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Yom Kippur 2023

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , ,

Yom Kippur 2023 began on the evening of Sun, Sept 24 and ends on the evening of Mon, Sept 25.

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year, when we are closest to G‑d and to the essence of our souls. Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement,” as the verse states, “For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before  G-d.” — chabad.org

May our time … today enable each of us to order our souls and release what needs releasing, to savor the journey we are on singly and together, to delve deep into the layers of who we are and who we have been and who we hope to become, and to trust, and embrace, the changes which are coming. — Rabbi Rachel Barenbat

Our lives are finite, but when we try to do right by each other and by our world we align ourselves with the flow of spirit and love. And our tradition teaches: that flow of spirit and love is eternal. More eternal even than plastic. When we transmit memory to the generations that will follow, we become part of something that is forever. And when we commit to deeds of justice and righteousness in memory of those who are gone, we uplift the best of who we can be. — Rabbi Rachel Barenbat

KOL NIDREI:

ASHMANU (confession as part of Viddui prayer on Yom Kippur):

SONGS about FORGIVENESS & LETTING GO:

Yom Kippur 1984 — Adrienne Rich

I drew solitude over me, on the long shore. —Robinson Jeffers, “Prelude”  

For whoever does not afflict his soul through this day, shall be
cut off from his people.  —Leviticus 23:29

What is a Jew in solitude?

What would it mean not to feel lonely or afraid

far from your own or those you have called your own?

What is a woman in solitude:   a queer woman or man?

In the empty street, on the empty beach, in the desert

what in this world as it is can solitude mean?

 

The glassy, concrete octagon suspended from the cliffs

with its electric gate, its perfected privacy

is not what I mean

the pick-up with a gun parked at a turn-out in Utah or the Golan Heights

is not what I mean

the poet’s tower facing the western ocean, acres of forest planted to the east, the woman reading in the cabin, her attack dog suddenly risen

is not what I mean

 

Three thousand miles from what I once called home

I open a book searching for some lines I remember

about flowers, something to bind me to this coast as lilacs in the dooryard once

bound me back there—yes, lupines on a burnt mountainside,

something that bloomed and faded and was written down

in the poet’s book, forever:

Opening the poet’s book

I find the hatred in the poet’s heart: . . . the hateful-eyed

and human-bodied are all about me: you that love multitude may have them

 

Robinson Jeffers, multitude

is the blur flung by distinct forms against these landward valleys

and the farms that run down to the sea; the lupines

are multitude, and the torched poppies, the grey Pacific unrolling its scrolls of surf,

and the separate persons, stooped

over sewing machines in denim dust, bent under the shattering skies of harvest

who sleep by shifts in never-empty beds have their various dreams

Hands that pick, pack, steam, stitch, strip, stuff, shell, scrape, scour, belong to a brain like no other

Must I argue the love of multitude in the blur or defend

a solitude of barbed-wire and searchlights, the survivalist’s final solution, have I a choice?

 

To wander far from your own or those you have called your own

to hear strangeness calling you from far away

and walk in that direction, long and far, not calculating risk

to go to meet the Stranger without fear or weapon, protection nowhere on your mind

(the Jew on the icy, rutted road on Christmas Eve prays for another Jew

the woman in the ungainly twisting shadows of the street:   Make those be a woman’s footsteps; as if she could believe in a woman’s god)

 

Find someone like yourself.   Find others.

Agree you will never desert each other.

Understand that any rift among you

means power to those who want to do you in.

Close to the center, safety; toward the edges, danger.

But I have a nightmare to tell:   I am trying to say

that to be with my people is my dearest wish

but that I also love strangers

that I crave separateness

I hear myself stuttering these words

to my worst friends and my best enemies

who watch for my mistakes in grammar

my mistakes in love.

This is the day of atonement; but do my people forgive me?

If a cloud knew loneliness and fear, I would be that cloud.

 

To love the Stranger, to love solitude—am I writing merely about privilege

about drifting from the center, drawn to edges,

a privilege we can’t afford in the world that is,

who are hated as being of our kind: faggot kicked into the icy river, woman dragged from her stalled car

into the mist-struck mountains, used and hacked to death

young scholar shot at the university gates on a summer evening walk, his prizes and studies nothing, nothing availing his Blackness

Jew deluded that she’s escaped the tribe, the laws of her exclusion, the men too holy to touch her hand;   Jew who has turned her back

on midrash and mitzvah (yet wears the chai on a thong between her breasts) hiking alone

found with a swastika carved in her back at the foot of the cliffs (did she die as queer or as Jew?)

 

Solitude, O taboo, endangered species

on the mist-struck spur of the mountain, I want a gun to defend you

In the desert, on the deserted street, I want what I can’t have:

your elder sister, Justice, her great peasant’s hand outspread

her eye, half-hooded, sharp and true

 

And I ask myself, have I thrown courage away?

have I traded off something I don’t name?

To what extreme will I go to meet the extremist?

What will I do to defend my want or anyone’s want to search for her spirit-vision

far from the protection of those she has called her own?

