Sukkot Sermon, 5774
There is an old joke that I heard in Montana – perhaps a little too real to be funny – but that seems to often be the case with the jokes that are worth using in a sermon. A couple, recently married, are very much in love. They own an Ford pickup with those old bench seats that allow the two to sit arm and arm, shoulder to shoulder in the truck. As they drive by, all see the loving couple sitting next to each other and smile. Twenty years later, after the relationship has naturally changed in the course of time, the partner in the passenger seat has a moment in a small argument that the two are having while driving and says, “Hey, why don’t we sit next to each other anymore?” The partner that is driving replies, “Well, I haven’t moved.” It is not just that we seem to have an illusion that change in a relationship is bad, it is that when we notice that change has taken place – sometimes profound change – it is hard to deal with this without anger, sadnes...