Possibility

 Opening Words ; “Here We Are” Rev. Jay Wolin

Here we are in this liminal time
We are told, It will never be the same
Do not hope for normal
There will have to be a new normal.
I don’t even know what that means
I cant even imagine what that will look like

As you are falling you don’t ask yourself
I wonder what it will look like at the bottom.
We just plummet until we hit some solid ground
And then, then we will figure the way forward

There is no escape or denying
The reality we find ourselves in
There is just a going through
Step by step

Knowing we are not alone
As we search, struggle, and stretch
To find what is still possible.

Something has to change
Something has to give
Something has to happen

A door open,

To step through
A light shining,

To guide us
A vision awakened

As we remain open
to how we will evolve.
And how the world will unfold
And as we search together

Let us remember
Those upon whom our foundation is built
Those that are still with us building and
Those that are still to come

Let us be a presence

To the past,
To the present and
To whatever the future holds

Reflection Part 1

There is so much going on right now.

We have climate change ravaging our planet, we have Governors of various states actively working against stopping Covid.

Women’s right to control their own bodies is being challenged, Voting rights are being challenged.

And of course the normal day to day issues of ongoing poverty, lack of affordable housing and lack of health care for all.  Whew….It is hard to hold it all.

So you have a choice, To let go or to hold it all.

To to hold one at time. For the one day yesterday I let those go.

Yesterday was the 20^th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks

I did and I do think it is worth stopping and reflecting on this. Tragedy.

It was and still is especially haunting for me as the trade centers were in my home town, in a building I entered frequently during my time going to college, and the sadness of lives lost, and injured, of possibilities lost, two of whom I knew personally.  

I don’t know why anniversaries that end in 0 are any more important then other anniversaries.  But my wife Jan assured me this is true when we celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary this year.

Perhaps this anniversary of 9-11 is especially poignant as it is juxtaposed with our exit from the War in Afghanistan.  I kept hearing on the news this weekend that for a very short time after the attack in 2001, from a meta perspective it seemed the country and the world was unified and more compassionate.

One report made the ironic connection between people bringing masks to first responders in 2001 gratefully received, and today people refusing masks for covid.  But of course all of this kum by yah moment is only partially true. As we saw in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 there were thousands I mean literally thousands of hate crimes against American people of color and particularly against americans who had any resemblance to middle easterners, including Sikhs because they wore turbans even though they originate from India. 

One young Sikh college student Valerie Kaur dropped out  of college and created a documentary entitled “divided we fall” to show the impact of violence on this other America, this fearful America this violent and racist side of America. She was driven by her Sikh faith with its teaching of Nan dom isnan which means in order to realize god and yourself, you must act in the here and now. 

This was a tipping point for our country.

There were many possibilities at that moment..

At that time many individuals became introspective.

Realizing the fragility of life.

Realizing the consequences of actions,

Realizing in that moment what our deepest longings were. Religious life increased significantly. People changed careers.

I was just reading a story yesterday about New York Jets Head Football Coach Robert Salah the first Muslim head coach in the NFL by the way, how 9-11 changed his life. His brother who was in a finance training for Morgan Stanley had been in the South tower when the north tower was hit.  And despite being told to stay at his desk, he started walking down the stairs. It was a decision that saved his life.  For six hours Salah did not know if his brother was still alive. An event like this brings the question of death and and consequently how we spend our time during our life to the forefront.

Six months later Salah who had played some college football,  was a credit analyst for an insurance agency, crunching numbers and he just started crying.  This was not how he wanted to spend his life. So he quit and changed his trajectory and followed his dream. Because he realized his time in this world is precious  and he wanted to spend his time on something he was passionate about, and so he explored his possibilities.  He didn’t know where it would lead, but doing what he loved, led him to his best self.

As a country Certainly we had to protect ourselves. Yet it could have been a time for introspection as to who we were as a country as well.

To try to understand why people would want to kill us?

It is often in how we frame a story.

We framed the story of people of clashing cultures and how their culture wanted to destroy our culture.

We could have told a different story.

A story of a constantly invaded people who were tired of having our troops stationed in their land.

Both are true and incomplete stories. 

Instead of contemplation discernment and compassion we became more nationalistic and militaristic starting two wars. 

With the world’s sympathy, there were many possibilities at that moment.  I try to imagine if we hadn’t given into our fears and worst instincts of revenge  what other possibilities there could have been.

And so now as we look forward, looking out 20 years from now, let us recognize that the choices we make now the stories we tell ourselves now will have a profound impact not only on our lives, but let us understand that what we do will have  a profound impact on this congregation and the community at large.

So I invite us to move forward with Contemplation, discernment and compassion.

The opening hymn Come and go with me to that land also reminds me that this week in the Jewish Tradition is the days of awe,  the time between Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement – the highest holy days for Jewish people.

The torah reading for this week in the Jewish Scriptures is the Book of Deutoronomy Ch. 31.

This chapter is the story of Moses dying at the age of 120, just before they enter the promised land and Joshua taking leadership of the Jewish People.  Moses, had led the Jewish People out of slavery, led the people through the desert despite many disagreements and hardships.  God tells us that even though they have reached the promised land, there are still going to be troubles.

