Yesterday I cleaned my house. For a few hours, I didn't watch the news. I scrubbed and made fresh my living space. I was aware that someone might judge it as trifling under the circumstances (especially for a minister). There is so much to do and say and be as we all cast about for ways to contain this profound turn of events in our beings, and to respond actively.

But, yesterday I cleaned my house. (Not even remembering that it is a part of Rosh Hashanah observance to do so!) I plucked some lingering blossoms and put them on the table. Shook rugs. Focused on the simple and the physical. Gave myself a temporary illusion that it is possible to order this chaos in which we find ourselves.

I am aware that an actual house and the few spare hours to be in it are privileges that many in the world do not have. I thought of the houses of those mourning loved ones, one a block away from me...how every turn of a corner would bring to them a cry of absence. I wondered about the families of the dead terrorists. I thought of the homeless people on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Fleeing and perched in the hot sun, fearful of the coming war, not allowed to cross over.

I cleaned my house for all of them. I cleaned my house to remember the simple and the sustaining. I cleaned my house to gaze upon the pictures of my life and dust off the touchstones of my values. I cleaned to strengthen myself for the days ahead and to remind myself that saving the world is only a possibility if we continue to love the world.

My thoughts are with you as you navigate your way through this very troubling time.

Let me know if I can help.

How to create unity in the ashes is the challenge.Together, all possibility waits.