Sue Kertianis- Reaction to Yom Kippur Service

The Yom Kippur service was a good idea to experience something different in our worship service. As we moved along through the service you could really feel the passion in the music and sense the congregation’s anticipation as we started different sections.

I personally felt as one link in an unending circle – we were all connected in this service. Yet we were all individually asking for God’s forgiveness. During the confession part – the outward tapping on your chest – I strongly felt God’s presence … the responses were genuinely heartfelt.

Immediately following the service, I did follow Pastor Jared’s suggestion and asked someone to forgive me, not so much that I had sinned again that person, but that I was not doing enough for them and prayed that I would be a better person.

I think this service brought home the fact that we need to be quick to ask for forgiveness and more aware of God’s direction in our lives.

Cathrine Stadulis- Reaction to a Service in Honor of Yom Kippur

When Pastor Jared asked if I would be willing to write a reflection on this Sunday’s service, and that said service would focus on Yom Kippur and atonement, I had to laugh to myself.

As a former Catholic, raised in a very Catholic family and having two strict Polish-Catholic grandparents (I still feel slightly guilty about eating meat on Fridays,) the concept of sinning and asking for forgiveness for one’s sins is hardly a new concept for me. I remember vividly going through my first Rite of Reconciliation in grade school – attending special meetings at the church with other kids in my class and trying to figure out, along with my friends, what exactly qualified as a sin and whether I needed to confess it or not. Did fighting with my brothers make it on the list as a sin? Should I confess to thinking mean thoughts about certain kids in my class?

So, writing about a Yom Kippur service, where the entire focus is on sinning and atoning for one’s sins, I thought, would be an easy task. And yet, three days later, I still find it hard to write out exactly how Sunday’s service affected me.

Some things are easy to write down. For example, after attending this Sunday’s service, it would seem that the Jewish and Catholic/Christian faiths don’t stray too far from each other when it comes to defining sin. Both faiths have quite a list of both major and minor transgressions. I always liked the Catholic "I have sinned in what I have done and in what I have failed to do," and I liked the Jewish "we have acted presumptuously… we have been stiff-necked… we have gone astray."

On the more difficult side of things, I still have very divided feelings about sin and atonement, and Sunday’s service was, at times, hard for me.

Growing up, my parish priest would state "arrogant are we to think that there is any sin we can commit that God will not forgive." As a young adult, I remember standing in church next to my father and rolling my eyes as he would beat his fist on his breast during the confession of sin portion of the Mass. All I could think was, "What’s the point?" For years, that portion of the Catholic Mass was merely lip service to me; a time to make a statement but not really think about or intend the words I was saying.

After all, God has assured his forgiveness of us on many occasions. Why must we list out what we have done; why must we beat our breast? God knows what we did and if we are truly sorry for it. Why must we ask?

These are still questions I struggle with now as an older adult. To stand with my new congregation in the Methodist faith and to say words and perform acts that I have always associated with "silly" Catholicism and to see that they are, in fact, part of the original Jewish faith, was very difficult. To beat my breast in public, something I always thought of as an over-the-top and melodramatic action, and to try to mean it was extremely hard to do. To speak out the list of 15 sins, both major and minor, even with all the others of the congregation, was also extremely difficult.

Why so difficult? I’m still not sure. Perhaps now, as someone who is trying to really live my faith and have true intent behind my words, it is harder to admit my sins, both to others and to myself. Perhaps, after several very emotionally hard years, I feel that I truly need to ask God for forgiveness. Perhaps because there have been times when I felt that God has never forgiven me my transgressions, as I did not truly mean my words before.

Despite all of these questions and difficulties, though, I left Sunday’s service feeling forgiven, if still filled with questions. But I am grateful, very grateful, that Pastor Jared and IUMC gave me the opportunity to experience an abbreviated Yom Kippur.

One of the reasons I chose to join IUMC is that I have left more services thinking, and feeling, like someone who has really heard the word of God. And this past Sunday, I feel like I truly received some of God’s forgiveness. And for that I am truly thankful.

Maryanne Schneider's reaction to A Service in Honor of Yom Kippur

When Pastor Jared asked me to post something of my impressions of the service today I brought out pen and paper and had pen in air to jot down every exceptional thing about the service. After making a few notes I decided to put my pen away and just sit back and experience the service.

"This day for the Jews is like our Easter", said Jared. 

I used to think as a child that this sacrifice of innocent animals was pagan and cruel because the true meaning of why they did it and why God expected it was not clear to me then. The slaughtering of their prized lambs and goats must have torn them to pieces. But they were obedient to God.

God sacrificed his most precious possession: His son Jesus. Another thing that came to my mind was that it was one thing to sacrifice an animal but to sacrifice a human and your own son had to be so much more horrible. I could not bear to sacrifice one of my children to wipe away anyone's sins.

The service went on to the confession of sins. There are a lot of sins out there. Some you wouldn't think of as bad sins but they shared the same level as all sins. One no better than another. All needed to be confessed to please God. 

Quite meaningful was the fact that in a group confession we were not just confessing our own sins but we as a group were confessing and asking forgiveness for all those in the group. There is power in numbers and I think the Jews have that figured out. 

Our repentance must be TRUE to be accepted by God and by our repentance we are calling God to come to us and meet us with his love and compassion. 

