Thursday, September 18, 2025

A Prayer For Endurance


Blessed Wholeness,
It is an ancient evil:
Limited power seeking absolute power,
Destroying truth and compassion 
As it grows. 
It is upon us to resist if we can
And survive somehow
Until it goes. 
And it will go
But oh the suffering until it does. 

Blessed One-ness,
We pray for strength,
Intelligence and endurance 
For the targeted and outspoken and
For those who resist.
And we pray for safety
For the vulnerable and weak
And the preyed upon.
May we all find ways to help
And may we outlast the horrors. 

Amen



Sunday, September 7, 2025

Here We Are (a High Holyday Invocation)




Baruch HaShleimut/Blessed Holy Completion 

Giving us this time of Beyn Adam LaChavereh 

To remember our obligations to each other:

 

During Elul we apologize for our sins against people

Then on Yom Kippur we beat our chest for our sins against God.

The former is personal, the latter  more cosmic

But the cosmic affects us deeply 

And the personal ripples into the universe.

Insult your cousin on Thanksgiving or

Dig oil wells in the Alaskan wilderness, these are

Different in scale but similar in intent, and 

Both break connection to the One-ness. 

 

So this year instead of sin

Let’s speak of responsibility to each other

And our connections to all life. 

The hurts and horrors we impose on people

Hurt and horrify God

And anything that breaks the Holy Wholeness 

Alienates us from our history,

The world as it really is and

The world as it might become. 

 

To do teshuvah is to return to our true selves as

We review our neglected obligations of kindness and service.

Blessing all who are in pain and who cause pain,

Invoking compassion for ourselves and others,

We acknowledge our mistakes and apologize, and

Vow to make reparations and never do them again. 

Thus teshuvah turns our doubts 

About our capacity for change

Into possibilities for hope.

  

Blessed Holy Wholeness,

Together this sacred community declares,

Hinenu! We are here!  

Where all hands are needed

And doubt can be an act of faith.

May this world know all our voices

On our holy days

In our holy conversations as we call out,

We shall do and we shall hear.  

 

Amen






Friday, September 5, 2025

The Time For Truth

 



It is the time of our year
To admit truth
To see the pain we cause
To take responsibility 
To stop what we can stop
To repair what can be repaired 
To promise to change
To change. 
Truth is often unpleasant but
We must give thanks for this difficult gift. 
Amen