A Word from Pastor Nathan

Dear Friends:

On Monday we learned the names of the eleven victims and heard incredible tributes to their faith and service to the congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Rabbi Lauren Werber, who leads Temple B’nai Abraham in Elyria, and I have communicated, and WACC has extended sympathy and its desire to show tangible signs of solidarity with our Jewish neighbors.

One of the most important things we can do to demonstrate support is to show up and speak out. There are two opportunities to show up at Temple B’nai Abraham this week. On Friday at 7pm, the temple will hold its weekly Sabbath service, and WACC elders, members, and I will attend. If you would like to join us, please be in touch with the church office. Following services at WACC on Sunday morning, Temple B’nai Abraham will host its annual Bagel Brunch. I encourage you to attend one or both of these events.

When we have readings in our worship services from the first testament of scripture, we use the language of “Hebrew Bible,” because these words, while ancient, are still life-giving and new in their speaking and hearing. Some of my favorite stories are from the Hebrew Bible. The prophetic words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Huldah (Google her) among other biblical prophets deliver a powerful truth for our time, just as the words did in the context in which the prophets first spoke them. Isaiah speaks words that convey our present and future hope: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” In today’s vernacular, Isaiah might say that ‘they shall beat their assault rifles into plowshares, and hate speech will be transformed into rivers of justice and shalom.’

On Friday evening before the terrible events on Saturday, Rabbi Werber shared Yehuda Amichai’s poem at Temple B’nai Abraham’s Rock Shabbat musical service:

Don’t stop after beating the swords into plowshares, don’t stop!
Go on beating and make musical instruments out of them.
Whoever wants to make war again will have to turn them into plowshares first.

May God grant us the courage to show up and to speak out and to sing the music of the spheres that hails God’s new creation.

Peace abundant,

Nathan