Karen - Chattanooga TN
Mitzpa Reform Congregation
On a beautiful spring Friday evening we make our way into the synagogue for Shabbat. Greeted by this sign (ha) what about that burning bush? I say to Pam - thinking I am sly and clever. Sly and clever is that what I bring to the table of G-d's house? (Maybe - Balaam's ass might point to G-d being sly and clever as well...)
We are as guests of a gracious host Rabbi Bill Tepper. There is a lot I can learn from this kind and generous soul about celebration, thoughtfulness and hospitality. We walk in to the temple and are greeted by a welcoming freshness. White walls envelop the space and windows lined with clear glass let through the evening light. Art depicting some of the holidays celebrated in this place of G-d. The tabernacle fronted by gold symbols of faith.
This is not the feeling of being wrapped in worn wood and stone, the gothic stained glass coloring all the light that shines through - instead here are windows that are a reminder to me that the light itself is a gift.
(Sly and clever say my inner voice.) This place, these windows grasp not at antiquity but at the beautiful almost playful nature of G-d; somehow a reminder that G-d dances with us. Calls to us in humor and light and possibility and beauty and life, yes life. Broken but beautiful life.
Call - my call in this place - be sly, be clever, be happy, be filled, be whatever and wherever you are in this moment. Open Karen to the wonder; that is open my heart to the wonder that might be.
A description captures my wonder at the feeling of this space: Erin Yon spent many hours studying the principles of Judaism before the theme for the windows began to crystallize in her mind: since Judaism is meant to teach us how to bring God into our world, how to take the ordinary and make it holy, Erin tried to lift the windows, to open them to God’s presence. She came to understand that Jews honor the world because in doing so, they are honoring God’s creation.
http://www.mizpahcongregation.org/aboutus/history/art_glass_windows/
Don't I wish for exactly this every moment~
to be reminded of the call to live the one precious life that it is mine, to take the ordinary and make it holy, to bring the presence of G-d into my world?
Mitzpa Reform Congregation
On a beautiful spring Friday evening we make our way into the synagogue for Shabbat. Greeted by this sign (ha) what about that burning bush? I say to Pam - thinking I am sly and clever. Sly and clever is that what I bring to the table of G-d's house? (Maybe - Balaam's ass might point to G-d being sly and clever as well...)
We are as guests of a gracious host Rabbi Bill Tepper. There is a lot I can learn from this kind and generous soul about celebration, thoughtfulness and hospitality. We walk in to the temple and are greeted by a welcoming freshness. White walls envelop the space and windows lined with clear glass let through the evening light. Art depicting some of the holidays celebrated in this place of G-d. The tabernacle fronted by gold symbols of faith.
This is not the feeling of being wrapped in worn wood and stone, the gothic stained glass coloring all the light that shines through - instead here are windows that are a reminder to me that the light itself is a gift.
(Sly and clever say my inner voice.) This place, these windows grasp not at antiquity but at the beautiful almost playful nature of G-d; somehow a reminder that G-d dances with us. Calls to us in humor and light and possibility and beauty and life, yes life. Broken but beautiful life.
Call - my call in this place - be sly, be clever, be happy, be filled, be whatever and wherever you are in this moment. Open Karen to the wonder; that is open my heart to the wonder that might be.
A description captures my wonder at the feeling of this space: Erin Yon spent many hours studying the principles of Judaism before the theme for the windows began to crystallize in her mind: since Judaism is meant to teach us how to bring God into our world, how to take the ordinary and make it holy, Erin tried to lift the windows, to open them to God’s presence. She came to understand that Jews honor the world because in doing so, they are honoring God’s creation.
http://www.mizpahcongregation.org/aboutus/history/art_glass_windows/
Don't I wish for exactly this every moment~
to be reminded of the call to live the one precious life that it is mine, to take the ordinary and make it holy, to bring the presence of G-d into my world?
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