Dear Community,
This Sunday, we will continue exploring the theme of “Pilgrimage” as we celebrate the Jewish High Holy days of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Why do we celebrate these days of awe?
Every year, I appreciate celebrating these Days of Awe, because of my Jewish heritage which is shared by others in the congregation, because of the beauty and meaning I find in these rituals, and because as a Unitarian Universalist I annually need to travel the journey between celebration and repentance. Celebrating fosters the joy that is inherent in the Beloved Community. Repenting and being forgiven are the essential acts of renewing covenants that have been strained or broken. As we experience the High Holidays for ourselves this weekend, we also recognize, appreciate, and honor Judaism and Jewish people.
During our service Rev. John and I will perform a ritual tomorrow in which we will burn paper upon which our individual and collective confessions are written. This can be a powerful moment of repentance, moving one away from regret and towards right living. Every year, a child will wait to hear that their accidentally harming or upsetting of a sibling is forgiven. Or that our impatience towards a family member is forgiven. Or that the impact of our ignorance or unintended insults can be eclipsed. Infidelity. Cruelty. Harm. Indifference. All named, all forgiven. This year, as we consider our covenantal community, I wonder if there are things for which you would like to be forgiven for at UUCA?
It would be so helpful if you considered, right now as you are reading this, what you most want to be forgiven for and then share your answer(s) through this anonymous link. You may also use this QR code:
If celebrating at home, you will probably want to get some apples sliced and honey (or whatever dietary alternatives) ready, so you can taste the sweetness of the New Year with us.
Thank you for joining us in this joyous, tender, intentional, reforming, and pattern-setting celebration during this season.
I leave you with a poem to help you reflect on the spiritual work of these holidays that lie ahead for us.
“The birthday of the world”
by Marge Piercy
On the birthday of the world
I begin to contemplate
what I have done and left
undone, but this year
not so much rebuilding
of my perennially damaged
psyche, shoring up eroding
friendships, digging out
stumps of old resentments
that refuse to rot on their own.
No, this year I want to call
myself to task for what
I have done and not done
for peace. How much have
I dared in opposition?
How much have I put
on the line for freedom?
For mine and others?
As these freedoms are pared,
sliced and diced, where
have I spoken out? Who
have I tried to move? In
this holy season, I stand
self-convicted of sloth
in a time when lies choke
the mind and rhetoric
bends reason to slithering
choking pythons. Here
I stand before the gates
opening, the fire dazzling
my eyes, and as I approach
what judges me, I judge
myself. Give me weapons
of minute destruction. Let
my words turn into sparks.
Yours in ministry,
Rev. Anastassia