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9/11 Reflections

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

Offered by one of our colleagues, local rabbi:

WAGE PEACE by Judyth Hill
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music; memorize the words for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief
as the out breath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious:
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

PRAYER for 9/11 by Rev Gail Doktor

Holy Love is bigger than our languages and names for Godself. And so, however we might address the Source of Holy Love, on a day that touches many faith tradittions, let us turn our hearts toward love.
         As an act of prayer, let us remember. And remembering, may we learn, that we might create a different future for generations yet to come.
         We are a nation comprised of many ages, colors, creeds, languages, faiths, ethnicities, and stories. Our forefathers and foremothers, whether they already lived here, arrived here by choice, or came without volition, have contributed to creating a land that— at its best—seeks to broaden the experience of freedom and access to justice for all of its people. Over the centuries this nation, which is upheld by people like you and me, and people different from you and me, has grown to be stronger and striven to become ever-more inclusive. Our differences contribute to that resilience and strength.
         At its best, this dream of freedom that encompasses all people continues be the foundation of our ideals: we are— or may become — home and sanctuary for all kinds of people.Although we know, when we look honestly at our own history, that we must often engage in civil struggle to attain transformation,  we remain committed to doing so.
         Yes, we get it wrong sometimes. Then again, we keep trying, and often enough, we also get it right.
         Today we pause to remember: in Jackson, in the Mt Washington Valley, and around the nation. People held moments of silence. People walked with flags. People sang. People played bagpipes. People rang steeple bells. People rolled in fire trucks, police cruisers, and ambulances. People gathered. People remembered, and told the story again.
          This morning, just like 20 years ago, we are a country in the midst of growth. We do not live in a state of finalized perfection, but a creative and imperfect, messy and mighty, living experiment in liberty. When we remain motivated by our nation’s ideals, we act not out of fear, but out of courage and compassion. We build toward a sustainable peace for our own times and generations yet to come.  
         Today, we remember the attacks that killed people from 93 nations: originally 2,753 people in New York; 184 people at the Pentagon; and 40 people on Flight 93. Thousands more were injured, either immediately or in the aftermath of rescue, recovery and rebuilding. Others died or were incapacitated due to complications from living and serving around those sites. Wars have been waged, and peace-building attempted, in response to the events of 9/11: thousands more lives are included in that ongoing legacy, too.
         Yes, terrorism was aimed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. For a period of time, the land, water and skies in and around Manhattan, New York, western Pennsylvania, and in Arlington County, Virginia became sites of trauma, loss. Also sites of heroism. Now they are places of remembrance and learning.
         Today we acknowledge the victims: brothers and sisters from 93 nations, not just ours. People of every imaginable faith. People who spoke different tongues. People of every hue, who created a rainbow of humanity. People who woke up, traveled into the city, and started their days, to live common lives.
         These people, largely, were not warriors, but civilians. And in the every-day-ness of their living and doing, they told stories much like ours. They had families. Partners. Children. Siblings. Friends. Communities that expected them home again.
          They had dreams. They played. They worked. They prayed. Most of them did not expect or ask to bear names that have become synonymous with a nation’s story about itself.
         Among them, the city’s first responders—who have become symbolic of our nation’s first responders —served at great risk, and on that day, ran toward danger rather than away from it.
          All of them, men, women, children, both civilians and those who served a specific call, carried names that have indeed, and unexpectedly, have become a different kind of prayer.
         Brothers and sisters, let us lift up today, not the message that those who sought to force change through violence would have us learn. May we resist acting out of fear. Those who instigated violence believed that they could clip the wings of our imaginations, and topple our beliefs out of the sky.
         Instead, let us remember, and honor, the lives of common people whose lives have taken on an uncommon meaning, May we remember, and doing so, reclaim, rebuild and re-imagine, here in our own local community and across our country and around the world, a bigger vision that embraces peace. One that still has feet, but also wings.
         May we struggle together to achieve our shared ideals. May we seek to do the next right thing, motivated by compassion and courage. May we continue to expand, within our own borders, the great promise of freedom so that it is accessible to all of our nation’s children, through a civil process that—at its best—gives birth to justice, cultivates peace, and recognizes the dignity and value of every human soul.
         Peace. May this be the lesson we choose to learn, in remembrance of those events, in recognition of those lives forever lost or changed. Peace — sustainable and healthy and equitable and accessible in its abundance for all people. May we remember the names and stories of our brothers and sisters, those who died and those were carry the trauma and hurt in their changed lives. May we add our own stories to theirs, as we are called to engage in the great civil work of peace that is the legacy of this day.
         Peace is not the dream of one nation, but necessarily, it is the prayer of all peoples in all nations all over the world. Shalom. Salaam. Peace.
         Amen

