Last week, Murdock Trust staff and our families gathered for our staff holiday party. One of my favorite memories from last year’s event was singing carols alongside Broadway Rose Theater, a local nonprofit that performed on stage. At one point, I led the entire group in singing a hymn that is dear to my heart. Memories like these are the true hallmark of the holiday season for me because they engage us in something that is both unified and unifying. I once read from the Greater Good Science Center (GCSG) at U.C. Berkeley that there is more science to singing than we know: that singing has material impact on social cohesion and our health.
In a recent webinar we hosted on civic engagement, Curtis Chang suggested the power of singing as a community-building act. In polarized times, joining voices with those around us, whether at a religious service or concert or holiday staff party, can be a unifying act. As we focus our attention on the words and tune, we find something common to share: love of the melody, belief in the words, or simply joy in the act of making beauty together. It is also a reminder of the ways that arts and culture contribute to one of our core focus areas: Civic Engagement and Community Services.
The holiday season offers us many chances to – literally and figuratively – raise our voices with one another and work toward the vision of flourishing we share. It often draws into community with family, friends, loved ones, and strangers. We come face-to-face with what unites us and sometimes with what divides us.
As communities gather this season to go caroling, serve at soup kitchens, light Christmas trees, and wrap gifts for children, we are given chances to focus on the things we collectively cherish. These are not always easy weeks, whether they bring back grief, cause extra financial pressure, or simply fill our schedules too full to enjoy. Yet, I have also found them to contain unique opportunities to gather, give, and focus on the beauty brimming around us all the time. They are times to dig into our own creative spirit as lights, crafts, and experiential activities come into full bloom.
In the metaphoric song of this season, whether you are harmonizing melodiously or still trying to find your key, I wish you delight in the power of joining your voice with others. May you find chances to build memories with those for whom love comes easy and those for whom love takes work. And may it refocus us all on the vision of human flourishing that motivates our work in the nonprofit sector year-round.
Wishing you all a holiday season full of belonging and beauty in all the obvious and mysterious ways that it can found. Let’s continue to show up for one another.