October 2003
Real generosity toward the future consists
in giving all to what is present.
—Albert Camus
Every October, just once each
year, we focus on brass tacks: how will we support our congregation,
the Church of the Larger Fellowship, during the next calendar
year? As it turns out, there is no one but us in our enthusiasm
as members to support our programs and pay the bills. We hope
this issue of Quest will encourage you to pledge generously
this fall so that 2004 will be the best year ever.
Jane Rzepka, minister
Church of the Larger Fellowship
Please be generous if you get a call during the CLF phon-a-thon
early in October.
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No
One But Us
by Denny Davidoff, board member, Church of the Larger
Fellowship, Norwalk, Connecticut
There was once a rich man who was on his deathbed. He gathered
his children around his bedside and said to them, “My
children, I want you to sell everything I have. I want to
liquidate all my assets and turn them into cash so that I
can take them with me when I go.”
The children were upset but he insisted. He said, “I
know that they say that ‘you can’t take it with
you,’ but I don’t believe that.” So they
buried him together with all his cash.
The man arrives at The World to Come and meets the angel
Gabriel and shows him all the money that he has brought with
him. And Gabriel says to him, “Sir, you don’t
understand. Here, cash is not legal tender. Here, the only
thing that counts is receipts.
This is the kind of story my maternal grandmother told me
when I was a little girl. Her name was Fanny but her husband
and brothers called her Fega. She had a lot of these stories,
she told them well, and the stories took. This one is, I think,
more than a cute tale because it expresses an important truth.
In the end what really counts is not how much we have, but
what we have done with it, how many we have helped, how much
we have shared. In the end, our only permanent possession
is that which we have given away.
My sermon title is taken from the gospel according to a contemporary
prophet, Annie Dillard, as she has written:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall
stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is
no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the
face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation
comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at
an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead—as
if innocence had ever been—and our children busy and
troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each
of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded
to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown
exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak and involved. But
there is no one but us. There never has been.
My husband, Jerry, and I became church-going Unitarians in
the fall of 1960. We belong to, and I think we have come to
belong in, The Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut.
In the forty-three years we have been members of the Westport
community, we have, like so many of you, done it all. We have
taught 7th graders about Jesus, staying one gospel ahead of
the students. He, and then I, have served on two succeeding
search committees. (Mine recommended Frank Hall, who is now
in his nineteenth year of ministry among us. Not that I’m
competitive or anything.) We have been canvassers and nominators
and board members. We have brought tons of potluck salads,
main dishes, desserts and hors d’oeuvres. We have been
in the “in” crowd. And we have been on the outs,
daring to defend the grungy youth group in the early 70’s
when the Board voted to disband them, and risking the wrath
of our minister and our lay sisters and brothers when we were
among the breathtakingly reckless who embraced the “extended
family” movement of the late 70’s, which had wafted
east from California. We have loved and loathed. We have fought
some good fights and initiated some good practices. We have
let our passions get the better of us. I have, I confess,
stalked out of church on at least three occasions and vowed
to never set foot in the damn place again.
But I’ll tell you what we have always done. Consistently.
Pledged and paid. Pledged and paid. Pledged and paid. When
our older son and his wife moved 22 years ago, they joined
a Unitarian Universalist Church. They were just starting their
careers and money was not in plentiful supply. I well remember
their consternation upon learning that their modest pledge,
or so it seemed to them, put them among the highest givers
in the congregation. Somehow, along the way, we have instilled
in our sons a devotion to Unitarian Universalism as a faith
and as a movement and a sense of responsibility for supporting
the member congregations to which they belong. (Of course,
they also have DNA from Fega.)
I think they somehow know what I know, what I hope you know,
bone deep. There is no one but us. No one to keep Unitarian
Universalism alive and flourishing but us. No one to get our
healing message out to a broken world but us. No one to pay
the printer and the postage but us. No one to train the ministers
and pay them with salary and health benefits and pension contributions
but us.