Will I find O solitude

your plumes, your breasts, your hair

against my face, as in childhood, your voice like the mockingbird’s

singing Yes, you are loved, why else this song?

in the old places, anywhere?

 

What is a Jew in solitude?

What is a woman in solitude, a queer woman or man?

When the winter flood-tides wrench the tower from the rock, crumble the prophet’s headland, and the farms slide into the sea

when leviathan is endangered and Jonah becomes revenger

when center and edges are crushed together, the extremities crushed together on which the world was founded

when our souls crash together, Arab and Jew, howling our loneliness within the tribes

when the refugee child and the exile’s child re-open the blasted and forbidden city

when we who refuse to be women and men as women and men are chartered, tell our stories of solitude spent in multitude

in that world as it may be, newborn and haunted, what will solitude mean?

IT’S YOM KIPPUR, AND I’M NOT FASTING — George Franklin

The first thing I thought of this morning

Was coffee, café au lait in a

Blue ceramic bowl, a slice of toast

Still warm in my hand. I didn’t even

Remember today was Yom Kippur.

I say I’m not observant, which sounds

Like I have poor eyesight but really

Means that when God and I have a chat

All I hear is a dial tone at

The other end of the line. I’m tired

Of imagining what doesn’t have

An image. There’re no burning bushes

In my backyard, just history that

Can’t be changed, redeemed, or atoned for.

God, I have too many images

In my head today, videos of

Villages captured and recaptured,

Reporters asking, “Can you tell us

Where the bodies are buried?” Someone

Points to a field, fresh-turned dirt not far

From a road. Eighty-one years ago,

They were the bodies of Jews in a

Ravine in Kyiv, now Ukrainians.

When can we say atoning doesn’t

Work? The Earth is full of graves, mass and

Singular. Trees send out roots to thread

Ribcages that insects and worms have

Already hollowed. Each year, the ground

Sinks a little. In the history

Of the world, no one ever went broke

Selling shovels. God, there is something

Wrong with people, and thousands of years

Of fasting hasn’t fixed it. Neither

Has prayer or the sacrifice of

Unblemished cattle or first-born sons.

The sun will set soon, and the day will

Be over. I was taught the gates of

Heaven swing closed then: no more prayers.

The ones who haven’t repented yet

Aren’t going to. Another year’s passed.

Men put on their jackets and walk home.

The LAYERS — Stanley Kunitz

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned campsites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.

Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

August Rain, After Haying — Jane Kenyon

Through sere trees and beheaded
grasses the slow rain falls.
Hay fills the barn; only the rake
and one empty wagon are left
in the field. In the ditches
goldenrod bends to the ground.

Even at noon the house is dark.
In my room under the eaves
I hear the steady benevolence
of water washing dust
raised by the haying
from porch and car and garden
chair. We are shorn
and purified, as if tonsured.

The grass resolves to grow again,
receiving the rain to that end,
but my disordered soul thirsts
after something it cannot name.

YOM KIPPUR: The Holiest Day of the Year in Jewish Religious Life

 

HISTORY of Yom Kippur — chabad.org (full article: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/177886/jewish/What-Is-Yom-Kippur.htm#What)

Just months after the people of Israel left Egypt in the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), they sinned by worshipping a golden calf. Moses ascended Mount Sinai and prayed to G‑d to forgive them. After two 40-day stints on the mountain, full Divine favor was obtained. The day Moses came down the mountain (the 10th of Tishrei) was to be known forevermore as the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur.

That year, the people built the Tabernacle, a portable home for G‑d. The Tabernacle was a center for prayers and sacrificial offerings. The service in the Tabernacle climaxed on Yom Kippur, when the High Priest would perform a specially prescribed service. Highlights of this service included offering incense in the Holy of Holies (where the ark was housed) and the lottery with two goats—one of which was brought as a sacrifice, the other being sent out to the wilderness (Azazel).

While the High Priest generally wore ornate golden clothing, on Yom Kippur, he would immerse in a mikvah and don plain white garments to perform this service.

This practice continued for hundreds of years, throughout the time of the first Temple in Jerusalem, which was built by Solomon, and the second Temple, which was built by Ezra. Jews from all over would gather in the Temple to experience the sacred sight of the High Priest performing his service, obtaining forgiveness for all of Israel.

When the second Temple was destroyed in the year 3830 from creation (70 CE), the Yom Kippur service continued. Instead of a High Priest bringing the sacrifices in Jerusalem, every single Jew performs the Yom Kippur service in the temple of his or her heart.

YOM KIPPUR— history.com (full article: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/yom-kippur-history).

According to tradition, the first Yom Kippur took place after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and arrival at Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Descending from the mountain, Moses caught his people worshipping a golden calf and shattered the sacred tablets in anger. Because the Israelites atoned for their idolatry, God forgave their sins and offered Moses a second set of tablets…

… God judges all creatures during the 10 Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, deciding whether they will live or die in the coming year.Jewish law teaches that God inscribes the names of the righteous in the “book of life” and condemns the wicked to death on Rosh Hashanah; people who fall between the two categories have until Yom Kippur to perform “teshuvah,” or repentance. As a result, observant Jews consider Yom Kippur and the days leading up to it a time for prayer, good deeds, reflecting on past mistakes and making amends with others….

