Emmanuel's Land

Before I start with this please allow me to state that I have come to accept that my relationship with the "Godhead" is limited by the physical reality of life, and by the sensual equipment that we have been given in order to enable us to understand that which is outside of ourselves. Here is a paradox that I have given up trying to resolve: God is outside of any of the terms in which we understand our fellow beings. A name that can not be known; existing outside of time, without sex, or size, or language. Yet we must speak of the "Godhead," and to the "Godhead," and if we are lucky feel It's presence in our lives, love It, and cherish It's creation. 

It is the "It's" that I stumble on. As James Carrol says in Constantine's Sword, "It" is a "rank projection of myself." I understand this, and my life is too short to talk around it, or worry about it, and the only self I have to project is that of a male artist, so I speak of Him, and His creation, but I use that pronoun only because I need the intimacy it provides to me. Please trust that I know full well that when you say "She" we are speaking of the same thing, which is the perfection of all aspects of all of ourselves, and at the same time irrelevant to any of the terms we struggle to find for It.

The little jokes and jibes, even the occasional profanity that pass between my self and this projection which I call my "Friend" may seem irreverent to you. I suppose they are, but for myself I have to say that reverence can become a barrier to our communion with God. I have thought about these things for many years, but have never articulated them publicly. They are perhaps my little heresies. I will refer once again to Constantine's Sword in which Mr Carrol teaches us about the ways in which the codes of feudalism determine our religious and even theological attitudes and observance. these are the things of Ceaser, I think. The Hebrew God was intensely intimate with his people. Neither Christ or the early Christians had any interest in being at a distance from God. We are meant to have diner together, like good friends.

I am going to break this post into sections. This introduction, a reflection on my reasons for participating with this particular congregation followed by a discussion of an event that took place this last weekend, and then what inevitably must be a very inadequate tribute to Emmanuel Music. I have already related some thoughts about Boston Jewish Spirit, more will follow!