Meditation Services for Humanistic Judaism (1976)

We live and find it hard to live. We are consumed by anxiety and we know that nature is stingy with satisfaction. We are terrified by the limits of our wisdom and we shiver in the cold of human ignorance. Love touches us with the pleasure of fulfillment and runs away too soon. Pain squeezes the marrow of our bones and lingers with malice. Although our suffering cries out for justice, the world answers with deaf defiance. The darkness of evil is a persistent shadow.

We live and find it good to live. We feel the invitation of doing and we rush to the surprise of new excitement. We sense the opportunity of our talents and we plunge to taste their fulfillment. Bold events stimulate our sense of self and tease the ordering skill of our reason. Unselfish acts overwhelm our being and fill our hearts with the security of love. The world is an open door to vital variety and it stuns our hopes with boundless promise. The light of our possibility shines through to overwhelm the darkness.