Listening to “Thought for the day” on Radio 4 in the car this morning, I was struck by what a gift this was for your modest blogger searching for that elusive first post on a new blog.
The speaker was the wonderful Rabbi Lionel Blue, and his insights were on the current controversy in the UK about Catholic adoption agencies and gay couples. He touched on everything that is important in this and other debates based on religious belief: tolerance, listening, talking, contributing and courage.
And what I liked most was this passage about the way in which sacred moments can transform lives:
The domestic ceremonies of my own religion help gays, excluded from their birth families, create new families of friendship. They can also transform blank high rise flats into homes. When partners hallow the Sabbath candles, blessing the bread and wine, they also hallow their life together.
Judaism has a particularly fine understanding that religious practice does not just exist in a building on one day of the week, but is part of family life. Rabbi Blue’s example above can speak to all of us who need to recreate family patterns in an uncertain world.
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My views are pretty traditional when it comes to families, but I did really appreciate what was shared about shabbat here, “When partners hallow the Sabbath candles, blessing the bread and wine, they also hallow their life together.” It is SO blessedly true. Even though I am not Jewish, I keep Shabbat and find it so deeply precious…