In confession we are making a sacrifice. The sacrifice of our pride. We submit ourselves to humility in admitting we did wrong in the eyes of God. We show remorse for the wrongs we have done and we can feel cleansed.

The music by the choir was sung in Hebrew. Once being in a choir and having to sing in Latin I know how difficult it must be to sing unfamiliar words with meaning. The music was truly meaningful in the way it was sung: Reverently and with passion.

The confession in which we beat our fist over our heart and repeated the words in Hebrew that Jared led us with was very moving. Although on the lighter side, and I always find a lighter side during the oddest and most solemn of times, I thought to myself......You know when we try to speak the language of a country we are visiting and we mispronounce the words it comes up with a different meaning?

All I can say is that I hope I was not saying something much different than the original meaning when I mispronounced them. Something that would make me go back and say another confession.

I did confess to someone after the service for a wrong I did to them as suggested by Jared. I told my husband Al that I was sorry that sometimes I take him for granted. 

Taking something for granted is never good. Taking for granted that God will forgive us if we do not sacrifice something for him has to be one of the worst sins against Him.

A service in honor of Yom Kippur

Normally on Mondays, I like to post the sermon from the previous day's worship.  However, this last week we did not have a sermon!  Instead, we read and prayed and sung together liturgy from Park Synagogue's Yom Kippur service.  I have the privilege of singing in the High Holy Day choir and thus, even as a gentile, have a bit of insight into the vast spirituality contained in the service.  (For more of a primer, check out this introduction by Rabbi Jonathan Kraus.)  Thus, I wanted to bring a little taste of that moving religious experience to our congregation.  However, I'm not comfortable reprinting the prayers in this forum as I am sure their are copyright implications.  Instead, here are a few bits of information to give you a feel.


The Yom Kippur service comes to us from the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus.  As part of the Torah, this is of course revered scripture that is shared by Jews and Christians.  However, we at times fail to appreciate the depth of spirituality in our Hebrew Bible (which is often referred to as the Old Testament).  


The actual Yom Kippur services at Park Synagogue take place over 2 days and last for approximately 13 hours.  We had about 20 minutes!  So we spent the bulk of the time going over what I consider to be the spiritual high point of the service- the confession of the sins that take place during the Avodah service.  I do want to include two quotes from the prayer book ( The New Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Pg. 637) to give you a sense of its meaning:

The Avodah

For our ancestors in ancient days, the Temple in Jerusalem was the symbol of God’s presence.  In the Temple sacrifices were offered daily on behalf of the entire nation.  On the Sabbath and Festivals, special sacrifices marked the holiness of the day.  Thus did the Temple bear testimony to Israel’s consecration to God.
The Temple has long since been destroyed; yet, the remembrance of it lives on in the heart of our people.  
When we recall the ancient Temple, we link ourselves to our past; we sense again that we are part of one people, dedicated to the service of God and God’s Torah of righteousness and truth.
Today our worship is one of prayer and praise.  But when we think of the piety of our ancestors, who from their meager supply of cattle and grain, offered their best possessions in the service of God, we feel called upon to devote not only our words but also our substance to God’s service.
Milton Steinberg (adapted) 

The Ritual of Confession

On Yom Kippur, the sacrificial rites in the ancient Temple, highlighted by the ritual confession, were conducted by the High Priest.   On this day, and on it alone, he entered the Holy of Holies, entry to which was denied to all others.  On this day he made confession three times, humbling himself before God and seeking forgiveness for his own sins and those of his household, for the sins of the priestly order, and for the sins of the entire House of Israel.
Ario S. Hyams (adapted)

Thus, we prayed together our confessions on behalf of ourselves and the entire community.  As was explained to me by one of my Jewish friends, when they make their confession on Yom Kippur, it is a confession as a community.  Thus, not every single thing confessed needs to apply directly to you to confess it.  You are confessing with the community, and certainly someone in the community has transgressed in that particular way.  So also is the community confessing to you as it is quite likely at least one of the confessions applies to you.



The heart of the confession is the Ashamnu which we prayed and sang together.  The English translation of the text is as follows (pg. 649):

We have trespassed; we have dealt treacherously;we have robbed; we have spoken slander;we have acted perversely; we have done wrong;we have acted presumptuously; we have done violence;we have practiced deceit; we have counseled evil;we have spoken falsehood; we have scoffed;we have revolted; we have blasphemed;we have rebelled; we have committed iniquity; we have transgressed; we have oppressed; we have been stiff-necked; we have acted wickedly;we  have dealt corruptly; we have committed abomination;we have gone astray; we have led others astray.

After concluding our confessions, we read a text of reassurance for the forgiveness of our sins- 

When repentance and change seem too hard,
We draw strength from the Divine promise;
For on the road to true repentance,
We are met by God’s love and compassion.

Following the service, I read from the tenth chapter of Hebrews where Jesus is depicted as the high priest making the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the community.  I think we can both affirm that forgiveness is ultimately mediated by Jesus Christ without invalidating the rituals of confession embraced by both the Jewish and Christian faiths.  We still need to take the time to ask for forgiveness- even if that forgiveness is freely offered.

Since I cannot reproduce the entire service here, I asked several members of the congregation to write up their own thoughts following what was a very different service.  I hope you will appreciate their lightly edited reflections as they are posted this week.  It will be great to see the diversity of the responses!

Shalom!

Pastor Jared