Sidney Sussex College Chapel … I took part in the IOCS summer schools from 2008 to 2016 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:
1, a photograph of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).
This week I have been offering photographs from seven churches that have connections with my education. My photographs this morning (13 March 2021) are from the chapel of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
In 2008, I as the recipient of the Oulton Prize, which allowed me to attend the summer school in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, organised by the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. I missed the summer school in 2012, but otherwise I stayed in Sidney Sussex each summer until 2016, and worshipped twice a day in the college chapel or around the corner in Saint Bene’t’s Church, which became effectively my parish church each summer.
Although I missed the IOCS summer school in 2012, I was invited to preach at Choral Evensong in the chapel in Sidney Sussex earlier that year (5 February 2012). I was also invited three years earlier to preach in the chapel of Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Luke 18: 9-14 (NRSVA):
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” 13 But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (13 March 2021) prays:
Let us pray for those who have found ways to work toward making our world a better place even in our current circumstances.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Chapel Court in Sidney Sussex College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
13 March 2021
Praying for ‘a peaceful life
with goodness and blessing,
free from shame and reproach’
Patrick Comerford
Passover or Pesah, which begins this year at sunset on Saturday 27 March, marks a half-way point in the Jewish calendar. Although it comes in Nissan, the first month in the Jewish year, it is actually six months since Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
In the month before Passover, each Shabbat is marked with special preparations for this important holiday. For example, last weekend it was Shabbat Parah (שבת פרה), while the previous weekend it was Shabbat Zakhor.
Shabbat HaChodesh (‘שבת החודש, the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nissan) for the Hebrew Year 5781 begins at sunset this evening (Friday 12 March 2021) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (Saturday 13 March 2021).
This Shabbat is the last of the four special Shabbatot that began on Shabbat Shekalim (this year on 13 February 2021). On each of these Shabbatot, the Maftir comes from a second Sefer Torah, and there is a special Haftarah.
Shabbat HaChodesh takes place on the Shabbat before the first of the Hebrew month of Nisan (14 March 2021), the month when Passover is celebrated.
On the first day of Nisan, God presented the first commandment of how to ‘sanctify the new moon’ (kiddush hachodesh) for the onset of Rosh Chodesh, and so Nisan becomes the first month of the Jewish year (counting by months).
The maftir reading for Shabbat HaChodesh is Exodus 12: 1-20 (Shemot 12: 1-20). This tells of the observance of the first Pesach and its institution as a festival for all time. It describes eating the Passover sacrifice, with ‘your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand’; eating bitter herbs and unleavened bread; and putting blood on the doorposts. It also lists the Passover laws.
The first day of Nisan is also important as the occasion for God’s first commandment, sanctifying the new moon, which begins the Torah reading, ‘This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.’ This commandment moved the determination of months from God’s agenda into the hands of the Jewish people, giving them control over time and the theological and liturgical cycle.
The haftarah (Ezekiel 45: 16 to 46: 18) describes the sacrifices that the people are to bring on the first of Nisan, on Passover, and on other festivals in the future Temple. It is very clearly linked with sacrifices on the first of Nisan, on Pesach and other days in the future Temple
Passover this year begins at sunset on Saturday 27 March. The readings on Shabbat HaChodesh are a reminder that this is just two weeks away. It can create something akin to a response of panic, as people think about how much they need to do in preparation over the next fortnight.
The season symbolises spring, renewal and rebirth, both of nature and the people. But, of course, some people ask whether this panic is about the wrong things, emphasising practical preparation at the expense of spiritual preparation, almost as if they are reliving slavery over the next two weeks and not thinking about freedom, let along experiencing it.
The second verse of the maftir is particularly meaningful: ‘This month shall mark for you (lachem) the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you (lachem).’ The word lachem, ‘for you,’ is a reminder that we are responsible for our own timekeeping.
There is a human responsibility for the calendar, and Rosh Chodesh Nisan has a built-in reminder to make a greater commitment to the observance of the calendar. It is, too, a bold statement that we cannot always wait for God to act. God is waiting for our human initiative.
Shabbat HaChodesh is as a reminder to recommit ourselves to living for the whole year, in accordance with the calendar and its profound messages that can so impact on our personal lives and our world.