Yom Kippur is Judaism’s most sacred day of the year; it is sometimes referred to as the “Sabbath of Sabbaths.” For this reason, even Jews who do not observe other traditions refrain from work, which is forbidden during the holiday, and participate in religious services on Yom Kippur…

The Torah commands all Jewish adults (apart from the sick, the elderly and women who have just given birth) to abstain from eating and drinking between sundown on the evening before Yom Kippur and nightfall the next day. The fast is believed to cleanse the body and spirit, not to serve as a punishment….

Because the High Holy Day prayer services include special liturgical texts, songs and customs, rabbis and their congregations read from a special prayer book known as the machzor during both Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Five distinct prayer services take place on Yom Kippur, the first on the eve of the holiday and the last before sunset on the following day. One of the most important prayers specific to Yom Kippur describes the atonement ritual performed by high priests during ancient times. The blowing of the shofar—a trumpet made from a ram’s horn—is an essential and emblematic part of both High Holy Days. On Yom Kippur, a single long blast is sounded at the end of the final service to mark the conclusion of the fast…..

Pre-Yom Kippur feast: On the eve of Yom Kippur, families and friends gather for a bountiful feast that must be finished before sunset. The idea is to gather strength for 25 hours of fasting.

Breaking of the fast: After the final Yom Kippur service, many people return home for a festive meal. It traditionally consists of breakfast-like comfort foods such as blintzes, noodle pudding and baked goods.

Wearing white: It is customary for religious Jews to dress in white—a symbol of purity—on Yom Kippur. Some married men wear kittels, which are white burial shrouds, to signify repentance.

Charity: Some Jews make donations or volunteer their time in the days leading up to Yom Kippur….

Reflections from Genesis 32… wrestling with God, being blessed in our woundedness, holding on until we receive what we need

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , , , , , , , ,

I see in it [Genesis 32] an invitation to wrestle with the unknown. — Victoria Emily Jones

Everything you want is on the other side of fear. — Unatrtibuted

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing. — Marcus Aurelius

Every day, I turned a “you can’t” into a “you can.” — Rulon Gardner about wrestling

The angel is free because of his knowledge, the beast because of his ignorance. Between the two remains the son of man to struggle. — Rumi

SONGS about WRESTLING with SELF, OTHERS, LOVE & GOD

by Marc Chagall

Wrestling — Louisa S. Bevington

Our oneness is the wrestlers’, fierce and close,
Thrusting and thrust;
One life in dual effort for one prize,—
We fight, and must;
For soul with soul does battle evermore
Till love be trust.
Our distance is love’s severance; sense divides,
Each is but each;
Never the very hidden spirit of thee
My life doth reach;
Twain! Since love athwart the gulf that needs
Kisses and speech.
Ah! wrestle closelier! we draw nearer so
Than any bliss
Can bring twain souls who would be whole and one,
Too near to kiss:
To be one thought, one voice before we die,—
Wrestle for this.
by Walter Habdank

Come, O thou Traveler unknown — Charles Wesley

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee;
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on Thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold!
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of Thy love unfold;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal
Thy new, unutterable Name?
Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;
To know it now resolved I am;
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go,
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

’Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue
Or touch the hollow of my thigh;
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go
Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

What though my shrinking flesh complain,
And murmur to contend so long?
I rise superior to my pain,
When I am weak, then I am strong,
And when my all of strength shall fail,
I shall with the God-man prevail.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand;
I stand and will not let Thee go
Till I Thy Name, Thy nature know.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love.

’Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear Thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love Thou art;
To me, to all, Thy bowels move;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive;
Through faith I see Thee face to face,
I see Thee face to face, and live!
In vain I have not wept and strove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

I know Thee, Savior, who Thou art.
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend;
Nor wilt Thou with the night depart.
But stay and love me to the end,
Thy mercies never shall remove;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

The Sun of righteousness on me
Hath rose with healing in His wings,
Withered my nature’s strength; from Thee
My soul its life and succor brings;
My help is all laid up above;
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness, I
On Thee alone for strength depend;
Nor have I power from Thee to move:
Thy nature, and Thy name is Love.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin, with ease o’ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Through all eternity to prove
Thy nature and Thy Name is Love.

SUGGESTIONS for REFLECTING — Rev Lil Smith

  • Light a candle to remember Christ’s presence with you.
  • Sit five to fifteen minutes in silence bringing your attention to the Breath.
  • Like Jacob, we wrestle with God.
  • Notice how your body desires to wrestle with God today.
  • What words come to you in the struggle?
  • Which joint is out of socket for you?
  • Allow your attention to go to this disjointed place.
  • What does this disjointed place need to say?
  • How do you wish to respond and connect to the conversation with this disjointed place?
  • Invite God’s healing into this place.
  • What blessing do you receive?
  • What is your message from God?
  • Give thanks to God for this time in prayer and for any new insights you have received.
Greek Orthodox icon of Jabo wrestling with angel

COMMENTARY on WRESTLING

A lot of my intensity in wrestling was due to my mental preparation before the matches. I got myself into a different world. — Dan Gable

