Go Love the World Curated by Rev. Tera Klein
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    • September 17, 2017: "Like A Mighty Wind"
    • August 20, 2017: "Faith From the Ground Up"
    • February 5, 2017: "The Next Scary Thing: The Call"
    • January 15, 2017: "Integrity of the Spirit"
    • November 20, 2016: "Joining Role and Soul"
    • November 13, 2016: "Post Election - Our Work at Hand"
    • October 9, 2016: "We Begin Again in Love"
    • October 2, 2016: "Blessing of the Animals"
    • September 11, 2016: "Gift of Community"
    • June 12, 2016: "Sabbath Economics"
    • June 5, 2016: "Interrupting Time"
    • May 29, 2016: "Wrestling with Grace"
    • March 15, 2016: "Grace-Filled Leadership"
    • May 8, 2016: "Flower Communion: In Each A Gift"
    • April 17, 2016: "Earth Day Sunday"
    • April 3, 2016: "Liberating Women, Liberating Earth"
    • March 27, 2016: "Easter Message"
    • March 20, 2016: "The Act of Remembering"
    • March 6, 2016: "May Nothing Evil Cross This Door"
    • February 21, 2016: "A Spirituality of Work"
    • Christmas Eve Prayer: "Angels in the Stars"
    • December 2014 "Winter Solstice Finding the Light Within"
    • December 2014 "Long Road Home"
    • November 2014 "Resistance: Surrender"
    • June 2014 "Freedom From or Freedom To?"
    • May 2014 "Half the Sky"
    • June 2013 "Staying Awake at the Wheel"
    • May 2013 "Growing into Beloved Community"
    • April 2013 "Heaven Is Here On Earth"
    • April 2013 "One Voice"
    • March 2013 "Called Back To Life"
    • March 2013 "From Locusts to Honeybees"
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"We Begin Again in Love" 


Return again, return again, return to the home of your soul ... "  Shlomo Carlebach

The Jewish High Holy days, 
    the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah, the new year, 
        and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, 
            is a journey of the soul reawakening, 
                calling out, 
                    Return Again, 
                        Return Again, 
                            Return to the home of your soul. 


Where have you been, spiritually, this past year? 


Have you been fully present to yourself? 


To your loved ones? 


To your passions in life? 


To the values you hold most dear? 


Or have you become fragmented, 
    torn, 
        separated from what you are, 
            who you are, 
                where you are? 


Return, again. 


Yom Kippur is the most important day 
    of the Jewish liturgical year. 


Jewish teachings say that in ancient times, 
    on this one day, 
        the high priest
            was allowed to enter into 
                the innermost sanctum of the temple, 
                    a small cubicle called “the holy of holies.” 


It was believed that there, 
    in the darkened, windowless space, 
        away from the eyes of the people, 
            that there ... 
                God would appear. 
        
This inner chamber was separated from the rest of the temple by a veil,  
    a huge, heavy drape made of fine linen and 
        blue, purple and scarlet yarn, 
            with rich gold embroidery woven within it.   


Before entering the holy of holies, 
    the priest went through elaborate rituals and prayers, 
        making himself ready, 
            a reminder that entering this most sacred space 
                was not to be done lightly, 
                    but with great reverence and care. 


There, in the holy of holies, 
    physically cleansed and spiritually alert,  
        the priest uttered the secret name of the Divine, 
             and offered up prayers of atonement
                for himself and for his congregation, 
                    in order to renew the land and the people, 
                        in essence creating the cosmos anew
                            for the coming year. 


Return, again. 


The ancient temple is long gone, 
    and with it the priestly tradition; 
        And though most of us at Throop do not claim Yom Kippur
            as a religious observance for ourselves, 
                we Unitarian Universalists do find meaning in this day. 


Our hymnal includes readings on this theme
    because Yom Kippur offers rich spiritual lessons
        for us to learn from;  
            and it is a powerful reminder that we 
                share a core common belief 
                    with our Jewish friends: 


We believe that we are each responsible 
    for our own atonement, 
        for asking for forgiveness,
            for mending the tears in our lives. 
                                    

This coming Wednesday during services, 
    no rabbi will ask for forgiveness 
        on behalf of their gathered congregation. 
            Nor do I ask it on behalf of you all, today.  


