Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: A month of celebrating renewal and moral responsibility

Lynne Baab • Wednesday October 9 2024

Think back on the first two weeks of January, perhaps this year or a past year. After the celebrations on New Year’s Eve and whatever pattern you have for New Year’s Day, what happens next for you? Do you settle easily back into work after the holidays? Do you kick yourself around for eating too much in those food-filled days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s? Do you start a diet or recommit to an exercise plan?

I wonder how many cultures have a period of intentional reflection right after celebrating the New Year. The Jewish High Holidays, a cluster of holy days following Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, are “a month of celebrating renewal and moral responsibility.” I found that phrase in the title of an online article. I actually find it a bit amusing — and a lot sad — that the major form of “renewal and moral responsibility” I hear about in January relates to weight gain, fitness, and food during the holidays.

The kind of reflection encouraged in Jewish communities in the days after Rosh Hashanah goes deeper. When my husband Dave and I lived in Israel as young adults, Dave had an interim position as head of a department at Tel Aviv University. He had a remarkable experience a few days after Rosh Hashanah. One of the part-time faculty, who did not have an office, came into Dave’s office, asking to use Dave’s telephone. He told Dave that he had experienced conflict with a university colleague during the past year and wanted to apologize before Yom Kippur, the second of the High Holidays. This part-time faculty member wanted to clear the slate. His desire to talk with the person he had conflicted with demonstrated “renewal and moral responsibility.”

Yom Kippur is one week after Rosh Hashanah, allowing some time for reflection between the holy days. This year, Yom Kippur begins the evening of Friday, October 11. The literal meaning of the Hebrew words is “Day of Atonement.” It is commanded in Leviticus 23:27-28 and Numbers 29:7. Leviticus 25:9 commands that a trumpet be sounded on the Day of Atonement, a parallel with Rosh Hashanah, sometimes translated the “Festival of Trumpets,” which I wrote about last week.

An online dictionary gives this definition of “atonement:” “reparation for a wrong or injury.” Here’s the example given: “She wanted to make atonement for her husband’s behavior.” The part-time professor making his phone call in Dave’s office was trying to do that. I wonder how often you hear “atonement” used in everyday conversation. For me, it would be pretty much never. That means the word has become lofty and spiritual, applied by Christians to our reconciliation to God in Christ, rather than an everyday word for making things right with people.

The modern English word “atonement” has several sources, including:

• the medieval word “adunamentum,” which means “unity”
• a late medieval verb “onement,” which means “to unite”
• “at one” + “ment,” a suffix meaning the action or process of doing something or the result of an action

The Yom Kippur themes of renewal, moral responsibility, making things right with people, unity, and “at-one-ment” take on particular resonance in our polarized times. Public discourse is filled with words that demean and dehumanize political opponents. Families are not immune from painful words. In a discussion during the pandemic, one of my extended family members referred to anyone who approved of vaccine mandates as a Nazi — and this came right after I said I thought vaccine mandates were appropriate in some settings. I didn’t reply in kind, but the thoughts of my heart at that moment and for weeks afterward did not flow in the direction of unity or “onement” with that relative.

This week, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I invite you to think about the themes of the Day of Atonement. You might want to think about this locally, praying about unity among family members, neighbors, and friends. You might want to think about unity in your community of faith or national politics. Like I have done this week, you could reclaim the word "onement" as a direction for your prayers. You might want to rest for a few moments in the “onement” we have with the Triune God through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection and through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of us, giving us the ability to love.

God, you are three person yet one, a model to us of unity in diversity. In our conflicted times, we need unity in diversity and also unity in conflict. As we remember that Jewish people are observing the Day of Atonement this week, help us reclaim the medieval word “onement.” In our thoughts, words, actions, and prayers, help us be agents of onement. If we need to confess something to a person or to you, help us do that honestly and humbly. If we need to reach out to someone with a kind word or action, help us do that in a loving spirit. Empower us to move toward onement in small and big ways.   

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Next week: The Feast of Tabernacles. Illustration by Dave Baab: Lake Hawea, New Zealand.

Previous posts on forgiveness:

• Confessing sin without wallowing
• Seeing people through the lens of Jesus’s cross
• Some options for reframing regrets

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Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christians spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
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