Victory goes to the wrestler who makes the next-to-last mistake. — Jackie Mason

Grappling with fate is like meeting an expert wrestler: to escape, you have to accept the fall when you are thrown. The only thing that counts is whether you get back up. — Deng Ming-Dao

No exercise brings into play all the muscles of the body in a more thorough manner, and none is more interesting than wrestling. He will find no other exercise more valuable in the cultivation of faculties that will help him to succeed in agility, strength, determination, coolness, and quick exercise of judgment. — Hugh Leonard

But it’s the wrestler who can put the fatigue out of his mind and break through the ‘wall’, like a marathon runner after 18 or 20 miles, who will survive. The key to that survival is in hard workouts that develop mental confidence to the point where you won’t submit to fatigue and pain descending upon you. — Lou Banach

Take a technical wrestler, get them tired, and they aren’t as technical. No matter what kind of wrestler get them tired, and they aren’t as technical. No matter what kind of wrestler, everyone is afraid of getting tired. It’s those who learn to perform when they’re tired that find success. — Jay Robinson

Wrestling is ballet with violence. — Jesse Ventura

Life is like a wrestling match: a lot of times, things are looking good, and then something happens, and you’re fighting from underneath. — Matt Hardy

by Chris Cook

COMMENTARY on WRESTLING with ANGEL/ GOD

Jacob called the place where he wrestled with God, Peniel — the face of God. He wrestled all night and survived.  God touched his hip and he was lame after this wrestling. He was also a changed man with a new name. God told him is name would no longer be Jacob which means deceiver or “man strives” but Israel or “God strives!” And whenever he limped, he remembered! — Grace Carol Bomer

Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Who would stick around to wrestle a dark angel all night long if there were any chance of escape? The only answer I can think of is this: someone in deep need of blessing; someone willing to limp forever for the blessing that follows the wound. — Barbara Brown Taylor

In the story of Jacob and the heavenly figure with whom he wrestles, we begin to see the elements of struggle and the unfolding, as well, of the gifts of the spirit that go with them. Jacob faces change, isolation, darkness, fear, powerlessness, vulnerability, exhaustion, and scarring. They are the price to be paid for becoming new. To struggle is to begin to see the world differently. It tests all the faith in the goodness of God that we have ever professed. It requires an audacity we did not know we had. It demands a commitment to the truth. It tests our purity of heart. It brings total metamorphosis of soul. If we are willing to persevere through the depths of struggle we can emerge with conversion, self-acceptance, endurance, faith, surrender, and a kind of personal growth that takes us beyond pain to understanding. What we see is the fullness of the self come to birth in the only way it really can: in labor and under trial. — Sr. Joan Chittister

Violence and intimacy.  The violence and intimacy of this wrestling match.  What did it sound like, how did it smell, the sweat of God and Jacob mingled in the dust?  Those who are willing to pursue God and his blessing with such force receive honor from me.  I don’t know what Jacob was thinking.  But I know I wish I had the guts to engage my God with such an intertwined closeness. — Jack Baumgartner

It seems as though I am in a struggle for at least a part of every day of my life; a wrestling match. I often feel like I’m wrestling with things like life, my health, poverty/justice issues, and most certainly, with God.
As a result, when I consider my life, I mainly think about the image in the book of Genesis of Jacob wrestling the angel. More than other stories in scripture, I resonate with this one the most…This is yet another one of those tensions in the Christian life.
Blessing and struggle.
Thanksgiving and complaining.
Comprehension and confusion.
Peace and frustration.
Joy and pain.
And because I recognize that God is in fact blessing me regularly, I also do my best to thank God even in the midst of complaining about the struggle. — Dion Oxford

This story is a profound mystery to me, but I love it because God made himself vulnerable for the sake of this man whom He loved.  — Jack Baumgartner

The Word calls us into a personal dialogue which, in many respects, is like Jacob’s wrestling with the angel (Genesis 32: 23-33). Only there, in that sort of personal involvement, do we come face-to-face with the mystery that is God. — Richard Rohr

… it happens at night when the world is dark and mysterious and the human mind is not controlled by the boundaries that usually constrain our imaginations. It is a far less peaceful encounter than the one at Bethel. It is basically a fight – some kind of spiritual wrestling match.
… It was a wounding fight and left Jacob with a limp; his inability to walk properly being a reminder of this encounter with the divine. But it was Jacob who was the better wrestler and it is the angelic visitor who asks to be released. But the tough old patriarch would not let the angel go just like that and asked for blessing.
It turns out that Jacob’s blessing was to have his name changed, a name change that recognized precisely his power and persistence as a fighter. Jacob responds to the experience as he did at Bethel by renaming the place. He called it ‘Peniel’. The final line perhaps reads as something of an anti-climax. Jacob says, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ To summarise such a nocturnal scrap as seeing someone ‘face to face’ is to understate the physicality, intimacy and vulnerability of the encounter…
But the ancient scriptures are not polite or inwardly spiritual so much as raw and rough and basic and exploratory. Reading them we should be prompted to think that some of our more difficult, sustained and damaging life-struggles were in fact struggles with angels and that our encounters with God are evident not in the way we run, skip, jump or dance, but in the way we limp towards the future, wounded and yet strangely blessed by our encounters with God. — Stephen Cherry

