First Service...Surreal

The first service at our new home was great...really fun to see the excitement in everyone's eyes. It was great to hear the singing after eight years of the sound being absorbed by our bad acoustics! The crowd was quite large and parking was a fiasco but solvable. Thanks for coming out if you were in the crowd.

I've heard a few people use the word "surreal" to describe the new building and the first service. Surreal means surpassing reality, other worldly, a bit strange. Yeah, that's how I've been feeling too and I think it has to do with the abrupt change that comes with transitions. Even though you see it coming for a long time the change takes place so fast.

It's like when I got married. I knew it was coming. I prepared for it. But then one minute I went from single to married and it was just a little weird. It took time to adjust to my new status.

I think that's why biblical Jews had rituals for transitions...seven days of mourning when someone died and seven days of festival and celebration when something good happened. They knew that you don't just flip a switch and keep going at your same rate of speed. It takes time to readjust.

So even though we are all excited and thankful for our new home...it will still take time to reorient ourselves. So don't feel bad or guilty if you are feeling a little askew. You'll come around. I think when I see new people engaging and getting involved at Cedarbrook I'll feel like we are more back to normal and less in the production mode.