Reflections on the name of God, written as YHWH, but replaced by ‘Adonai’ in spoken version of the Jewish prayer called the Shema, and other names for the Divine.

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

How I long to see
among dawn flowers,
the face of God.
― Basho

God’s name is not known; it is wondered at. — Gregory of Nyssa

He is who He was, and He is also who He will be because the great I Am never steps out of the present tense. ― Tony Evans

I am a passionate seeker after truth which is but another name for God. — Gandhi

You may call God love, you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion. — Meister Eckhart Tolle

He loves each one of us like there is only one of us to love (when God whisper your name) — Max Lucado

Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances. You are a child of God. Stand up straight. — Maya Angelou

SONGS about NAMES of GOD

The incarnate Word is with us,
is still speaking, is present
always, yet leaves no sign
but everything that is.
— Wendell Berry

The god of dirt
came up to me many times and said
so many wise and delectable things,
I lay
on the grass listening
to his dog voice,
frog voice; now,
he said, and now,
and never once mentioned forever …
— Mary Oliver

When love awakens in your life, in the night of your heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before in your life there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with your self. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning. — John O’Donohue

Just as a person is in relation to you a father
and in relation to another either son or brother —
So the names of God in their number have relations:
He is from the viewpoint of the infidel the Tyrant (qaher);
from our viewpoint, the Merciful.
— Rumi, Divan e-Kebir, tr. Annemarie Schimmel

With us, the name of everything is its outward appearance;
with the Creator, the name of each thing is its inward reality.
In the eye of Moses, the name of his rod was “staff”;
in the eye of the Creator, its name was “dragon.”
In brief, that which we are in the end
is our real name with God.
— Rumi, Mathnawi I:1239-40, 1244

Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so much, whether you believe in Buddha or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life. And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter. These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion, without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human dignity. — Dalai Lama XIV

RESOURCES about the name of God:

YHWH: The Tetragrammaton

The Tetragrammaton, referred to in rabbinic literature as HaShem (The Name) or Shem Hameforash (The Special Name), is the word used to refer to the four-letter word, yud-hey-vav-hey (יהוה), that is the name for God used in the Hebrew Bible. The name, which some people pronounce as Yahweh and others (mostly Christians) as Jehovah, appears 5,410 times in the Bible (1,419 of those in the Torah). — My jewish Learning (full article: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-tetragrammaton/)

The letter from the Holy See explains that the Divine Name as revealed in the Old Testament, יהוה (YHWH), has been held as unpronounceable as an expression of reverence for the greatness of God. The directive notes that “in recent years the practice has crept in pronouncing the God of Israel’s proper name,” known as the holy or divine tetragrammaton, written with four consonants, YHWH, in the Hebrew alphabet. In order to vocalize it, it is necessary to introduce vowels that alter the written and spoken forms of the name (i.e. “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”). Citing theological and philological reasons, and in keeping with tradition, the letter reminds the bishops that “from the beginning… the sacred tetragrammaton was never pronounced in the Christian context nor translated into any languages into which the Bible was translated.” Historically the Divine Name was rendered in Hebrew as Adonai, in Greek as Kyrios, and in Latin as Dominus. — Letter to Bishops Conferences (link to full resource)

