circle of prayer 9. the month

"god said, 'let there be light in the vault of heaven to divide day from night, and let them indicate festivals, days and years. . . .' and so it was. god made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, the smaller light to govern the night, and the stars. . . . god saw that it was good." (genesis 1:14-18)

we have lost the month. of course we have calendars of the twelve months of the roman year, with illustrations of any sort, from farm machinery to sacred sites of scotland, but for the most part we who live in the detritus of the roman empire have lost the month as controlled by the moon. our calendar is solar, with nice tidy months that come out even. some of them even note the phases of the moon. but the moonth, this great symbol of death and rebirth, this celestial sign of the power of the female, is mostly gone.

how thorough is this loss was revealed to me when i read amos 8:5 (". . . when will the new moon be over/so that we can sell our corn . . . ?" jb) in eugene h. peterson's translation, the message: ". . . when's my next next paycheck coming/so i can go out and live it up?"

of course the christian year continues to have its most imporant holy day controlled by the moon: the pascha, easter. but i suspect few worshipers know this is true. we don't look for the full moon after the spring equinox, we just look on the calendar.

the hebrew calendar was (is) lunar, and there are many reminders of this fact in scripture. in psalm 81 we hear,

"start the music, sound the drum,
the melodious lyre and the harp;
sound the new moon trumpet,
at the full moon, on our feast day!

"this is a statute binding on israel,
an ordinance of the god of jacob,
this decree he imposed on joseph
. . . ." (vv. 2-5)

numbers 28 contains the mitzvah of the full moon:

"at the beginning of each of your months you must offer a holocaust to YHWH . . . . this must be the monthly holocaust, year after year, month after month, every month of the year." (vv. 11, 14)

it is at the feast of the new moon that jonathan learns of his father saul's intentions towards david. (1 samuel 20)

many people who live close to creation continue to recognize the moon's symbology, and many oriental cultures have retained lunar calendars and feasts. one of the most powerful art exhibitions i have ever seen was a work by the apache artist bob housous called "13 moons" at the wheelwright museum in santa fe. the japanese continue to have "moon viewing parties to view particularly favourable moons. often called "the canticle of the sun," francis of assissi's great hymn "most high, omnipotent, good lord" includes the moon: "my lord be praised by sister moon/and all the stars that with her soon/will point the glittering heavens."

if my thesis that time and its created markers are indeed a primary self-revelation of the holy one is correct, then it would behoove us to become aware once more of the waxing and waning of "the smaller light."

perhaps we might adopt some of the jewish practices around the moon, such as this blessing:

"One must be able to see the moon at the time that one recites the blessing. After reciting the blessing over the moon, it is proper to dance joyfully and to greet three people with the worlds "shalom aleichem." It is also customary to sing the song "David melekh yisrael chai vekayam" (David the king of Israel lives forever)--because the new moon is also associated with eternal life and messianic times of perfect peace.

The blessing is as follows: Blessed are you, God, ruler of the universe,whose word created the heavens and whose breath created the heavenly hosts, who gave them ordinances that they not change their orbits. Joyful and happy are they to do the will of their creator, a worker of truth whose work is truth! To the moon God said; renew yourself, crown of glory for those borne in the womb, for they like you, are destined to renew themselves,and to give glory to their creator for the sake of God's holy honored sovereignty (malkhut/Shekhinah). Blessed are you, God, renewer of months." (http://telshemesh.org/water/jewish_cycles_of_the_moon_jill_hammer.html)

i of course know of paul's warning to the colossians: ". . . never let anyone else decide . . . whether you are to observe annual festivals, new moons or sabbaths. these were only pale reflections of what was coming: the reality is christ." (colossians 2:16-17) but i am also aware of how limited is much contemporary understanding of christ, and suspect that looking at some of the pale reflections might help us recognize the reality when we see him.