You do not hear much about God causing the chaos [in life], or even having a role in it. On the contrary, it is God’s job to make it stop. God is supposed to restore the status quo and help everyone feel comfortable again. Isn’t that how you know when God is present? When the danger has been avoided? When your heart stops pounding and you can breathe normal again? …It is an appealing idea, but unfortunately the Bible does not back it up. In that richly troubling book, much of God’s best work takes place in total chaos, with people scared half out of their wits: Elijah, trembling under his broom tree, pleading with God to take his life; Mary, listening to an angel’s ambitious plans for plunging her into scandal; Paul, lying flat on his belly on the Damascus road with all his lights put out. …No one in his or her right mind asks to be attacked, frightened, wounded. And yet that is how it comes, sometimes, the presence and blessing of God — Barbara Brown Taylor

Likewise, our sages ell us that Jacob’s wrestling match represented an inner struggle with his own identity. He wrestled with self-doubt and conflicting traits within himself. Was he ready and able to assume his role … We also wrestle with spiritual doubts and conflicts…
The Zohar teaches that the struggle with the angel would come to express Jacob’s … ongoing struggle between self and G‑d, between one’s ego and spirit. It symbolizes the victorious struggle to sublimate our will to that of our Creator’s will.
Contending with G‑d and man often initiates a personal search. Every great quest starts with a great question. What is G‑d, and what is G‑d not? It continues with refining and redefining one’s perception. Just as you’ve outgrown your childhood clothing, so, too, has your mind expanded its capacity for understanding. With greater maturity it becomes necessary to re-examine beliefs that have not been developed or clarified…
To reach or to exceed his personal and spiritual potentia … needs answers to fundamental questions. Why am I here and what is my purpose? How do I achieve it? What makes me different?…
Our sages teach us that G‑d communicates to us directly through our daily challenges. Life’s tests can help to refine our ability to actualize our inner potential. Adversity can be viewed as the vehicle through which we come to expand ourselves and, thereby, overcome our self-perceived limitations. The tough times can ultimately come to reveal our inner greatness. They serve to elevate us beyond what we thought we were capable of being. Conversely, we are equally tested through times of happiness and success. When things are going well, do we recognize the source of our abundance, or do we arrogantly attribute our good fortunes solely to our own efforts and skill?
Life’s tests are multidimensional; they elevate us and can heighten our vantage point to access the latent inner resources we all possess. The best criteria for evaluating an epiphany, however, are its long term effects. How much of the initial impact endures? Does it help you develop yourself to become more than you were?
Thus, “seeing G‑d face to face” is also a metaphor that illustrates how G‑d’s presence is revealed throughout life’s details… — Katia Bolotin

by Jack Baumgartner

COMMENTARY on STRUGGLE

Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion? — Rumi

Life is one long struggle in the dark. — Lucretius

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. — Napoleon HillThe most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. — Frederick Douglass

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. — Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. — Orison Swett Marden

You don’t fight your anger, because your anger is you. Your anger is the wounded child in you. Why should you fight your anger? The method is entirely nonviolent: awareness, mindfulness, and tenderly holding your anger within you. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. — Oprah Winfrey

Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation. — Coretta Scott King

A lot of what is most beautiful about the world arises from struggle. —  Malcolm Gladwell

People are at their best when they are challenged. If we don’t challenge ourselves, nature has a way of giving us challenges anyway. There is great value in our struggles, and human nature has shown us that we only value the things we struggle to achieve. — Thomas Frey

by Sefira Lightstone

LEFT ME with a LIMP — Rachel Held Evans (full posting about the Bible: https://rachelheldevans.com/blog/i-love-the-bible)

It is said that after Jacob wrestled with God, he walked with a limp… So it has been with the Bible and me. I have wrestled with the Bible, and it has left me with a limp… Those of us who have wrestled know we can be wrong. … I have finally surrendered to God’s stories.
God’s long, strange, beautiful stories.
We asked questions.
God told stories.
We demanded answers.
God told stories.
We argued theology.
God told stories.
And when those stories weren’t enough, when the words themselves would not suffice, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, laughed among us, wept among us, ate among us, told more stories among us, suffered among us, died among us, and rose among us. The Word entered our story and invited us into His. The Word became flesh and said, “Watch me. Follow me.  See how I do it. This is what I desire.”
And the Word loved—
Loved the poor,
Loved the rich,
Loved the sick,
Loved the hungry,
Loved the zealots,
Loved the tax-collectors,
Loved the lepers,
Loved the soldiers,
Loved the foreigners,
Loved the insiders,
Loved the slaves,
Loved the women,
Loved the untouchables,
Loved the religious,
Loved the favored,
Loved the forgotten.
Loved even the enemy.
When words were not enough, the Word took on flesh and became the story.
I love the Bible, but I love it best when I love it for what it is, not what I want it to be…when I live in the tension and walk with the limp—
The limp that slows me down,
The limp that delights my critics,
The limp I wouldn’t change for the world,
The limp that led me to God.

