Many Happy Returns

It is one of the warmest memories of my childhood. It was consistent and friendly and comforting.

The church was a little white wooden building on a rural highway in Indiana, surrounded by corn fields and little houses on black top roads. I think it has a small white steeple, donated by a Sunday school class of long ago.

The name was lovely to me. Somerset. It was reportedly named after the hometown of the founding families: Somerset, Kentucky.

If it were in my mother's control, we did not miss a Sunday. Usually it WAS in her control. :)

Rituals I learned there are comforting to me, especially in times of worry or sorrow. One ritual we had was singing Happy Birthday to any child who was brave enough to walk to the front of the sanctuary and drop coins into the small white plastic church. I was MORTIFIED at the thought. Never did it.

The ritual I really liked was when an adult had a birthday. He/She would stand and the congregation would chant in unison:

"Many happy returns, on the day of thy birth,
May sunshine and gladness be given.
And my you prepare yourself on earth,
For a beautiful birthday in Heaven".

I have been hearing that chant and it gives me great comfort. What gifts are you giving our children that will comfort them later? A poem, a Bible verse, maybe a family story...there is great comfort in rituals and words and I hope we can pass that on to our children.