At a recent area clergy gathering we began to discuss some of the issues and challenges that we as faith leaders have confronted during this past year, a year like no other, filled with grief, loss and the unknown. We discussed how we are conducting our various religious services and approaching the needs of our congregations. We at B’nai Tikvah offer daily prayers for healing at all of our services and the leadership of the congregation including our board and auxiliary organizations have attempted to reach every individual with care packages and messages of hope and caring.
The question was asked, could we offer an interfaith gathering for hope and healing. We are all so ready to put the horrific Covid-19 pandemic behind us, but can we? And if we organize a gathering, are we creating an opportunity to spread good tidings or extend the deadly virus?
We tentatively scheduled an outdoor gather on Sunday afternoon on June 6, I suggested that in the meantime that we initiate a series of communications, brief messages of “Hope and Healing” that could shared with our community.
As we regularly pray, we are reminded of God’s presence and our relationship with God.
Whether we pray to petition, to confess, to give thanks or to praise God, our introspection provides an opportunity to see ourselves and our role in our universe, our community and our relationship with God. Prayer helps us reset our priorities; our ability to communicate and contribute is focused and enhanced, in thanks to the time that we devote to prayer and introspection.
We learn from our prayers that God expects us to be partners in healing the wounds of the lonely and forgotten, to help repair the world. We learn that we are responsible to do God’s work on earth and to appreciate our differences and celebrate our similarities.
As I collect the thoughts and prayers of our area clergy, they will be available below. Our faith partners are planning to do the same and I’m hopeful that our greater community will share our initiate and take the necessary steps to make this a better world.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before God with joyous song.
Cantor Bruce Rockman
May 2021-Iyar 5781
Thoughts and Prayers of Our Area Clergy
Navigating Hope
By Rev Sharyl Dixon, Kingston Presbyterian Church There has been so much sorrow, grief and pain. We are all longing for hope and for a new way forward for our bodies, for our nation and for world.
Thankful
A saying attributed to many, from Confucius to Eleanor Roosevelt, is: “better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” That’s what our faith communities are about. There is a great deal wrong in the world … yet we choose to come together to welcome and be the light for each other.