C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATIONS – Fri, Sept 22 @ 5pm

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Adult, Education & Faith Formation, HomeTagged , , , , ,

C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATIONS

GENESIS 32:22-32 — Jacob Wrestles at Peniel
The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.
Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”
So he said to him, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Jacob.”
Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel  for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?”  And there he blessed him.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.”
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

This week: TUE, Sept 12 – SUN, Sept 17

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Calendar, Home

TUE, Sept 12

  • Community Event: NORDIC WALKING – INTERVALS with POLES – with Ellen Chandler
    8am • Valley Cross Road Parking Lot, Jackson

    • Tuesdays – Nordic Walking (Sept. 12, 19 (will need guest leader), 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31)
    • From Ellen “Plus, this is not high school, you are not required to do “the workout,” I am totally happy if you join for the start and do your own thing on the trail; it just helps if people have a workout buddy so no one is out on the trail alone.”
    • Needed equipment: ski poles are better than trekking poles, but don’t let pole-specificity get in the way of joining.  I wear my “second best running shoes,” not the best because it can be wet and muddy; but light hikers work, too. Plus the usual sun and tick repellents.
    • Ellen Chandler, Executive Director, JacksonXC, 603-383-9355, 603-867-8707 voice/text
  • FITNESS CLASS  with Laurie McAleer 
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church

    • Free to all participants.
    • Gentle, chair-based stretch and fitness for all levels of ability
  • Community Event: MELODIES & MUNCHKINS
    11am • Jackson Public Library

    • Storytime welcomes Riley Waygood and her Melodies & Munchkins program! Join us for 45 minutes of pure musical joy, movement, singing, and instrumental play with music educator Riley Waygood.  This program is designed for ages 0-3 and is free and open to the publi
  • CLERGY LUNCH
    12:30pm • Zoom

    • Local clergy convene for conversations, ecumenical event-planning, and peer support. Rev Gail attends.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Event: SUICIDE INTERVENTION SKILLS TRAINING
    All Day • Tamworth, NH

    • Hosted by Tri-Cap
    • Rev Gail attending
  • REFUGIA SMALL CHURCH RESILIENCE PROGRAM
    4-6pm • Zoom

    • JCC”:s volunteers attend the 5-church cohort in this ongoing year-long program offered by BTS Center
  • DEACONS
    7pm • Zoom

    • Deacons meet to discuss worship plans and community care concerns
    • Join Zoom Meeting – password and link required
  • Community Event: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Hoot Night with Jonathan Sarty • 6-8:30pm

WED, Sept 13

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • LADIES LUNCHEON
    Noon-3pm • Private Home

    • RSVPs were requested, attend if you respnded by this past weekend
    • Wear family/ethnic attire & bring favorite recipe)
      Potluck luncheon: Bring a dish to share
    • Theme: Family/Ethnic & Fave Recipe!
    • Co-Hosts: Ginger Perkins & Gail Doktor
    • Dress: Favorite Local Attire/Ethnic Dress
    • Please bring your favorite recipe/family recipe/ethnic recipe as well as copies of your recipe to share. We shall consolidate and make recipe books to take home!
    • Dress up in your favorite attire or dress in a family ethnic dress style! Let’s celebrate our JCC family!
    • Expect games, of course, and if the weather cooperates, outdoor games like corn hole.
    • Bring a favorite recipe written out on a card or paper: we will collect them and create a recipe cookbook
  • COUNCIL
    7pm • Zoom

    • Church staff and lay leaders meet re governance decisions
    • Join Zoom Meeting – password and link required
  • MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Live Trivia • 7:306-9pm

THURS, Sept 14

  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • Community Service: WAY STATION SHIFT
    All Day • Way Station, 15 Grove St, No Conway

    • Volunteers open day resource center for showers, mail pickup, grocery distribution, more.
  • Community Event: MAJESTIC CAFE THURSDAY: Al Shafner & Ray Ryan
    5:30pm Doors Open / 6 pm to 8:30 pm Performance • Majestic Theater Cafe, Conway

  • Community Events: MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Jeremy Dean • 6-9pm

FRI, Sept 15

  • Community Event: NORDIC WALKING with Ellen Chandler
    8am • Valley Cross Road Parking Lo, Jackson

    • Fridays – Intervals with poles (more like hill bounding) (Sept. 8, 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27) – there might be more repetition in this group, e.g. 3 times up a longer hill, recovery on the walk back down.
    • From Ellen “Plus, this is not high school, you are not required to do “the workout,” I am totally happy if you join for the start and do your own thing on the trail; it just helps if people have a workout buddy so no one is out on the trail alone.”
    • Needed equipment: ski poles are better than trekking poles, but don’t let pole-specificity get in the way of joining.  I wear my “second best running shoes,” not the best because it can be wet and muddy; but light hikers work, too. Plus the usual sun and tick repellents.
    • Ellen Chandler, Executive Director, JacksonXC, 603-383-9355, 603-867-8707 voice/text
  • FITNESS CLASS  with Laurie McAleer
    9:30am • Jackson Community Church

