From Canon Ann Easter, Chief Executive of a Charity and Chaplain to the Queen:

(Today’s Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year and our Jewish Pausers are all very busy so here I am!)

We’ve often said how there’s a sort of new start feel to this time of the year and, for Jews, it is, because the Jewish New Year is very much about reflecting prayerfully on last year and then letting it go while, at the same time, looking ahead with hope to a new year of growing as a person and developing relationships with God and with each other.

But the bit I particularly like is the casting or Tashlikh, when the people go to pray near flowing water – a stream or river – and throw pieces of bread into it to represent throwing away their sins. Wouldn’t it be great to think that all those bits of me that I’m ashamed of – the nasty retort or the jealous put-down or the sneaky lie to name but a few –could be swallowed up by the sea and gone forever?

One of the hardest things I have to do, as a priest, is to convince people that they’re loved by God just the way they are. Some people won’t have it; they tell me about things that have been weighing on their consciences, sometimes for years and years, and it’s so sad to hear. But I’m glad they do talk about it because I can give them an opportunity to unburden themselves and be forgiven; it might be an amnesty day so they can take back all those hymn books they walked out with or it might be a more formal confession. But, having got it off their chests, I suggest they go home and have a nice cuppa and a biscuit to celebrate a new start. Another new start.

Because every time we try again, God and the whole company of Heaven are thrilled and cheering; they know what we’re like but they’re hoping we’ll fail better this time!