We are getting to ready to enter what has become, in modern America, a particularly busy time of the year – The Holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving and rolling on through the New Year, most of us will need to be reminded to build self-care and time for reflection into our already busy lives. And for that very reason, it made sense to me to carve out some time now to bring a focus on Joy front and center.
What is joy anyway? We’ve been talking about it, singing about it and blowing bubbles about it all morning – but what is it really? I am guessing you all know it when you feel it. One definition I came across described joy as a state of mind and an orientation of the heart.
I like that – an orientation of the heart.
The reading*** Emily shared with us reminded us that joy does not always come when it is called – we cannot be talked into feeling joy. Joy doesn’t stand by to be had at our beck and call but the circumstances for evoking joy can be cultivated.
Happiness, which is a very close relative to joy, tends to be an emotion that is externally triggered. Psychologist, Racheal Fearnley tells us that happiness is generally based upon other people – things, places, thoughts and events that occur outside of ourselves. Joy, on the other hand, comes when we look inside – when we are able to make peace with who we are, why we are, and how we are in the world.
And making peace with ourselves can be a process. It takes cultivation. It takes a conscious choice to orient ourselves in such a way that we are willing to open ourselves to the wonder and goodness that we are.
This is something that children know instinctively and I think that is why it is often so easy to feel our faces light up when we see babies and little children exploring the world with such openness and delight. Young children have not made the shift from their innate understanding that they are indeed wonder and goodness incarnate. They have not yet abandoned their inner compass to the dictates of the world.
As adults, it takes a willingness to leave behind harsh judgments of ourselves and all the expectations we use to “should” ourselves into being something we may not be.
I will be endlessly grateful for the gift of this path of ministry that I am on. I am responding to – saying yes to – an inner calling that has been tugging at me for decades.
Through this experience I have come to make peace with the fact that I am not perfect!
Shocking, isn’t it?
I long to do my best, to be well received, to make a positive difference in the lives of those I touch, but I make mistakes. I say things that are not perfectly delivered. I may not live up to everyone’s expectations, but I am coming to embrace the fullness of who I am. I am making peace with who I am, why I am the person I am, and how I show up in the world. And this sense of inner alignment does indeed open the door so that I can spot Joy sitting at my kitchen table drinking tea*** with increasing frequency.
And while Joy is something that cannot be certain to come when we call, I do believe that it is contagious. When one person opens themselves to the expression of Joy within their lives, I believe the invitation is made to those around us to do the same.
So now, we are going to try an experiment. We are going to open the service up to you so that you can call out to Joy, so you can share with this Beloved Community what brings you joy or perhaps give voice in some fashion to the wonder and goodness that you already are.
This may feel a bit risky, it may invoke a bit of discomfort but I absolutely believe that your willingness to call out to Joy will invite Joy to show up – wet and sandy, tongue hanging out the side of its mouth, ready to romp with you all the way home.***
Emily will start on this side of the sanctuary and move on to each section inviting a few brave souls in each section to make your claim to Joy here, right now.
If you have not publically shared your call to Joy here this morning, I invite you to make time to share with someone during coffee hour or at some other point today.
I leave you with this quote by Jonathan Van Ness: “I want people to fall in love with themselves and to be really proud and full of joy for the space they take up. If someone else appreciates the space you take up, then that’s icing on the cake.”
*** References the reading “Joy” by Rev. Lynn Ungar https://www.questformeaning.org/quest-article/resources-living-july-august-2016/