Fragrance of divine love

On the south slopes of Mauna Loa, in the place appropriately called Wood Valley is this beautiful old Buddhist Temple surrounded with verdant tropical forest.

            We love to visit this little colorful temple. Once we even stayed there for few days in a room where the Dalai Lama slept several months earlier. We love to visit Marya and Michal, the soft and kind spoken temple keepers. We love to visit it for its unique atmosphere. For me that atmosphere is shaped by a mild yet deep whiff of incense. You can hardly recognize it directly in the air, but every piece of wood breathes out that ages old scent of prayers.

            Indeed, there is something to be said about fragrant worship! For starters it is a subliminal reminder that faith and worship is about more than just intellect. The Bible also takes incense burning for granted in both the Old Testament as well as the New one.

            AIR will be our theme this Sunday, and incense makes air visible and deeply sensual. Join us this Sunday, in this time of fear and anxiety, in a time of pandemic, join us again through our livestreamed video (https://livestream.com/rutgerschurchnyc) to worship with us, seeking together calm and hope.

            And if you want to actively participate, prepare a stick of incense of your choice, or a scented candle or just any candle as we seek reassurance of loving fragrant divine breath.

Eternal Flame

The Ancient Greeks had very special and peculiar customs around fire. (For instance the Olympic flame could be an example with which modern people can be familiar.)  
       Those customs were controlled by a powerful goddess Hestia. She was a divine patroness of family and city hearths. She might be mentioned in hardly any mythology, and thus quite obscure, but she was venerated by every Greek family and city.
        An important part of her veneration was keeping her fire pure and ever-burning. Keeping family and city fires was not a chore it was an important religious duty and important cult. No foreign fire was allowed. And when family was moving or when the city was starting a daughter colony they would take the original fire with them.
       The Biblical ancestors did not venerate Hestia, they did not need to. YHWH/Adonai/the Lord - our God was also closely associated with fire. And the Bible contains a number of hints of similar practices like we know from Greece (or other cultures).
       When Abraham went for his infamous sacrifice in the land of Moria he took not only his son, and a knife, not only wood but also fire from his home (Genesis 21). And later when rough priests tried to introduce some foreign fire to the YHWH cult they were severely and exemplarily punished. (Lev 10)
       This Sunday we will concentrate on the positive aspect of fire in our faith tradition. Join us this Sunday when we discern and rejoice in the miracle and mystery of a divine eternal flame.  

Because of the viral pandemic our worship will be broadcast from our sanctuary over the internet.
And here is the link to our video-streaming webpage: https://livestream.com/rutgerschurchnyc.

March 15 worship bulletin is here while hymns are here.