In the old blue hymnal I had a favorite hymn. But it was
beyond degenderizing for the valiant souls who brought the
current silver hymnbook into publication, so only a fragment
of the original verses remains. It is #374. “Since what
we choose is what we are, and what we love we yet shall be,
the goal may ever shine afar, the will to win it makes us
free.”
The will to win it makes us free. Now you know that free
has at least two meanings. One refers to liberation or a lack
of restraint, as another of our hymns suggests: “As
tranquil streams that meet and merge and flow as one to seek
the sea, our kindred hearts and minds unite to build a church
that shall be free.” The other free suggests lack of
payment. Do NOT confuse one with the other as my friend Goldberg
did.
Goldberg was a faithful Jew who went to synagogue every Friday
night, and Saturday mornings as well. He prayed with passion
and conviction. He prayed to win the lottery. Months and years
of prayer went by and Goldberg did not win the lottery. Not
once. Finally, in despair, he lost it and shouted to the Deity,
“God, I am a good man. I am a faithful man. I do no
harm to anyone. And I come to synagogue and pray regularly.
All I have ever asked of you is to, just once, let me win
the lottery. God, why have you not answered my prayers?”
Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder and a voice boomed out
from the heavens. “Goldberg, give me a break. Buy a
ticket!”
Today tickets are on sale. That’s what the Church of
the Larger Fellowship’s canvass is all about. So, if
you, like me, love being a Unitarian Universalist, if you
feel nurtured in this religion, grateful for the education
provided to children, comforted and appropriately discomforted
by the sermons available in Quest, give more generously than
you had planned. If you cherish our past, thrill to our social
witness, take pride in our liberal outlook and willingness
to risk telling our truth to a greedy American society and
a broken world, relinquish some fleeting pleasure or fancy
to sustain this community of hope. If you want this congregation
to do more, to be more, to survive and flourish, give not
what you can afford, but what will make you stretch and struggle.
“What can we do to stretch our hearts enough to lose
their littleness?” A. Powell Davies asked his All Souls,
Washington, congregation sixty years ago. That’s what
we all need to do. Stretch our hearts to lose their littleness.
There is no one but us.
Quest October 2003 Contents
CLF
Seeks Directors, Officers, and Nominating Committee Member
from the CLF Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee of the Church of the Larger Fellowship
seeks nominations of CLF members to fill the following positions
on the Board of Directors for the year
beginning June 2004:
- four directors for three-year terms
- treasurer for a one-year term
- clerk for a one-year term
Board members are responsible for setting CLF policy and
approving the annual budget. Members of the Board meet in
Boston twice annually, at General Assembly, and periodically
by telephone conference calls.
Nominations are also sought to fill the following position
on the Nominating Committee:
- member for a three-year term
The Nominating Committee is responsible for nominating new
board members. Most meetings are conducted by telephone.
You may nominate yourself or another CLF member for any of
these positions. Please use the reply envelope in this issue
of Quest to make your nominations and return it to CLF. You
can also send your nomination on a separate sheet of paper
to
CLF, Unitarian Universalist
Association, 25 Beacon Street,
Boston, MA 02108
or e-mail your nomination to CLF@uua.org.
Quest October 2003 Contents
Fitting
In: Young Adult Perspectives
by Eliza Blanchard, 2002-2003 ministerial intern,
Church of the Larger Fellowship
Where are our young liberal religious adults? A sampling
of new CLF members done last spring shows that only 11% of
members in the Church of the Larger Fellowship are under thirty-five
years old. In order to gain some insight into this underrepresented
group, we asked some young adult CLF members to share their
stories through Quest.
We found out that some of them work, some are students, and
some do both. One is the mother of a baby boy, working two
jobs and hoping she can return to school some day. Another
hails from Australia. One is completing divinity school and
another is just starting. One is studying in Kunming, China.