The most common name of God in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton, יהוה, that is usually transcribed as YHWH. Hebrew script is an abjad, so that the letters in the name are normally consonants, usually expanded as Yahweh in English. Modern Jewish culture judges it forbidden to pronounce this name. In prayers it is replaced by the word Adonai (“The Lord”), and in discussion by HaShem (“The Name”). — wikipedia

GOD’S NAME for US

The great struggle of the Christian life is to take God’s name for us, to believe we are beloved and to believe that is enough. ― Rachel Held Evans

And the Word that had most recently come from the mouth of God was, “This is my beloved in whom I am well pleased.” Identity. It’s always God’s first move. Before we do anything wrong and before we do anything right, God has named and claimed us as God’s own. But almost immediately, other things try to tell us who we are and to whom we belong: capitalism, the weight-loss industrial complex, our parents, kids at school—they all have a go at telling us who we are. But only God can do that. Everything else is temptation. — Nadia Bolz-Weber

The love of God is not generic. God looks with love upon every man and woman, calling them by name. — Pope Francis

I believed that there was a God because I was told it by my grandmother and later by other adults. But when I found that I knew not only that there was God but that I was a child of God, when I understood that, when I comprehended that, more than that, when I internalized that, ingested that, I became courageous. — Maya Angelou

God calls each and every star by name. It’s not likely He has forgotten yours. — Louie Giglio

USING OTHER WORDS for the UNPRONOUNCEABLE NAME of GOD

Historically the Divine Name was rendered in Hebrew as Adonai, in Greek as Kyrios, and in Latin as Dominus. — Letter to Bishops Conferencs (link to full resource)

Hashem is a Hebrew term for God. Literally, it means “the name.” In the Bible the Hebrew word for God is made up of four vowels, and according to tradition it was only pronounced on Yom Kippur by the High Priest. Saying God’s name was considered a very serious and powerful thing, so much so that one of the Ten Commandments prohibits us from saying God’s name in vain. As a result, people have come up with various substitutions. When reading Torah, we generally substitute the word Adonai for the four letter un-pronounceable name of God. Outside of reading and praying, God is often referred to as Hashem, a creative way of not saying God’s name. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, it’s kind of the opposite of how Voldemort was referred to as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” — My Jewish Learning (full article: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hashem/)

There are many other names for God in Jewish tradition, including Adoshem, Yah, Yahweh, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, El Shaddai, Av Harahamim, and Harahaman. — My Jewish Learning (full article: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hashem/)

Instead, a variety of pseudonyms are used, such as Adonai (Lord), Elohim (God) and HaShem (The Name). — My jewish Learning (full article: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-tetragrammaton/)
SOME WAYS of PRAYING the NAMES of GOD

See the songs above for some approaches to the 99 names and 72 names of God as acts of prayer.

Additional resources:
• Praying the names of God by the Navigators:
https://www.navigators.org/resource/praying-names-attributes-god
• Praying the names of God with Tony Evans: http://tonyevans.org/praying-and-pronouncing-the-names-of-god/ • Praying the names of God with Ann Spangler: https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/prayingnamesgod/
• 99 Names of God: https://marytn.medium.com/the-most-beautiful-names-of-god-99-names-of-allah-b898f624cada
• 72 Names of God: https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/1388270/jewish/72-Names-of-G-d.htm

REFLECTIONS on NAMES of GOD

Watches have watch makers, paintings have painters, designs have designers, and creation has a creator. ― Tony Evans

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children. — William Makepeace Thackeray

The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is God. — Paul Tillich

God is the same, even though He has a thousand names; it is up to us to select a name for Him. — Paulo Coelho

There is no greater spellbinder of peace than the name of God. — GandhiIt has been said that people never do evil with more enthusiasm than when they do it in the name of God.  — Tony Campolo

God is a name we give to love. — Nancy Pickard

I guess if you’re doing God’s work, whatever you do is in His name. — Edward Zigler Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a thelogically defensible reading of the Bible. — Sam Harris

The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think. — Maya Angelou

We could not become like God, so God became like us. God showed us how to heal instead of kill, how to mend instead of destroy, how to love instead of hate, how to live instead of long for more. When we nailed God to a tree, God forgave. And when we buried God in the ground, Got got up. — Rachel Held Evans
Lo, for I to myself am unknown, now in God’s name what must I do? — Rumi

