Chaplain: Should old acquaintance be forgot?

Upcoming High Holy Days:

Feb. 2: Imbolc, Pagan/Wiccan: Celebrates the beginning of spring and goddess Brigid.

Feb. 15: Parinirvana, Buddhist: Marks Buddha’s death and his attainment of final Nirvana.

Feb. 26: Maha Shiraratri, Hindu: Major Hindu festival celebrating Lord Shiva.

Mar. 1-31: Ramadan, Islamic: Holy month of fasting, prayer, and reflection.

The Scottish song “Auld Lang Syne” might very well still be sung at gatherings on Dec. 31. It invites us to bid farewell which didn’t serve to usher in better in the coming year. Do you observe this social holiday: at home, with friends and family or out watching a ball drop from a tower or fireworks? For me, it is at home with quietness.

This practice of bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new involves resolutions, commitments and intents. These are spiritual acts for they go beyond the psyche (or brain process). Resolutions integrate not only your thoughts and body but are guided by what you believe your purpose here on earth is all about.

What have you committed to for 2025? My practice is to adopt a word for the coming year.  This word and me get to know each other over the course of the year. It shows up in various activities and thoughts. So much of our lives are beyond our doing and control it is only our reaction that we can guide and my word sometimes is a friend and sometimes a coach.

For me the Bible also informs me. My word and  me read about others struggles, joys, fears and foibles and have a framework for these life experiences.

In 1582, the Western world, as it was then, began using Pope Gregory XIII’s calendar correction to the Julian calendar. He corrected the drift of equinoxes and solstices observations.  Not all societies, countries or religions use the Gregorian calendar.

The Hebrew Lunar calendar observes the practice of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In 2024 it was Oct. 11-12.

What is striking are the similarities of New Year resolutions and Yom Kippur. Both recognize our human condition of imperfection, struggle, thinking or doing what is not benevolent but is real even when we want to do good. The difference is vast, too.

New Year’s observations are grounded in the material world and Yom Kippur is about the immaterial reality. It is a solemn day of acknowledging “I am what I am.”

Many of us have had considerable health, mental and physical challenges this year. For many of us, our spiritual practices and beliefs carry us through for we know there is so much more than our current condition. We pray, God deliver us with complete healing. Be with us in thought and deed to evidence beyond our limited capacity into the fullness of love. Amen.

Kelley Adelsman of Pine Island Post 184 is the chaplain for The American Legion Department of Minnesota.