One studies computer science. Another writes, “I’d
love to get a degree in Japanese studies and another in religion.”
Yet another has just started graduate school in a new state
and hopes to find a “brick and mortar” church
nearby.
Their spiritual journeys also show determination and curiosity.
Scott Kasmire, who describes his religious background as varied,
attended a Catholic school in eighth grade and recalls having
lots of questions. He found answers to them under “Unitarian
Universalism” in an encyclopedia, but he didn’t
join for ten more years. While serving in the navy, he joined
a large congregation in Fort Myers, Florida. He says, “I
had once heard the late Reverend Josiah Bartlett preach there
while he was interim minister. I blame him more than any other
for my attraction to UUism.”
 Julie
Fitzer says she was “raised and confirmed a Methodist
but was never conventional in my thinking.” Doing research
on Ralph Waldo Emerson in high school led her to explore the
UU Website and eventually try a church. When on break from
her studies she visits the Lutherville, Maryland church.
Like others, Jana Watson, from Phoenix, Arizona, found UUism
by doing research on another topic. She went to the UUA Website
and found it “interesting, so I bought a couple of books
and decided to get into it deeper.” She’s satisfied
because “I am able to maintain my personal beliefs and
still be part of an ‘organized religion.’”
She has trouble getting to the fellowship in Glendale, and
she’s very happy to have the CLF in which to develop
her religious
community.
The need for religious community and a minister’s recommendation
brought Georgette Eck to the CLF. “In college I had
a very Christian roommate freshman year who was curious about
my faith, and I had a lot missing. I decided to reconnect
with my spirituality. It was hard for me to get to the fellowship
in my area. Now, here I am.”
When asked what this congregation provides that nourishes
them, these young adults contributed a variety of responses.
They are appreciative of being connected to others; they feel
helped in tough times and in times of change. The CLF’s
electronic community and the list especially for college-age
CLF young adults are highly valued vehicles for connection.
Says Julie Fitzer about the on-line community, “I am
amazed at the quality of the people and their honesty with
each other. I also discovered that others can find value in
me.” And, like most CLFers, young adults enjoy Quest.
Not surprisingly for UUs, these young adults had lots to
offer in the way of suggestions for what the CLF and the UUA
could offer young people. For example, they’d like to
see more religious education geared to young adults, and more
Internet presence in general. Others seek ways to gain greater
religious
identity—social justice issues were raised as being
important vehicles for the voices of young adults. Georgette
suggests the mentoring of younger members by older ones in
a pen pal setting as a way to deepen a sense of community.
Jana urges the CLF and UU world in general to teach young
adults a sense of responsibility “to ourselves, each
other, the community, and to help us to face those responsibilities
and overcome any fears we might have regarding them.”
It’s clear we all have much to gain by enlarging the
circle of this congregation and Unitarian Universalism. These
voices bring energy and creativity to the conversation. To
all who are young adults, do you have any additional thoughts?
Are you interested in working to make some of these things
happen? How can we better support all of our members in their
visions and goals, their energy and their passion? Please
let us know: clf@uua.org.
Quest October 2003 Contents
...“We
can only do this if each CLFer considers
how important this congregation is.”...
—Brad
Greeley, Portsmouth, New Hampshire |
 “In
the past 10 years, I have found CLF an incredibly
valuable resource for curricula, worship materials,
inspiration and support. So often people will
ask me how we manage in our fellowship and what
advice I would give to others starting out….
I tell them about CLF.”
—Janet
Kusler
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
 “As
mother of two Muslim daughters, and a permanent
resident of Morocco, I want to thank you for the
recent Quest article on the contribution
of Islam to our religious and cultural heritage.”
 —Ann
Lightfoot Habafy
Mohammedia, Morocco
“I just read Rosemary
Bray McNatt's sermon while I'm eating lunch at
my desk. Thank you, thank you for sending me this
nourishment and sustenance.”