    • Free to all participants.
    • Gentle, chair-based stretch and fitness for all levels of ability
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
    • 2pm-5pm • Jackson Library
      Contact the library for additional help: 603.383.9731 or by email: staff@jacksonlibrary.org
  • C3: COCKTAILS & CHRISTIAN CONVERSATION (resumes in mid-Sept)
  • HOMEMADE HONDURAN MEAL: Dine and Donate
    5pm • JCC Parish Hall

    • Join us for authentic Honduran cuisine and the chance to meet our friends from Honduras, who are living on the Nativity Lutheran campus in North Conway. Seating at both venues is limited, since this is a sit-down meal, so RSVPs will be helpful!
    • Use this link to RSVP or to make a contribution (you don’t have to attend to donate): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXsmc5JwgMn9nrDG09boJmK4EMtG0Pp-b-WqhZOLFw2TmmcQ/viewform
    • Some background: Back in January a delightful family from Honduras came into our lives: mom and dad and 3 young children. We have been blessed by their presence in our community. We are working to raise funds to cover the expense of the attorney for the asylum process. Come join us for a meal homemade by Lilian anf friends.
    • We want to build community for this family. And to give you a chance to get to know our special neighbors. Learn ways you can help. Yes, we’d welcome your support if you want to make a conrribution. We’re also friend-raising!
  • Community Event: FRIDAY NIGHT JAZZ: Laurie and Ken Turley with Michael Murphy
    7pm • Majestic Café

    • Info & tickets: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/
    • $10/pp
    • Every Friday night, enjoy jazz, blues, and more in the intimate setting of the Majestic Café. More details above at “learn more”.
  • Community Events: MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Wildcat Tavern: Al Shafner • 7-9pm • $5 cover
    • Shannon Door: Sheehan & Holden • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka: Diana’s Bath Salts • 8-11pm
    • Shovel Handle Pub: Ryan St Onge • 5:30-8:30pm
    • Ledge Brewing (Intervale): Travis Landry • 6-8pm

SAT, Sept 16

  • Community Event: JEN’S FRIENDS CLIMB AGAINST CANCER with JCC
    8am Regstrationm / 9:30am Walk Begins • Base of Mt Cranmore

    • From team captain Claire: “Our JCC Team has ballooned to 33 as of Sun, Sept 10! We’ve raised over $3000 with more checks coming in!Since there has been so much construction at Cranmore Mt. I have been challenged to pick a Meet-up location. We know they will have a tent for the Auction Items, so let’s try to meet there at about 8:45 AM. Check out the items while there! The official start of the walk is 9:30, but some start earlier. The Markers or signs are posted along the route so let us know if you purchased or renewed one. Look for- John Chernick, Richard Himmelwright, Jessica Rose Doktor, Nancy Mede. Looks to be a nice day. Don’t forget-sunscreen, insect repellent (though have not had issue there in past years), hat,water, good shoes, maybe hiking poles.”
  • Community Event: FLOCKS of the FALL: WARBLER WALK
    8-10am • Dahl Wildlife Sanctuary

    • Experience the fall migration up close with lifelong birder Will Broussard at NH Audubon’s Dahl Wildlife Sanctuary in Conway. We’ll learn tricks for identifying some of the common and not-so-common warblers, vireos, thrushes and others headed south for winter, and discuss ways to make your own yard more bird friendly. All aspects of autumn bird identification will be touched upon including plumage, behavior, and call notes in addition to key landscape features birds rely on as they migrate. Bring you binoculars or borrow ours
    • Space is limited and registration is required. Click here to register.
  • Community Event: TIN MOUNTAIN WEEKEND WALK
    10am• Tin Mountain Consevration Center, Albany

    • Join us for a slow-paced walk that takes a closer look at the world around us and explores the Tin Mountain Conservation trails in Albany, NH. Outdoor highlights include an 1800s quarry, beaver pond and resident flora & fauna, while inside the Nature Learning Center you will find animal mounts and a gem & mineral collection. These leisurely investigations of the trails, and tour of the Learning Center are perfect for all ages; you are never too young or too old to have a new adventure.
    • Program Fee: $15/person or $25/household
    • Members are free, so consider becoming a member!
    • Register online here. Walk ins welcome.
  • Community EventL ROBERT FROST – This Verse Business with Gordon Clapp
    7:30pm • Majestic Theater

    • North Conway native and Emmy-winner Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) stars as flinty and witty Robert Frost in A.M. Dolan’s Robert Frost: This Verse Business. Drawn from hundreds of hours of the poet’s recorded public “talks,” as well as interviews and correspondence, it’s an exhilarating glimpse of the public and private faces of the man, and an entertaining testament to the intrinsic value of the arts.
    • For nearly fifty years, Robert Frost “barded” around the country giving entertaining “talks” to sell-out crowds.  He would “say” his poems and share his beliefs and humorous “wild surmises” on art, religion, science, and politics. The poet’s great wit and verse are heard afresh in Clapp’s critically acclaimed performance.
    • Tickets: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society

