Prayers for the season
Sunlight streamed through the large Palladian window in Appleton Chapel, casting soft rays on the rich, red poinsettias decorating the intimate space for the final Morning Prayers of the year. As the fall academic session wound toward a close, so too did the time-honored Harvard tradition of music, prayer, and a brief address in Harvard’s Memorial Church, until next semester. The festive plants in the serene space celebrated the holiday season, one that can elicit conflicts as well as joy, said the Rev. Wendel W. “Tad” Meyer, who became associate minister for administration last December, and is acting Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church. There is the “stark wilderness of Advent,” said Meyer, which is contrasted with “the rich and heady domain of the holiday season.” Many homes, with their bright decorations, colorful traditions, festive foods, and gathered families and friends, reflect the beauty, rhythms, and rituals of the holiday season. Yet, Meyer...