Forgiveness, 
    making amends, 
        is a journey wholly and completely our own. 
            You decide how, and when, and whither. 
                It is your hard work to do. 
                    You do so within the context 
                        of your own life.  
             
Just as the ancient temple priest 
    wound his way deeper and deeper into the temple, 
        closer and closer toward the holy of holies, 
            each of us carefully winds our way toward amends 
                that need to be made. 
                    Each of us winds our way toward
                        inner health and healing. 


Return, again. 


Yom Kippur asks us to take account 
    of our actions and our intentions of the past year, 
        and to own up to the ways we have 
            broken our vows, 
                broken our connection, 
                    to other people in our lives, yes; 
                        and just as importantly. 
                            to that which we consider sacred. 


In essence, we ask ourselves 
    how have we broken the very ground of our being. 


What do you identify as sacred or holy in your own life? 


God ... 
    Nature ... 
        Interconnected Web of Life ... 
            Beloved Community ... 
                Spirit of Love ... 


However you understand the Sacred - 
    we humans break our connection to it. 


One of my favorite wisdom stories 
    is told by an Indian Jesuit priest, 
        about a piece of golden thread. 


The story is that The Eternal
    holds each one of us by a string. 
        When we don’t act in accordance with our innermost values, 
            we are in essence cutting the string; 
                the connection between ourselves and The Eternal, 
                    ourselves and what we know, 
                        ourselves and others. 


When we cut the string 
    and realize what we have done, 
        we ask for help or forgiveness, 
            and the Eternal ties the string again, 
                making a knot - and thereby bringing us closer. 


Again and again in our lives we cut the string - 
    and again and again our Creator reties it. 
        With each knot our string become shorter and shorter, 
            and we are drawn closer and closer to the Eternal.


Return, again. 


The medieval poet Moses ibn Ezra offers 
    an image for the ten Days of Awe, 
        or the Days of Repentance - 
            that of a veil. 


He wrote that our sins are like a veil covering our face, 
    separating us from what we name as sacred, 
        separating us from the people in our life, 
            separating us from our true self. 


The process we go through during this time of repentance, 
    which literally means, “return,” 
        is meant to return us to our core self. 
            Return us to who we are, 
                return to what we are, 
                    return to where we are. 


By setting aside time in our lives for 
    intensive introspection, prayer and reflection -                 
        we realize that the veil we allow 
            to drop over our faces in the course of 
                our busy, everyday lives - 
                    the veil can be removed. (1)
 

Just as the ancient temple priest
    pushed aside the huge heavy drape
        allowing them to enter into the holy of holies, 
            we, too, have the power
                to push aside the heavy drape 
                    of our inner chatter, 
                        our self-doubt, 
                            our anxiety and self-importance. 


I ask you to once again 
    settle your mind and spirit, 
        and join me in a Kavanah, 
            a Jewish prayer of intention, 
                of direction of the heart: 


The spirit is not holy; 
nor ideals, intention of will. 


To love Creation in the heart, 
to carry a spiritual thought - 
this is not the holy way. 


Holiness resides in deeds alone; 
only these are our task in this world. 


But to act without thought is empty, 
a mechanical rite without soul. 


Consciousness and action, 
matter and spirit - 
all unite in a deed mindfully performed. 


We change the world not through our dreams, 
but through the way we consume, do our work, 
rest on sabbath, give to one another. 


Were we angels, pure disembodied souls, 
we would not need the discipline of deeds. 
Were we animals, pure instinct and drive 
we could not rise to touch the sacred. 


To join body and mind, 
to live our ideals, 
to serve in the fullness of our humanity: 
there is the challenge of holy living. (2)
 

May we move toward greater wholeness, 
    may we return, once more, to who we are, 
        and begin living again in love. 

1. From Yom Kippur: Mishkan Hanefesh, A Machzor for the Days of Awe, p. 94.
​2. Ibid., p. 217. 



                                    


                
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