Month: December 2021
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Shabbat shalom
The relation with man is the real simile of the relation with God; in it true address receives true response; except that in God’s response everything, the universe, is made manifest as language. Martin Buber, I and Thou, translated by Ronald Gregor Smith, Scribner Classics, 2000 (1958), 99. Image: “Sabbath,” Max Weber, from Wikipedia Loves […]
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Reflecting on Genesis 4 1-16
What thoughts and feelings do we have as we read the story of the first murder? Do we grieve for Abel? Find ourselves empathizing, at least a little, with Cain? Or for Adam and Eve, who lose both of their children in a single day? Or do we have thoughts about God’s role in this […]
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Christmas Books
It wouldn’t really be Christmas without books. Christmas was a much lower key event this year for our family than it has been in years past. This turned out to be delightful. Nevertheless, we did all exchange bookstore gift cards, because that’s the kind of family we are. And we did make the obligatory Christmas […]
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Studying Genesis 4 1-16
We will be ringing in the new year with anger, violence, sin, and consequences, because we are studying Genesis 4:1-16, the story of Cain and Abel, for Sunday, January 2. In the context of our lessons this quarter on “justice, law, and history,” we seem to be meant to consider how both divine justice and […]
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Distance
We had class yesterday morning entirely by zoom, which is possible now that we’ve had a global pandemic and all needed to master this technology for remote conversation. I’m glad for that – for the technology, and for the being able to have class, and that people still want to have class when some of […]
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First Sunday after Christmas (C)
Call to Worship (based on Luke 2:41-52) Don’t we know … This is a place for surprise, a place for the unexpected.This is a place for finding what is lost, or what is sought.This is a place for hearing and learning anew.This is a place for a sigh of relief, the end of a journey […]
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Merry Christmas!
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good […]
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Shabbat shalom
… whoever heard [Rabbi Aaron of Karlan] pray was seized by the love for God. But the picture becomes complete only through the words the same zaddik [Shneur Zalman] said about Rabbi Aaron’s great fear of God after his death. His love was only the flowering of his fear, for only through great fear – […]
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Reflecting on Nahum 1 1-3, 6-8, 12-13, 15
What is the relationship of vengeance, or punishment, to justice, do we think? Do we have the idea that forgiveness is morally superior to vengeance – and if so, why is that? Where does that idea come from? Or do we feel the moral acceptability of vengeance, or forgiveness, depends in any way on what […]
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Studying Nahum 1 1-3, 6-8, 12-13, 15
Dire days of destruction are coming – or rather, have come, if we decide to take that approach to the first chapter of Nahum, which we are studying for Sunday, December 26. That is: the dire predictions of the prophet of the destruction of the Assyrian city of Nineveh have already come to pass. The […]
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The Darkest Evening of the Year
According to timeanddate.com, sunset tonight is 5:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, after 9 hours, 30 minutes, and 22 seconds of daylight. That’s 15 seconds more daylight than we had last year on the same momentous occasion. I’m grateful for every extra second. I get this way every year, feeling a deep kinship with those ancient […]
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Sanctuary
What does it mean to be “close to home”? We’ve been reflecting on the various meanings of “home,” our little congregation, this Advent. And yesterday’s fourth Sunday of Advent focused on the idea of “sanctuary” – “somewhere God’s love dwells freely and abundantly.” How we need that. Need that ourselves. And then, can be that […]
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Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
Call to Worship based on Luke 1:39-55 God of hope and expectationYour promises call to usfrom the future you have prepared,call to us from the fullness of time,inviting us, and whetting our appetitefor good things.Already we feel your new life taking shape;We long to meet that new life face to face.Let us welcome the transformationGod […]
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Shabbat shalom
From our life with nature we can lift out the ‘physical’ world, the world of consistency, from our life with [others] the ‘psychical’ world, the world of sensibility, and from our life with spiritual beings the ‘noetic’ world, the world of validity. But now their transparency, and with it their meaning, has been taken from […]
Matters of Interpretation 