For Eric, the interval of writing out the prayer was sacred time, both a retreat from the rest of his day and a ritual that provided structure and order to a life which felt largely out of control. The decision of whether or how to pray is very personal and private. And our faith and need to pray may fluctuate tremendously. I have also had rare moments during which the words which I have read hundreds of times before suddenly shine and have the capacity to newly transport me. As I consider prayer and this time of year, the head of the year, I keep returning to lists.
Jewish liturgy incorporates numerous lists.
The current violence in Jerusalem is on my mind this morning, and perhaps yours as well. It has been said that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem because peace in Jerusalem has been so elusive that were Jerusalem to make itself a city of peace, so too would all the world be at peace. At this Rosh Hashanah, let us all put prayers for the peace of Jerusalem on our lists and in our hearts. Lists are a way of imagining things we are about to create, whether that be a letter to a friend, a poem, a meal, or the mind and soul we expand through study, travel, or work. In order to create something, we must imagine it first, and in order to do that, we must break through the barriers of what actually exists into the unknown universe of what does not yet exist.