The first of the Twelve Days of Thanksgiving is Diversity Sunday.

While Diversity Sunday may not be as important as Remembrance Thursday or Harvest Thursday itself, this introduction to the celebration is vital to the full vision of Thanksgiving, as we remember that good things come to our lives through meetings.

These may be meetings of different opinions, as in the Continental Congress where America’s Founders met. They may be meetings of different families, as at a wedding, or different religions, as in the Christmas story of three Magi traveling to Judea. They may be different cultures, or even different business theories or scientific hypotheses. All new things, and therefore all new good things, come to our lives through meetings with others.

It is important to value diversity not simply for the sake of conflict-aversion, a “politically correct” way of not hurting anyone’s feelings, but to value it in full and rational recognition of the great value that difference plays in individual and societal growth. Diversity is a rational expression of the virtue of Hope, openness to good turns in life.

And, for Reform Unitarians this day’s message of being open to diversity is particularly meaningful as it falls on Sunday, the Holy Day for Christians of many other denominations.