Sunday Reflections: October
Reflections From 10/12/2025 ~ Our Muddy, Middle World
Want to hear our story from this Sunday, The First Fire, a Cherokee creation story told by the storyteller herself? You’re in luck – here’s Gayle Ross at the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville, Arkansas.
This Week’s Wonderings:
- Where’s the fun (for me; for us) in living in a muddy world? Where’s the struggle (for me; for us) in living in a muddy world?
- What do I/we need to do to find more joy in the fun, and more ease in the struggle?
…and where does spiritual practice/ritual/routine fit into these answers for you? How might these help you meet the moments?
Reflections From 10/5/2025 ~ The Hardest Word
This past Sunday we began our month exploring to Stories of Messy Humans by looking at the wisdom from the Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur. We heard a story of the Ziz through the children’s book The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story. We then reflected on what we can learn from the Jewish atonement process of t’shuvah, which is often translated as repentance, and more literally means returning. We discussed the five stages of t’shuvah, from middle ages Jewish Rabbi, philosopher and Torah scholar Maimonides, as explored by Rabbi Danya Ruttenburg in her book On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World.
For a summary of these five stages of t’shuvah, you can read Rabbi Ruttenburg’s blog The Heroic Work of Repentance for the Union of Reform Judaism.
Wondering words for our week:
- To whom do I need to say “I’m sorry”?
- What relationships in my life need repair and reconciliation?
