These were the words of the Dayeinu Song that was read from the Haggadah at our Passover supper last week:
It took the few days through Easter for the meaning of this old Jewish song of thanksgiving to sink in...
I think I will remember this Easter to be one that laid a certain weight on the heart more than some of the others that have passed. I do not know whether it was a coincidence, but news of death and sickness were brought repeatedly to me during those few days. CW, my old tennis buddy in Hong Kong, was visiting Singapore, and was telling me that her sister, who lived here, has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 39. She had a shock when she landed at the airport to see her completely bald from the chemotherapy. Then, I got an email forwarded from a classmate to say CM's sister, whom we know had been battling cancer in New Zealand for a few months, was ready to take the morphine injection to end her life and put an end to the suffering. She is only a few years older than me.
Easter Sunday service this year was a deeply solemn (though not unjoyful) one. Two elderly men gave testimonies that brought tears to many eyes. Mr L accounted how he went through a horrific accident that left him paralysed from waist down, and Rev T revealed for the first time to the congregation that he had been diagnosed with Motor Neuro Disease. I can't say I know them personally, but the calm and quiet assurance that was so evident in their voices was deeply precious to hear, and brought the reality of God in their lives to my consciousness in a way that hearing sermons and reading books don't always do. Now, do they feel fear and sadness and pain? Make no mistake about it, they do. Yes, these were men who had faced, or are facing the prospect of death in a real real way, and yet they chose to rejoice in Dayeinu. That to me, is the most incredible thing about the Christian faith, which calls us to experience the deepest of sorrows, so as to experience the greatest of joys. We need not fear fear, or banish sadness like the world does, for a broken spirit He does not despise. The soul must first feel death before it can experience true joy.
Really, when faced with death, nothing really matters anymore. It is the finisher of hope, the most painful state that anyone could be in, even more than the physical pain and suffering. So Charm's sister will not be able to see her adorable daughter grow up anymore. How does one deal with that? And even when death is not a definite certainty in some illnesses, the shadow of it will hang over the person and change entirely the way he or she goes about living. CW's sister with now one breast, and not being able to work indefinitely. How sharp is the sting of death, even when one is slowly approaching it!
As humans, we do do fret about whether "it is enough." I worry whether the job that has been given to me is enough to sustain me, and those I care about. I worry whether it is enough if God chooses singlehood for me. I worry if it is enough if change takes away my best friends to far away places, and I have only Him.
And yet, like the account of events spanning over 400 years in the Dayeinu Song (from the entry into the Promised Land to the building of the Temple), each of our lives tell of multiple facets of God's miraculous deliverance. Each step constitutes a miracle in itself, even though we may not see the whole, or even if there is no "whole". So in this Song, the poet feels the living power of each gesture of divine favor, irrespective of the final or complete result. Had You only done this and no more – it would have been enough for me to feel Your divine love! The principle of “dayeinu,” of giving thanks even for the partial and incomplete, how difficult and yet crucial for joyful living in this uncertain world in which few of our dreams ever come to total fruition. We thank God every day for the miracle of being alive. But more than that, we thank God that we have been saved from Death. For nothing else should matter more. Can we say, that if You had given me nothing, done nothing, except Salvation, it would have been enough?
Yes, Lord, Dayeinu...
"How thankful must we be to God, the All Knowing, All loving, for all the good He has done for us. For each blessing we give thanks!
If God had only delivered us from Egypt, It would have been enough for us. That is it would have been sufficient. DAYEINU
Had He brought us out from Egypt and not executed judgment against them, DAYEINU
Had He executed judgment against them and not done justice to their idols, DAYEINU
Had He done justice to their idols and not slain their first-born DAYEINU
Had He slain their first-born and not given us their property DAYEINU
Had He given us their property, and not divided the sea for us DAYEINU" etc.....
It took the few days through Easter for the meaning of this old Jewish song of thanksgiving to sink in...
I think I will remember this Easter to be one that laid a certain weight on the heart more than some of the others that have passed. I do not know whether it was a coincidence, but news of death and sickness were brought repeatedly to me during those few days. CW, my old tennis buddy in Hong Kong, was visiting Singapore, and was telling me that her sister, who lived here, has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 39. She had a shock when she landed at the airport to see her completely bald from the chemotherapy. Then, I got an email forwarded from a classmate to say CM's sister, whom we know had been battling cancer in New Zealand for a few months, was ready to take the morphine injection to end her life and put an end to the suffering. She is only a few years older than me.
Easter Sunday service this year was a deeply solemn (though not unjoyful) one. Two elderly men gave testimonies that brought tears to many eyes. Mr L accounted how he went through a horrific accident that left him paralysed from waist down, and Rev T revealed for the first time to the congregation that he had been diagnosed with Motor Neuro Disease. I can't say I know them personally, but the calm and quiet assurance that was so evident in their voices was deeply precious to hear, and brought the reality of God in their lives to my consciousness in a way that hearing sermons and reading books don't always do. Now, do they feel fear and sadness and pain? Make no mistake about it, they do. Yes, these were men who had faced, or are facing the prospect of death in a real real way, and yet they chose to rejoice in Dayeinu. That to me, is the most incredible thing about the Christian faith, which calls us to experience the deepest of sorrows, so as to experience the greatest of joys. We need not fear fear, or banish sadness like the world does, for a broken spirit He does not despise. The soul must first feel death before it can experience true joy.
Really, when faced with death, nothing really matters anymore. It is the finisher of hope, the most painful state that anyone could be in, even more than the physical pain and suffering. So Charm's sister will not be able to see her adorable daughter grow up anymore. How does one deal with that? And even when death is not a definite certainty in some illnesses, the shadow of it will hang over the person and change entirely the way he or she goes about living. CW's sister with now one breast, and not being able to work indefinitely. How sharp is the sting of death, even when one is slowly approaching it!
As humans, we do do fret about whether "it is enough." I worry whether the job that has been given to me is enough to sustain me, and those I care about. I worry whether it is enough if God chooses singlehood for me. I worry if it is enough if change takes away my best friends to far away places, and I have only Him.
And yet, like the account of events spanning over 400 years in the Dayeinu Song (from the entry into the Promised Land to the building of the Temple), each of our lives tell of multiple facets of God's miraculous deliverance. Each step constitutes a miracle in itself, even though we may not see the whole, or even if there is no "whole". So in this Song, the poet feels the living power of each gesture of divine favor, irrespective of the final or complete result. Had You only done this and no more – it would have been enough for me to feel Your divine love! The principle of “dayeinu,” of giving thanks even for the partial and incomplete, how difficult and yet crucial for joyful living in this uncertain world in which few of our dreams ever come to total fruition. We thank God every day for the miracle of being alive. But more than that, we thank God that we have been saved from Death. For nothing else should matter more. Can we say, that if You had given me nothing, done nothing, except Salvation, it would have been enough?
Yes, Lord, Dayeinu...
