enough of an incentive, the building adds another layer. The society’s building has storefronts on the interior, making a very unique dining hall.
The dinners have grown since starting last year, so much so that they are switching to two dinners each Tuesday starting on November 8th. This move will help continue the warmth of the dinner and build real relationships, since that is the purpose after all. The dinners all include a brief devotional and prayer for the group, as the dinners are also meant to inspire “...authentic conversations about Christ with friends who care.” The volunteers share Christ with the community via a warm meal and healthy conversations, welcoming those who also would just like some food.
Since there are always ways to improve our town, I asked Megan how she would encourage people to make Marysville more lovely, and she said, “I would encourage people to find intentional ways to step outside of their usual routines and start spending time making new friends! Volunteering in the community is a great way to start. When we connect with others around us, we help each other and realize we are not alone and that each person has something special to offer.” Perhaps, as a step towards making new friends, you could visit a dinner some Tuesday night, and tell them the Marysville Sun sent you!
☀️Friday Fun
Sharing turns, sharing joy.
