I was in my favorite clothing store the other day looking at a pair of corduroys when my thoughts turned to Temple Micah. It's true that the Micah community has become such an integral part of my life that I might think about it when standing in line at Starbucks or waiting for the Metro. But that day it wasn't my usual ruminating about the next sermon or how I might engage the sixth and seventh grade classes in learning about the Prophets. The pair of pants I was thinking about purchasing brought me to an inner monologue about engaging all of the members of the Micah community in experiences and activities that bring greater meaning to their lives.

"Cords did this?" you might be saying to yourself. "They must have been some pair of pants!"

When I first came to Temple Micah, I thought I might need some new clothes. I'd been working on college campuses and as an educational consultant, writing curriculum at my dining room table. I invested in a few new suits in preparation for my first Rosh Hashanah in front of a cast of thousands (not realizing that anything I wore would be covered by a robe), but the majority of my wardrobe dollars went into blue jeans and other casual clothes. I couldn't wear the same pair of Levis to Sunday school each week and I certainly couldn't sit cross-legged and barefoot with the Girl Thing group wearing my more formal, bima-appropriate threads.

Though blue jeans are used to express individual style from the classroom to the boardroom, from playgrounds to camping grounds, when they were patented in 1873 they were seen primarily as work pants. And that's exactly how I see them.

And so, when I needed new clothing for work--while other colleagues who were new to congregations were purchasing ties or high heels--I was buying jeans.

This seems to be emblematic of who we are. We're a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of a place. In almost every issue of the Vine you can see pictures of members hard at work: flipping burgers, repairing a home for a person in need, polishing silver or weeding our green spaces. And, of course, congregants do a great deal-- attending committee meetings, moving chairs on Sunday mornings, bringing bagels and snacks and dinners to various classes and events--that does not make for a good photo op.

So with this column, I'm inviting you to put on your blue jeans, roll up your sleeves and get involved. But this isn't a guilt trip. I don't want this to come across as me haranguing you to add one more obligation to your already full schedule.

I want you to see it as an invitation to deepen your connection to the Micah community through further involvement.

Our annual Bowling Together event will be held in February and our annual Purim Auction will be in March. Both planning committees have just begun to meet and would welcome new members. (You can reach the committee chairs by emailing either bowling@templemicah.org or auction@templemicah.org.) In the coming months, we will be holding meetings to reenergize our Kulanu group for gay and lesbian members and the Next Dor group for members in their 20s and 30s.

If the idea of adding more activity to your life doesn't sound appealing, deepen your relationship to the congregation through inactivity. Come sit quietly in our sanctuary during services and let the spirit envelop you. Pull up a chair in the lobby on a Sunday morning and enjoy a conversation and a bagel with the wide array of interesting people always gathered there. Come and learn something from one of the many engaging speakers we have scheduled in the coming months. Blue jeans welcomed.

Hope to see you soon.