Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Hannah Spiro, Hill Havurah, Washington, DC
Date of Prayer: 09/24/2018
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God,
we thank You for the Jewish festival of Sukkot, which begins today, and for Your commandment to build temporary structures, to eat and sleep in them under the stars, and to welcome in guests–– honored guests, guests in need. You teach us that these are one and the same. |
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Your festival teaches us
to come to terms with impermanence–– of these temporary structures, our actual homes, our wealth, our social standing, and even our lives. When we remember, as Ecclesiastes teaches, that we came from dust and will return to it,[1] Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:20 we can’t possibly feel justified in holding onto our resources with a clenched fist. You move us to open our hands and homes in generosity, inclusion, and justice. |
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May the Sukkot season
and the beauty of changing autumn leaves inspire each one of us to welcome, to serve, and, for this brief time we are allotted, to generously live. |
Source(s)
115th Congress, 2nd Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 164, No. 157 — Daily Edition (September 24, 2018)
Link: https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/display_gc.html?id=2793
Notes
| 1 | Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:20 |
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