In the last week, the sign from Occupy Boston which has most captured my imagination is the one that said, “The beginning is near!” And I think it’s true – at least I hope it’s true. The beginning is near! We are about to do something this morning that might seem very newfangled. Rabbi Mark Newton is with us to preside over the Jewish naming ceremony for Sofia Chaya, which will take place along with her Christian naming ceremony. It might make someone ask, “what, on earth, is Emmanuel Church doing now?” 

I’ve invited Rabbi Newton to say a few words to you after I speak for a few moments. Mark is the rabbi who presided with me a few years ago when Sofia Chaya’s parents, Raluca (a Romanian Orthodox Christian) and Eric (a Russian Orthodox Jew) were married in this place.
 “So what, on earth, is Emmanuel Church doing now?”  We are asserting – re-asserting actually -- a very ancient and scandalous idea that a child of God can be not half Jewish and half Christian, but fully Jewish and fully Christian: a daughter of Israel and a member of the body of Christ. By our ritual actions and by the promises we are making, we are going way out on a limb to actively engage in the repairing of the world (tikkun ha’olam). Our safety harness, of course, is the grace of God. We are declaring that Sofia (from the Greek word for wisdom) Chaya (from the Hebrew word for life) has dual and full citizenship as a Jew and as a Christian. We are declaring Sofia Chaya to be a member of a people chosen to be a light to the nations and a member of a people called to be the light of the world.

We are calling on Sofia Chaya to be faithful to the particular teachings of the Torah which has a universalistic vision for the well-being of all humanity. And we are calling on Sofia Chaya to be faithful to the particular teachings of Jesus whose universalistic vision was for the well-being of all humanity. And most important for each one of us, we are promising to support her because we know what she does not yet know -- that nothing could be more difficult than loving God and loving our neighbors through the chances and changes of our lives.
You know, loving God and loving neighbor cannot be separated and still be fulfilled. You can’t love God without loving your neighbor. And it turns out that you can’t love your neighbor without loving God (whether you know it or not – whether you think it or not – whether you believe it or not). When Jesus answered this final question, according to Matthew, he wasn’t saying anything unique or new. He was quoting a prominent Pharisee, Rabbi Hillel, who lived in Jerusalem before Jesus was born.

[Rabbi Mark Newton completed the homily, but his text is unavailable.]