On the last Shabbat of each Jewish month, a blessing called Birkat HaChodesh is recited over the new month ahead. The blessing is often recited with fervour and emotion:
May it be Your will,
Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
to reawaken in us joy and blessing in the month ahead.
Grant us a long life,
a peaceful life with goodness and blessing,
sustenance and physical vitality;
a life of reverence and piety,
a life free from shame and reproach,
a life of abundance and honour,
a reverent life guided by the love of Torah;
a life in which our worthy aspirations will be fulfilled.
Shabbat Shalom
Passover or Pesah, which begins this year at sunset on Saturday 27 March, marks a half-way point in the Jewish calendar. Although it comes in Nissan, the first month in the Jewish year, it is actually six months since Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
In the month before Passover, each Shabbat is marked with special preparations for this important holiday. For example, last weekend it was Shabbat Parah (שבת פרה), while the previous weekend it was Shabbat Zakhor.
Shabbat HaChodesh (‘שבת החודש, the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Nissan) for the Hebrew Year 5781 begins at sunset this evening (Friday 12 March 2021) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (Saturday 13 March 2021).
This Shabbat is the last of the four special Shabbatot that began on Shabbat Shekalim (this year on 13 February 2021). On each of these Shabbatot, the Maftir comes from a second Sefer Torah, and there is a special Haftarah.
Shabbat HaChodesh takes place on the Shabbat before the first of the Hebrew month of Nisan (14 March 2021), the month when Passover is celebrated.
On the first day of Nisan, God presented the first commandment of how to ‘sanctify the new moon’ (kiddush hachodesh) for the onset of Rosh Chodesh, and so Nisan becomes the first month of the Jewish year (counting by months).
The maftir reading for Shabbat HaChodesh is Exodus 12: 1-20 (Shemot 12: 1-20). This tells of the observance of the first Pesach and its institution as a festival for all time. It describes eating the Passover sacrifice, with ‘your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand’; eating bitter herbs and unleavened bread; and putting blood on the doorposts. It also lists the Passover laws.
The first day of Nisan is also important as the occasion for God’s first commandment, sanctifying the new moon, which begins the Torah reading, ‘This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.’ This commandment moved the determination of months from God’s agenda into the hands of the Jewish people, giving them control over time and the theological and liturgical cycle.
The haftarah (Ezekiel 45: 16 to 46: 18) describes the sacrifices that the people are to bring on the first of Nisan, on Passover, and on other festivals in the future Temple. It is very clearly linked with sacrifices on the first of Nisan, on Pesach and other days in the future Temple
Passover this year begins at sunset on Saturday 27 March. The readings on Shabbat HaChodesh are a reminder that this is just two weeks away. It can create something akin to a response of panic, as people think about how much they need to do in preparation over the next fortnight.
The season symbolises spring, renewal and rebirth, both of nature and the people. But, of course, some people ask whether this panic is about the wrong things, emphasising practical preparation at the expense of spiritual preparation, almost as if they are reliving slavery over the next two weeks and not thinking about freedom, let along experiencing it.
The second verse of the maftir is particularly meaningful: ‘This month shall mark for you (lachem) the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you (lachem).’ The word lachem, ‘for you,’ is a reminder that we are responsible for our own timekeeping.
There is a human responsibility for the calendar, and Rosh Chodesh Nisan has a built-in reminder to make a greater commitment to the observance of the calendar. It is, too, a bold statement that we cannot always wait for God to act. God is waiting for our human initiative.
Shabbat HaChodesh is as a reminder to recommit ourselves to living for the whole year, in accordance with the calendar and its profound messages that can so impact on our personal lives and our world.
On the last Shabbat of each Jewish month, a blessing called Birkat HaChodesh is recited over the new month ahead. The blessing is often recited with fervour and emotion:
May it be Your will,
Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
to reawaken in us joy and blessing in the month ahead.
Grant us a long life,
a peaceful life with goodness and blessing,
sustenance and physical vitality;
a life of reverence and piety,
a life free from shame and reproach,
a life of abundance and honour,
a reverent life guided by the love of Torah;
a life in which our worthy aspirations will be fulfilled.
Shabbat Shalom
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