    • Also open by appointment.
    • More info: https://www.jacksonhistory.org/
    • White Mountain Art Sale
      • The Jackson Historical Society is holding its 21st annual White Mountain Art Sale. There are currently over 50 items from private collectors, primarily 19thcentury paintings. To see the online catalog, go to https://www.jacksonhistory.org/catalog.html. Items are available to purchase as they arrive, so check the catalog frequently to see new additions.
      • The art sale is the Historical Society’s primary fundraiser. There is no cost to consign a painting. The consignor sets the price and the Society adds a small commission. If the item does not sell, the consignor takes it back. To consign a 19th century painting, contact info@jacksonhistory.org.
      • There are seven paintings by Samuel Lancaster Gerry, three of which were in the recent exhibition at the New Hampshire Historical Society “A Faithful Student of Nature, the Life and Art of Samuel Lancaster Gerry.” Many other 19th century artists are included: Benjamin Champney, Frank Shapleigh, George McConnell, and many others. There are also several paintings by Jackson’s nationally renowned artist Erik Koeppel, who paints in a revivalist style of the 19th century artists.
      • The Society is open Saturdays and Sundays 1:00 – 3:00.  If you are interested in a painting, the Society can open by appointment. Contact info@jacksonhistory.org.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARIES
  • MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Mike & Becca • 7-10pm
    • Wildcat Tavern: Jonathan Sarty • 6:30-9pm – $5 cover
    • Red Parka: Now Is Now • 8-11pm
    • Ledge Brewing (Intervale): Dregs of Joy

SUN, Sept 3

  • INTERFAITH SERVICE
    8am • Old red library in Jackson / zoom

    • Join us for poetry, prayer, and conversation.
    • Join Zoom Meeting – password and link required
  • WORSHIP @ JCC
    10:30am   • Jackson Community Church & Zoom

    • Join Zoom Meeting – password and link required
    • Music by Sharon Novak
    • Message by Rev Gail Doktor
  • HOSPITALITY
    11:30am • JCC Parish Hall

    • Hospitality after Church
  • Community Event: ROBERT FROST – This Verse Business with Gordon Clapp
    3pm • Majestic Theater

    • North Conway native and Emmy-winner Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) stars as flinty and witty Robert Frost in A.M. Dolan’s Robert Frost: This Verse Business. Drawn from hundreds of hours of the poet’s recorded public “talks,” as well as interviews and correspondence, it’s an exhilarating glimpse of the public and private faces of the man, and an entertaining testament to the intrinsic value of the arts.
    • For nearly fifty years, Robert Frost “barded” around the country giving entertaining “talks” to sell-out crowds.  He would “say” his poems and share his beliefs and humorous “wild surmises” on art, religion, science, and politics. The poet’s great wit and verse are heard afresh in Clapp’s critically acclaimed performance.
    • Tickets: https://www.conwaymajestic.com/
  • Community Event: TIN MOUNTAIN WEEKEND WALK
    2-3:30pm • Tin Mountain Consevration Center, Albany

    • Join us for a slow-paced walk that takes a closer look at the world around us and explores the Tin Mountain Conservation trails in Albany, NH. Outdoor highlights include an 1800s quarry, beaver pond and resident flora & fauna, while inside the Nature Learning Center you will find animal mounts and a gem & mineral collection. These leisurely investigations of the trails, and tour of the Learning Center are perfect for all ages; you are never too young or too old to have a new adventure.
    • Program Fee: $15/person or $25/household
    • Members are free, so consider becoming a member!
    • Register online here. Walk ins welcome.
  • Community Event: OPEN HOURS @ Jackson Historical Society
    1-3pm • Jackson Historical Society

    • Also open by appointment.
    • More info: https://www.jacksonhistory.org/
    • White Mountain Art Sale
      • The Jackson Historical Society is holding its 21st annual White Mountain Art Sale. There are currently over 50 items from private collectors, primarily 19thcentury paintings. To see the online catalog, go to https://www.jacksonhistory.org/catalog.html. Items are available to purchase as they arrive, so check the catalog frequently to see new additions.
      • The art sale is the Historical Society’s primary fundraiser. There is no cost to consign a painting. The consignor sets the price and the Society adds a small commission. If the item does not sell, the consignor takes it back. To consign a 19th century painting, contact info@jacksonhistory.org.
      • There are seven paintings by Samuel Lancaster Gerry, three of which were in the recent exhibition at the New Hampshire Historical Society “A Faithful Student of Nature, the Life and Art of Samuel Lancaster Gerry.” Many other 19th century artists are included: Benjamin Champney, Frank Shapleigh, George McConnell, and many others. There are also several paintings by Jackson’s nationally renowned artist Erik Koeppel, who paints in a revivalist style of the 19th century artists.
      • The Society is open Saturdays and Sundays 1:00 – 3:00.  If you are interested in a painting, the Society can open by appointment. Contact info@jacksonhistory.org.
  • MUSIC AROUND TOWN
    • Shannon Door: Sheehan & Holden • 6-9pm
    • Red Parka: Blue Sunday with Liz Lannon Band • 5-8m
    • Shovel Handle Pub: DellaValla Bluegrass Trio • 5:30-8:30pm
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