Dear Interfaith Union Community:
I
have gotten to know many of you at Interfaith Union events and I had
the privilege of being the First Communion catechist at the St.
Raymond's site last year (and am looking forward to doing more of the same, starting in January).
The Interfaith Union has become an important part of my life, and I wanted to send you special greetings: Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas!
Like all of you, I am in the midst of juggling preparations and celebrations of our holidays of life and light. Some
interfaith families prefer those years when Hanukkah comes at the end
of November or early December, when there are almost three weeks
between that last Hanukkah light and the celebration of Christmas. But
growing up, I always enjoyed the years of lunar/solar calendar synergy,
when Hanukkah and Christmas were celebrated in the same week, and the
smell of potato pancakes blended with the sweet
odor of evergreen and roasting turkey (I think one year my mother even
concocted latkeh stuffing for the bird) and my Irish Catholic father
would light the Hanukkah lights and linger over a Hanukkah reading that
called on us to pursue "the good, the true and the beautiful in life."
And yet...for all our attempts, the meanings of Hanukkah and Christmas are quite different. We
can make parallels between our two traditions, but often we need to
think "outside the box" of the December dilemma and look to other
seasons and other celebrations: On the First Sunday of Advent this year (Sunday, November 30th) the first reading for the Liturgy of the Word comes from the 63rd chapter of Isaiah, and concludes with this verse (my own translation from the Hebrew): "You, Living Source are our Creator; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands." This metaphor of clay and potter was elaborated upon in a prayer that is part of the Evening/Kol Nidre Service for Yom Kippur. And
it occurred to me (one of those "Ah-hah/oy vey/duh!" moments), that the
Advent-Christmas season is the Christian liturgical "New Year," so to
speak, and is much closer in themes and longing for renewal, repentance and beginning anew to
the Jewish "Days of Awe" (Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur) than to
Hanukkah. So
I would like to share this poem/prayer with you (again, my translation)
as a gift of renewal and rebirth for all of us "bazman ha-zeh," at this
time of year, as a gift to all of you:
Ha-Brit habet --- See what we have become:
Like the clay in the hands of the potter, who kneads it large or pounds it small, so are we in your hand, Creator of Kindness:
See what we have become, and not what we were.
Like
the stone in the hands of the cutter, whose strength shatters the
hardest of rock of refusal, so are we in your hand, Source of Life: See
what we have become, and not what we were.
Like the anvil in the hand of the blacksmith, who forges it in the fire of faith, so are we in your hand, Advocate for the poor and downtrodden: See what we have become and not what we were.
Like the anchor in the hand of the sailor, who casts its weight into the deepest of seas, so are we in your hand, Font of goodness and repentance: See what we have become, and not what we were.
Like molten glass in the hands of the glazier, who shapes and reshapes his fragile creation, so we are in your hand, as you erase our sins: See what we have become, and not what we were.
Like the curtain in the hands of the seamstress, who sews designs straight across and then off-center, so we are in your hand, attentive, demanding God: See what we have become and not what we were.
Like
the metal in the hand of the silversmith, who alloys or purifies as
circumstances dictate, so we are in your hand, Healer of all that is
broken: See what we have become and not what we were.
May your holidays be filled with the richness of all of our spiritual traditions and increase both joy and understanding.
--- Warmly, Kate E. Kinser