—The
Rev. Karen
“You
make a real difference in my life…”
—Norma
Randall-Myers, Millstone West Virginia |
Day, minister
Greenville NC, CLF donor
 “Inspiring
material—I share each issue with a parishioner
who is 93 years vital.”
—The
Rev. Richard Kimball
Cambridge, Massachusetts
I hear you way out here
in rural West Virginia. You make a real difference
in my life, and have, at times during our 10 year
tenure here, been a spiritual lifeline.”
—Norma
Randall-Myers
Millstone, West Virginia
 “We
had beautiful celebrations of my husband’s
life in both Germany and Nebraska, and readings
that we had saved from Quest issues over
the years helped to make the memorial service personal
and reflected his positive outlook on life….
Many thanks to you and your staff for consistently
managing to
“Here
in the Bible Belt, the arrival of Quest
is an important event.”
—Carmen
Robertson, Cape Girardeau, MO. |
compile thought-provoking Quests. There is
always some ‘food for the soul’ to ponder
over.”
—Katie
Stinson
Alling, Germany
“We, Carol and I,
have so many happy memories of CLF doings which
surge to the fore with each issue of Quest
we receive. I have a host of memories from my
10 years on the UUA Board, the GA Planning Committee,
Vice Moderator of UUA, Secretary of UUA and the
"Award For Distinguished Service" from
the UUA. My years on the CLF Board plus the many
years as its Treasurer easily tops all the others.”
—Bill
and Carol Donovan
Foxboro, Massachusetts
Make
Your Pledge
Dear
CLFer:
 The
summer has faded into the bright colors of fall
and with that season comes renewed activity in
schools and churches. It is the time we begin
our annual every-member canvass to raise the funds
we need to keep the CLF alive and well.
The efforts of last year
are coming into flower now. We have several new
folks in our office to help serve you. Helen Zidowecki,
acting director of religious education, and Lynn
Ungar, Quest editor, are taking over where
others have left off. We have a new intern minister,
Norma Nakai Burton, and our prison ministry is
growing. And, at last, we have a cyberminister,
Jone Johnson Lewis. Our on-line ministry has been
growing substantially and we are proud and pleased
as we contemplate what this will mean for our
congregation—for you—in the coming
months.
Our program review is going
to help us continue to sharpen our offerings to
suit the needs you’ve expressed. The results
are in and our refocusing has begun.
As always, Quest
will be in your mail regularly—still the
very best newsletter for Unitarian Universalist
thought and meditation, education and information
anywhere. We will have clergy available for consultation
and support should you wish to contact us by phone
or e-mail. Your church is ready like never before
to guide you in your religious journey.
As always, we can only
do this if each CLFer seriously considers how
important this congregation is and translates
that sense of worth into an annual pledge of support.
It is your turn to act. Please fill out the enclosed
pledge envelope with your hope for the CLF and
yourself reflected in a generous pledge—more
than last year, if possible. The success—and
the survival—of CLF depends upon the dedication
of each and every member. We can’t do it
without you!
Thank you,
Bradford W. Greeley,
Chair, CLF Board of Directors
Make
Your Pledge
How to
give to CLF
Like any church, CLF depends
on the financial support of its members. Membership
brings with it the responsibility to make and
fulfill a pledge for the calendar year, and we
make our plans based on those pledges.
You may make a financial
contribution in a variety
of ways.
- Use the envelope found
each month in Quest for your checks.
- Contribute by credit
card (Visa, MC, or Discover). Pay in full or
set up an automatic monthly credit card withdrawal
by contacting Donna Dudley at the CLF office
(ddudley@uua.org
or 617-948-6160).
- Use our website to
set up your contribution at www.clfuu.org/giving/pledge.html.
In addition, we hope you
will communicate with the church office about
changes in address, telephone number, or email
address, or to give us feedback about your experience
in the church.
We need and welcome your
contribution to CLF whether or not you are a member
of the CLF. Sponsors help us to help those who
cannot give much.
