Last evening was the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah involves blowing the shofar, or ram's horn, as well as sweet pastries in the evening meal. People may wish one another a sweet year. This is my kind of religion.
Rosh Hashanah is also a time for "taking stock," of asking what personal choices may be made to improve relationships or personal habits and behaviour. Tikkun magazine includes a printable "repentance workbook" every year inviting folk to ask questions such as:
What is spiritually out of alignment in my relationships?
How spiritually nourishing is my work?
Do I show adequate respect for my body?
Am I taking enough time to nourish my soul?
Important questions. Both the seasons of Advent and Lent were traditional times in Christianity to do some serious soul searching. Now Advent is swamped by the commercial Christmas and Lent may include some vague commitments to give up something.
We don't need to wallow in guilt or feel unworthy in our life of faith, but we probably all need a regular spiritual check-up or tune-up. And maybe a few sweet cakes.
2 comments:
You often hear people saying that they talk to themselves, and the general concensus is that as long as we don't hear a response we can rest assured that at least we aren't crazy. Maybe it's a lost art, this practice of speaking to ourselves. Maybe, somewhere way back in our history, asking our Selves questions was practiced in the open, and the mark of insanity was a lack of response. Maybe if answering a weekly questionaire was a mandatory requirement of collecting our pay, we would slowly emerge into a world were people still believed in self-responsibilty, and slavery to circumstance would be abolished.
Well said VI. In the Ignatian tradition there is the regular Examen, which is a form of spiritual inventory. In our social justice oriented UCC we have places less emphasis on the practice of speaking to ourselves and with God and more on being "out there" in the world. Surely both are essential for spiritual well-being.
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