Sweet Year!

When I thought of the High Holy Days, the image that came to mind was of sitting in a stuffy room in itchy clothes listening to a man speak words I couldn't understand. I was delighted to find the tradition of Tashlikh, which involved going to lake, river or ocean.

That decided it.

I was celebrating the beginning of Rosh Hashanah outside. In Tashlikh, you toss bread or stones into the water, as if tossing away the sins of last year. Since I happened to be at the ocean with friends, I invited them to join me in this meaningful ritual.

We waded across a shallow river and walked barefoot across the wide expanse of sand. The tide was low, making our walk a long one. Near the lapping waves, we blew the shofar--one long blast, three short, nine staccato, another long--a wake up call to the nature of man, a reminder to break the impulses of our hearts. We read two passages from the Bible.

The first, in Exodus 34:6-7, reminded us of God's mercy. Thirteen times in these two short verses, we are told that God is merciful, that he forgives, that he remembers us. In Micah 7:18-19, we read:

Who is a God like you,
   who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
   of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
   but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
   you will tread our sins underfoot
   and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

In a year when I imagined being overwhelmed by God's wrath, I find myself instead being flooded by his mercy.

We named our sins (to ourselves), and hurled them into the depths of the sea.

Or at least we tried.

Since we couldn't find any pebbles on the sandy beach, we threw bread instead. The tide was coming in and kept washing our sins up around our feet. Thank God he can throw farther than we can, far enough that our sins will never, ever wash back up on shore.

We ended our time together by singing Oceans, a song about how God's grace abounds in deepest waters.

I couldn't have planned the timing, but in the evening, when trumpets were sounding in synagogues and homes all throughout our city, God sounded another joyful trumpet blast as we witnessed our youngest child take a big step toward Jesus by identifying with his death and his resurrection in the water of baptism. This girl's sins are also buried in the depths, gone forever.

Rosh Hashana ends tonight. Last night, I enjoyed a compote of apples with a little taste of honey, a reminder that the Lord is sweet and a hope for a sweet new year. That is my wish for you, that your year will be sweet.

The book of life has been opened. We now enter a time of reflection, repentance, and restoration before the book is sealed once again until the next new year begins.

Shanah Tovah.



*Special thanks to Kevin Woods for the use of his shofar, to Melinda Brummett and Rosco Pirtle for the photos, to Melinda, Sara, Barb, and Andrea for sharing moments on the beach with me, and to the cloud of witnesses who stood by not only for our daughter's baptism but for her life.