If it is a hardship for
you to make a pledge, you should understand that
you are welcome here whether or not you can contribute.
In this case, please contact the
minister or the administrator.
Make
Your Pledge
What
Should I Give to CLF?
Sometimes I am asked what
a member should give to CLF. It’s a good
question at this time of year when our annual
canvass (and phone-a-thon) is held. Last winter
the CLF Board asked the same question and members
came up with some suggested guidelines. Of course,
we recognize that some CLFers pledge to other
congregations, and the diversity of income among
us is as great as any UU congregation. However,
for your consideration, here are the Board-suggested
guidelines for CLF members:
| Annual Income |
Annual Suggested
Pledge |
| $125,000 or more |
$500+ |
| $100,000-125,000 |
$400 |
| $80,000-$100,000 |
$350 |
| $60,000-80,000 |
$300 |
| $40,000-60,000 |
$250 |
| $20,000-40,000 |
$100 |
| $20,000 or less |
$50 |
These amounts are reflective
of the current costs per member of the services
and work of this congregation. If each member
were able to donate $250 annually, for example,
we could balance our budget. We, of course, recognize
that some members may be able to give more and
some less.
An alternative guideline
of “Outstanding Support” is a gift
of 1-2% of one’s annual income. Several
CLF members, including some members of the Board
of Directors, meet this outstanding level. Regardless
of our formulae, you are the one to decide, and
your contribution, whatever the amount, is greatly
appreciated.
The Rev. Charles A.
Gaines, Chair, Fundraising Committee
Make
Your Pledge
|
|
From Your Minister
by Jane Rzepka, minister, Church of the Larger Fellowship
The Marker's Meaning
(Excerpted from a sermon given at the CLF worship service
at General Assembly, 2003, in Boston, Massachusetts)
Some years back I read a story in the Indianapolis Star.
It was a Sunday paper kind of an article about finding happiness.
“The truth is,” says the column, “the real
secret to happiness isn’t a secret at all. It’s
just not that pleasant a truth. Nor does it rhyme. Which is
why it is never cross-stitched, hung over the fireplace or
emblazoned on tote bags. The secret to happiness is realizing
that life is often hard.”
A local colleague, Wendy Bell, used to talk about riding
the bus on her commute through a suburb called Arlington Heights.
You have to remember that even suburbs are very old here in
the Boston area, by American standards at least, and Wendy
would sit there on the bus and watch out the window until
she saw it. She would sit there on the bus and sooner or later
there it would be, the monument—the stone marker—the
one that tells the account of one day in the life of Samuel
Whittemore.
 “On
April 19th, 1775,” the marker reads, “Samuel Whittemore
was shot, bayoneted, beaten and left for dead.” He was
eighty years old. Dr. Tufts, of Medford, declared that it
was useless to dress Mr. Whittemore’s wounds.
Each of us has some pretty tough days. And it’s not
always the big-time tough stuff like literally being left
for dead that gets us—it’s the lost sock that
can just as easily put us over the edge, or running out of
cat food, or remembering to save that all-important computer
file just as the screen goes blank. But whatever it is, whether
your child won’t sleep through the night or your feelings
for your partner are clearly waning, whatever it is…at
least you are not Samuel Whittemore on his “no good
very bad day.” Thus far, no matter how bad it feels,
you have not actually been shot, bayoneted, beaten and left
for dead.
We are Unitarian Universalists, and our salvation comes,
historically at least, in “salvation by character.”
We believe there is something wonderful inside us—you
could call it inherent dignity and worth—that allows
us to work toward good character, wholeness, healing, and
all that is good. We have within us a little core of natural
hope—some bit of hopeful life that lies waiting to spring
into action. And even better, most UUs don’t just sit
and wait, we act to realize that hope, that life, that wholeness.
