What the resistance can learn from Yom Kippur

(RNS) — Though I’m a Black Protestant, I can feel Yom Kippur coming. And as it approaches this year, I’m reminded that the resistance, which can often be dismissive of organized religion, lacks something I’ve long appreciated about this day.

Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day on the Hebrew religious calendar. It’s the day the ancient community of Israel would gather to account for its sins through sacrificing two goats. One goat was a burnt offering. The other would be sent into the wilderness to die after people confessed their sins over it.

At the Assemblies of God church where I was worship director, we observed all of the feasts of Judaism’s High Holy Days, including Yom Kippur, because our pastor was adamant that Jesus was Jewish, so the Christian faith has Jewish roots. The logic was that Jesus observed the holidays, so his followers should too.

I took the High Holy Days especially seriously at the time, using them to reflect on my life and practice “teshuva,” or repentance. I had a deep interest in teshuva — so much so that I bought books authored by rabbis on that concept alone.

What I appreciated about teshuva is that it goes beyond…