Bread on the water

Be it a new day, a new month, a new season, a New Year --- I'm all for it!  I like the idea of a clean page, a new beginning!

With yesterday being Rosh Hashannah, Jewish New Year, I made it a point to claim the newness and to do my personal participation in the ritual of Tashlikh.  Meaning to "cast away," the ritual invovles tossing bread upon the waters as a symbolic action of casting away one's sins with the intention to return to one's true self.

I gatherd my bread, tore it into pieces, placed it in a bag and headed to a bridge over a creek in a nearby park.  With each piece of bread tossed, I named the sin and threw the bread into the water.  It was quite freeing to toss and then watch the bits of bread land in the water and be carried downstream.

Alas, one piece of bread landed on a rock.  The water flow was not swift nor high enough to move it. When I finished my bread-toss-confession and release, that piece of bread was still on the rock.

Hmmmmm....what did that mean and what to do? 

I hoped a duck would swim by and eat the piece of bread and in doing kind of become a "scape duck" upon whose feathers the sin and blame was placed. No such luck there and it's also shaky theology.  I took it as a nudge that I still have a lot of work to do in moving forward and freed from that particular misgiving.  

I'm a work in progress and every day am thankful for grace.

"We built this country...."

 In the late 19th Century it was common for a laborer to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week. Children, with their small hands and bodies could crawl into and under machinery and were a vital part of the Industrial Revolution workforce. The Methodist Church took the lead in the creation of Child Labor Laws and the formation of Unions. 

I am proud of both my heritage as a United Methodist and of being the daughter of a steelworker. My family maintains strong union roots.

 

As a kid, I remember my mother packing my dad's lunch bucket; she wrapped the sandwiches in wax paper, included a few homemade cookies, a piece of fruit and a thermos full of black coffee. When dad worked the midnight shift, we kids played even longer outside and when indoors kept the volume low.

Though now the center of "Meds and Eds," Pittsburgh to me will always be blue collar. I relate far better to the millworker, the construction worker, those who shower after work (not before).  

I am drawn to the person with grit; the one who doesn't whine; the one who works until the job is done.  Truly, the working class built this country.  Celebrate, respect and thank the laborers.

Keep the bottle sealed.....

 Even as attendnace at worship services continues to swiftly plummet, there is still a lot of rituals in place.  Persons need a tangible act to mark a loss, a transformational moment, a beginning.  Consider the placing of items to mark a tragedy or a passing. Far more than flowers, the notes and the items left speak deeply.  

One of the real kicks of being clergy is the opportunity to oversee rituals and also to create new symoblic acts for the moment.  There is nothing like a good baptism. I use a scallop shell that I brought back from the beach.  Some families have painted on the shell the name of the child and the date of her baptism.  Following a baptism, I've been asked to bless the child's teddy bear...love that!  Families have started journals for their child on the day of the baptism and themselves and others in the circle of care write reflections that day and every signficant moment in the child's life culminating with a full journal presented to the child on her graduation from high school.  Parents or grandparents of little ones, it's not too late to begin this custom!

One of the coolest rituals I recently read is on the occasion of a baptism presenting the gifts of:

• A sea shell so the child will love the water.
• A bird feather so the child will love the air.
• A flower so the child will love the earth.
• A sealed bottle with the instruction to never, never, never open the bottle so the child will love mystery.     

Living through this pandemic, I've been reflecting on the need to create liturgy and ritual as we journey ahead; words and symbols and actions.

I invite you to share any insights and ideas and will keep you posted in future writings.

Embrace they mystery ----