Happy New Year
Sep. 4th, 2013 06:13 pm...to everyone who's celebrating. I love seeing these posts go up all over my reading lists as the New Year arrives in various time zones.
It's just under an hour til candles, and I am running around like a headless chicken as usual. I mean, I had this wonderful plan regarding going on holiday just before the festival season. I was totally going to the slack time to do both the spiritual and liturgical / practical preparation. Of course, in reality, holidays have far less slack time than I expect. So I now have only the barest outline of sermons for today and tomorrow and there are several sections where I'm going to have to rely on familiarity rather than detailed prep. I'm doing that thing that wise sages always advise their students not to do, of focusing on the liturgy planning to the complete exclusion of any sort of contemplation or self-reflection.
This time last year I moved my precious notes about the community's unchangeable customs which I absolutely have to work round to a safer place than the case for my festival tallit. So safe that I now can't find the notes anywhere; I knew I should have transcribed everything, or failing that left the papers in the spot where I know to look for them, even if that's not a very logical place for keeping documents.
It will actually be fine, because pretty much every year I get into a last minute panic for one reason or another, and pretty much every year it is in fact fine. And my community need me to be there but they don't need me to be perfect or live up to the standards of a professional. Anyway, love to all of you, I hope the coming year brings you joy whether or not you're turning over the calendar tonight.
It's just under an hour til candles, and I am running around like a headless chicken as usual. I mean, I had this wonderful plan regarding going on holiday just before the festival season. I was totally going to the slack time to do both the spiritual and liturgical / practical preparation. Of course, in reality, holidays have far less slack time than I expect. So I now have only the barest outline of sermons for today and tomorrow and there are several sections where I'm going to have to rely on familiarity rather than detailed prep. I'm doing that thing that wise sages always advise their students not to do, of focusing on the liturgy planning to the complete exclusion of any sort of contemplation or self-reflection.
This time last year I moved my precious notes about the community's unchangeable customs which I absolutely have to work round to a safer place than the case for my festival tallit. So safe that I now can't find the notes anywhere; I knew I should have transcribed everything, or failing that left the papers in the spot where I know to look for them, even if that's not a very logical place for keeping documents.
It will actually be fine, because pretty much every year I get into a last minute panic for one reason or another, and pretty much every year it is in fact fine. And my community need me to be there but they don't need me to be perfect or live up to the standards of a professional. Anyway, love to all of you, I hope the coming year brings you joy whether or not you're turning over the calendar tonight.