When you bow deeply to the universe, it bows back; when you call out the name of God, it echoes inside you. — Morihei Ueshiba

The God we worship writes his name upon our faces. — Roger Babson

We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There’s not much personal about the laws of physics. — Stephen Hawking

Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. —Ramakrishna

Somebody said once or wrote, once: ‘We’re all of us children in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God’s name with the wrong alphabet blocks! — Tennessee Williams

We, like the people of Israel, would like to think we get to name God. By naming God, we hope to get the kind of god we need; that is, a god after our own likeness. — Stanley Hauerwas

I need a God who is bigger and more nimble and mysterious than what I could understand and contrive. Otherwise it can feel like I am worshipping nothing more than my own ability to understand the divine. ― Nadia Bolz-Weber

God wrote a book on suffering, and its name is Jesus. — Joni Eareckson Tada

Make your god transparent to the transcendent, and it doesn’t matter what his name is. — Joseph Campbell

The love of God is not something vague or generic; the love of God has a name and a face: Jesus Christ. — Pope Francis

This week with JCC and around town: MON, SEPT 6 – SUN, SEPT 12

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Home

MON, Sept 6 – LABOR DAY

  • STAR ISLAND RETREAT BEGINS
    Morning • Luggage ferry from Portsmouth, NH
    Afternoon • Ferry for retreat participants to Star Island from Portsmouth, NH
    See Star Island website for more info: https://starisland.org/programs/
  • NO SCHOOL

TUE, Sept 7

  • STAR ISLAND RETREAT
  • SCHOOL RESUMES

WED, Sept 8

  • STAR ISLAND RETREAT
  • **NO CLASS: Laurie McAleer on Star Island – FITNESS with LAURIE McALEER
    Resumes the following week.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARY OPEN
    2-5pm • Jackson Library
  • Community Event: FLOW & ALIGN YOGA with Anjali Rose
    5pm • Zoom. (Zoom Pre-registration link)
    Class sponsored by the Friends of the Whitney Center. We will explore the body, mind and soul with mindful movement. These yoga classes are intentionally created with sequences to instill strength, flexibility and mobility. This fun and community oriented class is for all ages and abilities. Simply bring a mat, strap, block and blanket.
  • Community Event: WHITE MOUNTAIN CEILI BAND
    5:30 – 9pm • Wildcat Tavern Dinner reservations required: 800-228-4245 or 603-383-4245.
    The musicians will play on the porch of the Igloo a safe distance from guests and vice versa. Join Michael Levine (guitar), Dexter Harding (tenor banjo), Siena Kaplan-Thompson (fiddle) & Fiona Howell (flute) for traditional Irish Session music. Stomp your feet, clap your hands, and dance a little jig as these accomplished musicians play centuries old tunes. For more information on the White Mountain Ceili Band visit: whitemountainceiliband.com

THURS, Sept 9

  • STAR ISLAND RETREAT
  • Community Resource: LIBRARY OPEN
    10am-7pm • Jackson Library
    • Return to full hours of Tu&Th 10-7, W&F 2-5, Sa 10-2. We will continue to close on Sunday for the time being.
    • Masks and distance will be strictly required while in the building. If you’re unable to mask, you can still take advantage of our pickup or delivery service – simply let us know what you need.
    • One family at a time in the kids room.
    • Bathrooms and meeting room remain closed.
    • Contact the library for additional help: 603.383.9731 or by email: staff@jacksonlibrary.org
  • Community Service: WAY STATION SHIFT
    1pm • Food pickup
    2:30pm • Curbside package preparation
    5pm • Shift at curbside with guests
    @ 15 Grove St, North Conway, NH
    Rev Gail and JCC volunteers serve this weekly outreach to local homeless and housing-insecure residents.
  • Community Event: FALL BIRDS of the BOG (Tin Mtn program)
    7pm • Zoom link pending
    Fall is a wonderful time to explore the Brownfield Bog. Join lifelong birder and Tin Mountain trustee Will Broussard for a program exploring the fall birds of the Bog. We’ll cover many of the iconic species likely to be seen on migration in September and review helpful tricks for identifying our confusing songbirds in their drab fall dress. This program will take place ahead of an optional bird walk in the Bog is scheduled for 9/18. Zoom link to come.  More info: https://www.tinmountain.org/event/fall-birds-of-the-bog-evening-program/