In spite of the difficulties in our own experience and of
life in the larger world, we do what we can. Therein lies
our Unitarian Universalist salvation.
Rabbi Harold Schulwies writes in a poem: “We have seen
Yitzhak Perlman / Who walks the stage with braces on both
legs, / On two crutches. / He takes his seat, unhinges the
clasps of his legs, / Tucking one leg back, extending the
other, / Laying down his crutches, placing the violin under
his chin. / On one occasion one of his violin strings broke.
/ The audience grew silent but the violinist didn't leave
the stage. / He signaled the maestro, and the orchestra began
its part. / The violinist played with power and intensity
on only three strings. / With three strings, he modulated,
changed, and / Recomposed the piece in his head. / He retuned
the strings to get different sounds, / Turned them upward
and downward. / The audience screamed delight, / Applauded
their appreciation. / Asked later how he had accomplished
this feat, / The violinist answered / It is my task to make
music with what remains. / A legacy mightier than a concert.
/ Make music with what remains. / Complete the song left for
us to sing, / Transcend the loss, / Play it out with heart,
soul, and might / With all remaining strength within us. [“Playing
with Three Strings,” in Dancing on the Edge of the
World, Miriyam Glazer, ed.]
That hope, that strength, that “salvation by character,”
is what we Unitarian Universalists have looked for for many
generations. We have found that people have a light inside.
We have a spirit. We bounce back. Maybe politically, maybe
spiritually or psychologically, or medically, or morally.
Sometimes in small ways—you got up and wrote a pretty
decent letter to your local newspaper this morning even though
your coffee maker let you down, or you ran an extra mile along
the river. You can feel some hope inside, a little glow inside,
hope for the world and for us all. Your power and your zest
comes back—you can feel it in your fingers and toes,
you can imagine a time when lessons will have been learned—a
few lessons anyway—a time when your efforts and
our efforts together will pay off and no one—no
one—is ever left for dead.
Which reminds me. The marker's meaning. Samuel Whittemore's
marker. You remember, eighty years old in 1775, shot, bayoneted,
beaten and left for dead in Arlington. Samuel Whittemore survived
that day. More than survived. He recovered and lived to be
98 years old.
Life, the world, it can all get pretty desperate—shot,
bayoneted, beaten and left for dead. But we believe in the
light of life, in that something inside that can awaken and
shine and sing all songs of hope.
Quest October 2003 Contents
REsources
for Living
by Liz Lerner, minister, UU Church of Silver Springs,
Maryland
Because Dan Harper has left for his new position in Berkeley,
California, and our new religious educator, Helen Zidowecki,
hasn't yet begun, we've invited a guest contributor to write
for us this month. We welcome the Rev. Liz Lerner to our religious
education page.
The Jewish month of Tishrei, which comes during September
and/or October, brings Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
At this time in the Jewish calendar, people wish each other
“La shanah tovah,” which means “a
good new year.” In Biblical lands this is the beginning
of the rainy season, but for those in the Northern Hemisphere
it comes at the end of summer. The carefree days of bare skin,
warm nights, iced tea, popsicles, school vacation, and travels
are past. Things are cooling off, and the mind turns to preparedness
and the cold days ahead.
The Bible refers to Rosh Hashanah as the day of remembrance
of creation—the birthday of all that is. It’s
a birthday everyone shares—all of us—not only
with our ancestors but also with the grass outside and trees
and stones and sky and the animals and all their ancestors.
Rosh Hashanah is an upbeat holiday with celebration and special
foods: round challah instead of the usual long loaves. Round
challah is hopeful bread; it symbolizes the unending cycles
of life. Dipped in honey along with apples, it invokes a sweet,
fresh new year. People wear new clothes and gather in festive
parties of families and friends to welcome in the new year.
Blowing the Shofar, the ram's horn, is another special tradition
of the day. Jewish tradition offers many interpretations of
the Shofar’s meaning. The sound of the Shofar reminds
the people of the special time they are beginning. It invokes
the divine, and Jews believe it reminds God of the people
who are offering prayers, confessions, hopes and works of
aspiration for better lives with each passing year.
