God, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding. You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb. I praise you and live in awe of you; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart. When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there - you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began. O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are! If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
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There was an old ranger, tough and mean. One day, one of his cowboys was caught stealing. “Hang him” said the ranger, “It will teach him a lesson.” Time went by, and eventually the old rancher died. He found himself standing before God - and the many things he had done in his life came back to him. He trembled in his boots. “Forgive him”, said God “It will teach him a lesson.
This past week, our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrated Rosh Hashana - the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Or I should say the most important of the “new years” celebrated in Judaism. Rosh Hashana is the only celebration of two High Holy Days together. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are announced in the Synagogue and Temple with the blowing of a ram’s horn, or Shofar.
...so rather than a dry lecture about Rosh Hashana - which means a good and sweet New Year - let’s look at the lyrics to a song - called “Dip Your Apple”.
“A new year rising, a new beginning, lift your head up,
turn yourself ‘round, the world is spinning.
Feel the magic of a new day, open your heart to a fresh start, send your fears away.
You’ve made mistakes- you feel it. You’ve got what it takes – believe it.
Any wrong can be made right, just forgive, you need not fight.
Shana tova u’metuka – it’s Rosh Hashanah.
Shana tova, u’metuka - dip your apple in the honey, on Rosh Hashana
So many new hopes waiting to find you;
open your eyes, the dreams you prize are all around you.
The smiles are hiding, no use in guessing,
make up your mind, go out and find that simple blessing.
This is your time – you feel it. How sweet it is – believe it.
Any wrong can be made right, just forgive you need not fight.
Shana tova u’metuka – its Rosh Hashana.
Aneinu – shana tova. Shana tova, u’metuka -
Dip your apple in the honey on Rosh Hashana.
Shana tova, u’metuka. Hear the sounds of jubilation – its Rosh Hashana
Yehi Ratzon shenihiyeh, rosh-lo zanav
(May it be your will that we will be like the head and not the tail)
Filling life for those around us with joy and love.
Aveinu malkeinu chaneinu veanaeinu
(Our Father, Our King, have mercy on us and answer us)
Hear our prayer, Oh Lord, inscribe us in the book of life.
Give us life, Lord, and sustain us,
Oh deliver us to salvation. It is New Year, on Rosh Hashana.
Make your loved ones smile, it’s Rosh Hashana.
Open your hearts to one another, its Rosh Hashana.
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But the New Year is longer than just two days. It begins with Rosh Hashanah, and ends with Yom Kippur - the highest of the High Holy Days - also known as the Day of Atonement.
According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into the Book of Life, on Rosh Hashanah, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jewish person examines his or herself, tries to amend his or her behavior, and seeks forgiveness for wrongs done, against God and against other human beings. The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt. At the end of Yom Kippur, one hopes that they have been forgiven by God.
We remember when Peter asks Jesus how many times it is necessary to forgive. Is there a limit to how often one forgives? The rabbis in the temples taught that you could only forgive three times. The Hebrew Scripture today tells us that God knows everything about us, right from the beginning, and forgives. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur teach that God wants us to examine ourselves - to turn ourselves around, to repent and right the wrongs. Jesus said much the same - and Jesus said that it call comes down to loving your neighbour as much or more as you love yourself. Jesus says forgive seventy times seven - does he literally means seventy times seven, or 490 times? Colossal math? Let’s not forget that seven is a sacred number - seven days of the week, seven colours in the rainbow, seven branches in a menorah, seven gifts of the Spirit, seven sins, seven branches in a Menorah.
No, Jesus doesn’t literally mean 490 times, so throw away the calculator - this is celestial math, not human math. We can’t work on the theory that God will forgive us, but we don’t have to forgive other people. - that’s the core of Rosh Hashanah, - the days of self examination and repentance; the Days of Awe which end in the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. This is serious business - ten days of reflection, self-examination, and atonement for wrongs done.
The great author W.H. Auden said that Christianity is a way, not a state of being. Faith is not something you just have - it’s something you have to work at, continually. You can’t just ‘be’ a Christian. I believe this is what Jesus was trying to get across. Unfortunately I also think for most of us who claim Christianity, - and possibly even for our Jewish friends - it’s a mind-boggling idea, and not one which we can comprehend easily. What does it mean to forgive? Do we forgive because it’s the “right” thing to do? Does forgiveness mean becoming a doormat, or being weak? How many people refuse to speak to others in families, or friends or colleagues - because of hurts long ago perpetrated - hurts sometimes real, but often imagined as well? In both our traditions, forgiveness is something we have to work at.
To be a Christian means baptism into a way of life which includes forgiveness. To be a disciple means to act as we believe Jesus would act - and that means constantly working at new beginnings. We may be dragging emotional baggage which prevents us from moving forward. If something becomes an obstacle to following Jesus, then it holds us back in our spiritual development. The question is, are we followers of Jesus, of the God who knows us intimately from the inside out? Can we take the time to examine ourselves and our actions - to come to the table with honey, apples, raisin cakes - for the beginning of a sweet New Year in which we can lift our heads up, turn ourselves around Because with Christ it is all or nothing, no half and half discipleship will do.
In this Creation Time, and this time of new beginnings - we have to start with ourselves and who we are, in God’s creation. Nothing can improve, nothing can change without a change of heart from within - we are followers of Jesus - who delivered a strong and clear message about how people were to live and treat each other - and it finds its roots in the Psalm, that God has searched us and known us even before we were born - a God who is with us in all times, ready to forgive. We are called to live that out, and by our actions as followers, if we live that out the changes for peace and the restoring of creation will also come. But it starts with each of us as an individual. May it be so.
Sources:
1. “With Christ it is All or Nothing”. A sermon based on Deut. 30:15-20 Psalm 1 Philemon 1-21 Luke 14:25-33, by Pastor Philip Van Dam, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
2. “To Forgive”, a sermon based on Exodus 14:19-31, Matthew 18:21-25, by Rev. Fran Ota
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