People will forget their past,

People will go astray.

Those who did not experience the hardships will not understand what it takes to make it through the desert times of life.

The story is the ending of one time and the beginning of another. The new leader is told three times, Be Strong and Courageous. Especially with the new year this passage holds special meaning. In the Days of Awe before the book of life is closed Wednesdasy for the upcoming year

We are asked to be strong and courageous in reflecting upon our life this past year,

to see where we have not been our best selves, .

where we may have missed the mark,

where we did not keep our covenants,

and then to repent and ask forgiveness of those we have harmed.  Then secondly, we should be strong and courageous

first to believe that we can change going forward,

for if we do not believe we can change we will not.

Once we have the courage to believe

we have to be strong and courageous to take the steps to actually change.

This passage feels very appropriate right now.

It feels like we are at the ending of a time at the Congregation. Hopefully coming out of our wilderness,

a wilderness of strife,

a wilderness of covid,

a wilderness when we have had numerous leaders move away or die these past number of years, just just like Moses.

Things are going to be different. We don’t know how.

But now is the time just as Joshua stepped in and up, now is the time for different  people with different skills to step in and up to create something new in a new way,

a way to imagine and live into the possibilities that are before us. When that inner voice speaks up , that says, am I really capable of doing this,

Can we really change in the ways we need to,

I invite you to remember the words of Deutoronomy, where God tells Joshua, “I will be with you”. So too I remind each of you, You are not alone in this. We are all in this together,

supporting, caring, loving, each other.

Chapter 30 of Deutoronomy ends with

“I have put before you  life and death, blessing and curse.

Choose life.  You and your offspring will live, by loving.

I invite you to Choose Life, to Choose Love. For all the time we have. Whether it is another 20 minutes or  20 or 120 years. Choose love.

Part 2:

So what is possible

When I was in business world,

I remember being told the following story:

A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of lets say a remote country to study the prospects for expanding business.

One sends back a telegram saying, SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES

The other writes back triumphantly, GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES

You can tell the story is dated first because are telegrams even a thing anymore?

Despite the Colonialist Capitalist consumption driven stereotyping narrative of that story, despite all that,

There is a kernel of insight in it.

How we see the world will determine what possibilities we believe are available to us. 

And more importantly what goals we set for ourselves will determine where we end up.

If we set a goal to sell sneakers to everyone that is a choice of how we are going to spend our life. If we set a goal to be excellent foot care then we take in the context of their culture, their to

pography, their medical care. Not just their footwear.

Our goal and the context of what we are doing makes a difference.

Sometimes we are just get busy making a living

instead of making a life.

Sort of like the George Bernard Shaw quote that both John and Robert Kennedy used effectively in political speechs

“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Similar to what I spoke of in my first reflection that we tend to get locked into a story or frame and only live within that frame.

I think this is best exemplified by the 9 box 4 line test. 

In this example we are asked to connect the 9 dots with 4 lines without our writing instrument leaving the paper.

Many struggle figuring how to do this…..because we are stuck in our frame of what is meant. We create self imposed boundaries on our thinking. Sometimes you have to think outside the box to figure out a solution. To go beyond the boundaries of what we believe is possible.

And even after seeing this, I found other creative solutions. One that used only three lines, and then one that used only one line if you used a 3 dimensional template.

I could have just stopped with the one answer, but creativity begats creativity.

Benjamin Zander in the Art of Possiblity writes.

“Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life,

only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data,

and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.”

And also as I said before It is important to understand our goal.

Like the story of the drill bit company that once had an advanced drill but the competition was catching up. They had to change their thinking from being the best drill bit company to thinking what the best way was to create a hole. Because that was the goal.  Not to build drill bits, but to create holes. They went on to become a leader in lasers drilling.

So what does all this mean for us.

Honestly I don’t know and I do think that is a good place to start. To admit we don’t know.

To use a beginners mind as Buddhists would say.

But its important to think outside the box.

To imagine possibilities that we cannot see.

To understanding our past and what laid the foundation,

to understand it but to grow from there.

To understand that life is not a zero sum game where we struggle merely to survive. But  a mystery unfolding.

To quote Ben Zander again,

“You are more likely to be successful, overall, if you participate joyfully with projects and goals and do not think your life depends on achieving the mark because then you will be better able to connect to people all around you.”

Don’t connect just to meet the goal, connect because you are engaging with something that you and others are passionate about doing.

Let us be passionate about this Congregation.

Not because we want to meet a pledge amount, or because we want to reach a certain membership number.

Rather be passionate about the congregation because we expand minds and consciousness.

Be passionate about this Congregation because we raise our children to discern their values not repeat creeds.

Be passionate about this congregation because our religious values encourage us to create a more just world.

Be passionate about this congregation because there is a lot going on in the world and we need each other to help on the journey.

 Be passionate about this Congregation because although sometimes we miss the mark, in every moment we do endeavor to live with Revolutionary Love and relentless optimism.

If anyone can think outside the box in regard to religion it should be us. With all of that and with all of you, anything is possible. Nan dom isnan to realize god and yourself, you must act in the here and now. May it be so.