I love songs about Jesus, for some reaso.

 The Mountain Goats - Hebrews 11:40 (download) (BONUS: This Mountain Goats song is even more Jesus-y— maybe too Jesus-y— and also relevant.)

Yesterday was Yom Kippur. We atoned and fasted and prayed and beat our breasts and blew our shofars and stood up— my God, the standing up— and the gates of heaven were open and then the gates of heaven got closed and the book of year was sealed and put on a shelf somewhere and now everything’s okay again. Everything’s a clean slate because of what we did yesterday— we said we were sorry and we said we would change, so now we can go back to living our lives so that we can make the same promises next year.

It did occur to me briefly last night during the break fast, while I was stuffing my face with carbs, What if this year, we all just decided to be good for a year and then next year came and we had nothing to atone for? What if we knew that in actuality the gates of heaven close at the end of every day? Every hour? If every terse goodbye, every ripped up napkin was a reminder that it’s almost too late, that you’d better apologize now or forever hold your peace?

What if we did all the things we said we were going to do and changed in all the ways we promised ourselves and Yom Kippur was canceled? People showing up at the synagogue; oh, you didn’t hear? There’s a new system now— every day is Yom Kippur. There’s a big book in heaven, but it isn’t written by God, it’s written by you, every second of your life. So go home, have a big meal, tell someone you love them. Your prayers are useless here.

Wouldn’t that be something?