Rosh Hashanah is followed by the ten “Days of Awe,”
so called because they are a time of reckoning, for getting
right with oneself, loved ones, and the world, making sure
we are starting the new year with a clean slate. It’s
a time for apology. Many people, myself included, call our
loved ones and apologize for anything we’ve done to
hurt or wrong them and ask their forgiveness. Even something
as slight as an insulting comment can be a wrong that must
be redressed.
At the end of the Days of Awe is Yom Kippur, a solemn holiday
marked by fasting, mindfulness and worship. This is the day
when judgments are made, decisions final. If you haven’t
made things right by then, you’re risking everything.
Jews speak of being written at Yom Kippur into the book of
life for another year—or not, depending on how things
go. And how things go depends on what people themselves do,
change, repair or renew. Remorse alone isn’t enough.
Not even confession is enough—action, accepted atonement
is required.
My grandmother used to bake a special apple cake at this
time each year, called rachmones. This is a Yiddish version
of the Hebrew word for “mercy.” She didn’t
call it rachmones for theological reasons. It was an actual,
tangible mercy; her household of males came home from the
synagogue ravenous from the day of fasting for Yom Kippur
and her apple cake, by gum, was as merciful as any blessing
ever was by the time they got to it.
Round challah, apple cake, and even the water that flows
through the world, remind us of how connected we are to this
world and to each other. Despite the flaws inherent in each
of us, and in this riven world we share, we are all free to
start again, and again, and again, to call others to join
us, to ask and offer forgiveness, to rejoice in a new year
together. Rachmones, mercy, is as powerful and good
as any blessing on earth.
Family Activity
The Jewish New Year, and a new church year, is a good time
to check in with ourselves and with those we love. In your
family you may wish to give everyone time to reflect on ways
they might have hurt each other or grudges they might be holding.
Then, either going around a circle or one on one, give everyone
the opportunity to apologize and ask forgiveness. Everything
from acts of ecological carelessness to stifling your own
or another’s creativity are appropriate to confess.
When you're finished asking for forgiveness, share bread or
apples dipped in honey, and finish by wishing each other “La
shanah tovah!” (If you’d like to make your
own challah, there are plenty of recipes on-line. Try www.holidays.net/highholydays/recipes/hhchall.htm
for one example.)
As you approach the High Holy days, you may want to reflect
on these questions, either by yourself on with a small group:
- In your own experience, is forgiveness hard or easy?
- Have you thought about it theologically before?
- Which model of forgiveness feels more familiar: forgiving
by turning the other cheek to a wrong by another, or forgiving
by acknowledging and working through the problem?
- If you do acknowledge the problem, is it usually by having
someone who hurt you ask you to forgive them, or do you
initiate the encounter?
- Are you comfortable asking people to forgive? What can
make it easy? What can make it hard?
- Would you say that working though hurt, atonement, and
forgiveness has led to an opportunity for renewal in your
life? Of a relationship? Within yourself?
Quest October 2003 Contents
A
Time to Turn
It is a holy time, this turning of the year.
A faint chill starts to hover in the air.
You think about unpacking your wool sweaters,
then do it. A few leaves change from green to yellow,
and drop gently to the earth.
These are the Days of Awe.
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
A holy presence hovers in the air.
And you are asked
to unpack your very heart,
to turn with the turning of the year.
To drop humbly and gently to the earth
and praise the Source of Life,
the breath that gives you breath.
—by the Rev. Nurya Love Parish, Pastoral Care
Minster, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Quest October 2003 Contents
Did
You Know
...that the CLF has an RE website called “Between Sundays”
designed to answer children’s difficult questions? Check
it out at www.clfuu.org/betweensundays.
Quest October 2003 Contents
Last updated June 12, 2005
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