Quickening Our Capacity
[Jesus said unto them,] “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” – John 6:63 (KJV)
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum served Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan for 31 years. The “drash”—the nickname for a midrash, a Jewish type of sermon that comments on a text—that she gave for her first sermon was Parshat Ki Tetze: “Enlarge the size of your tent, extend the site of your dwelling, do not stint! Lengthen the ropes and drive the pegs firm.”
Her spirit quickened excitement, acceptance, courage. Her congregation lit many candles. Then it had institutional babies: it was singularly effective in passing and defending the equality of marriage revolution, giving hospitality to immigrants, so much more.
Quickening is spiritual nurturing so strong that it goes on to build institutions, which then pass legislation, which then create the kindom of God on earth. Spiritual nurture yields public capacity.
When rituals just light candles, they are problematic. They pretend to be doing God’s work but aren’t. When well-candled worship shows up for the demonstration after the last or next hate crime, it makes the space in our tent larger and secures the tent so it doesn’t fall down, using pegs strong enough to confront the storms. Flesh gets involved and it quickens too. We do not stint on the flesh on behalf of the spirit so much as the flesh gets breath from the spirit.
I don’t know how to honor my friend Sharon’s retirement so much as to notice how big her tent is, how secure it is, how the site of her dwelling mattered. Way to go, Sharon. Way to go.
Prayer
Quicken the candles, O God, so that they may enlarge the spaces, making room for those normally left out in the cold. Amen.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is Interim Minister at the United Congregational Church of Little Compton. Her latest book is Remove the Pews.