Rabbi Stanway's introduction to the Friday sermon, "Fast Food Nation" on April 10, 2009. Join us for services on Friday at 8 pm to hear the whole thing.
Beth Miriam invites you to join us for services. You certainly do not have to be a member of the temple. Come, worship, and celebrate.
You can see the entire sermon in written form from this link (after it is uploaded).
And now for something completely different...
This morning at 6:20 AM there were 19 of us at the boardwalk by the ocean to watch the sun come up and recite the liturgy said every 28 years for the Blessing of the Sun.
As a lay science person, I know that the sun being in exactly the same position as it was on the moment of creation is hardly fact. After all, the galaxy spins so the sun can't be where it was, not to mention the fact that the galaxy is itself traveling through space. So what was the purpose of this ceremony that says that, on sunrise, the Sun is precisely where it was at the moment of its first creation on the fourth day, according to tradition? It is simple: though I will not take the tradition literally, I will take it seriously. It is a tradition that stresses the magnificence of creation and of the reality that we are part of the cosmic scene - and it also teaches us something very humbling.
To know that we are parts of this world is to acknowledge our place in it. And, to acknowledge our place is to recognize that we have a responsiblity to it. That is affirming. But this ceremony also teaches us that, even if we weren't here, the earth would still revolve around the sun, the sun around the galaxy and the galaxy would still travel through the ever-expanding universe. That is very humbling.
We are certainly not the center of the galaxy, let alone the universe but knowing that we are here and knowing that we are a part of universe opens our eyes to the gift of life and our hearts to the possiblities of what we can do in this world. If I have to get up early every 28 years to affirm that, how magnificent the opportunity! Indeed, it is something we all ought to be doing every day.
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