FRI, Sept 10

  • Community Resource: LIBRARY OPEN
    2-5pm • Jackson Library
    • Return to full hours of Tu&Th 10-7, W&F 2-5, Sa 10-2. We will continue to close on Sunday for the time being.
    • Masks and distance will be strictly required while in the building. If you’re unable to mask, you can still take advantage of our pickup or delivery service – simply let us know what you need.
    • One family at a time in the kids room.
    • Bathrooms and meeting room remain closed.
    • Contact the library for additional help: 603.383.9731 or by email: staff@jacksonlibrary.org
  • STAR ISLAND RETREAT ENDS
    1pm • Ferry takes departing retreat participants to mainland. More info: https://starisland.org/programs/
  • Community Event: SHABBAT SERVICE
    6pm • In-Person @ Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation Sanctuary & Via Zoom
    To join us on Zoom, please register here: bhcsynagogue1920@gmail.com
  • Community Event: MUSIC at SHANNON DOOR
    Evening • Shannon Door

SAT, Sept 11

  • Community Event: 9/11 REMEMBRANCE
    8:15am • Gather at Jackson’s covered bridge & walk through village
  • 9/11 OBSERVANCES in NORTH CONWAY
    8:30am • Schouler Park, No COnway
    Local clergy and other community leaders help with this observance. Rev Gail participates.
  • Community Event: INTRO to FIELD SKETCHING
    9:30am • Space is limited and registration is required. Call 447-6991 or click to register online.
    Whether you want to keep a garden journal, a travel journal, or a journal of nature’s events in your own backyard, the geometry of flower shapes is a wonderful way to see flowers as shapes rather than as a very familiar object. This field sketching course will introduce participants to basic practices that will help artists draw with less stress and often more accurately. Participants will also learn key skills to change how they look at the beautiful wildflowers around them, including basic flower anatomy, observation skills and how to isolate the various shapes that make up an individual flower. Participants should bring a 9 x 12″ or larger sketchpad (newsprint pads not recommended), drawing pencils, and an eraser. No prior drawing experience is necessary. Program fee of $5/ member and $10/non-member.
  • Community Resource: LIBRARY OPEN
    10am-2pm • Jackson Library
    • Return to full hours of Tu&Th 10-7, W&F 2-5, Sa 10-2. We will continue to close on Sunday for the time being.
    • Masks and distance will be strictly required while in the building. If you’re unable to mask, you can still take advantage of our pickup or delivery service – simply let us know what you need.
    • One family at a time in the kids room.
    • Bathrooms and meeting room remain closed.
    • Contact the library for additional help: 603.383.9731 or by email: staff@jacksonlibrary.org
  • Community Event: MUSIC at SHANNON DOOR
    Evening • Shannon Door

SUN, Sept 12

  • INTERFAITH GATHERING
    8am • Pavilion (or Zoom link required)
  • CHOIR REHEARSAL
    9am • Zoom link required
  • VIRTUAL WORSHIP ZOOM & IN-PERSON
    10:30am •  Zoom link required
    • Join us for worship with music, scripture, prayer and reflection.
    • Live music by Alan Labrie
    • Message with Rev Gail Doktor
    • Stay for virtual coffee hour (via Zoom only).
    • In-person attendance requires social distancing, masking requested for non-vaccinated individuals (additional precautions may be added based on COVID stats and CDC guidelines).
    • Service will also be live-streamed to website and Facebook (if technology supports this function on the day of event). Afterward, recordings of worship service will be posted to Facebook, Vimeo.com channel & Youtube.com channel.
  • Community Event: MUSIC at SHANNON DOOR
    Evening • Shannon Door
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