To Increase What There is To Be Joyful About
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
July 21, 2024
Romans 15:13
I pray that God, the source of all hope, will infuse your lives with an abundance of joy and peace in the midst of your faith so that your hope will overflow through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Good morning, Friends. It has been over two months since I have been before you to give a message. I want to thank all those who filled the gaps during the first part of my sabbatical. Thank you to Beth, Eric, Katrina, our guest speakers, and every single person at First Friends who embraced their calling to be a Friend and minister. Thank you!
I wish I could say it is good to be back with you, but I would be lying. The last two months have been such a needed renewal and restoration of my soul after 29 challenging years of ministry that it is hard to transition back. I would love to get back in the car tomorrow and drive another 7000 miles and see more of this great nation and its people.
During this time, I have learned some things about myself and have begun to make some personal changes. As well, I am still processing all that I experienced while away, so I may not be quick to explain how this experience has affected me – I am pretty sure I will continue to find out more on the journey ahead.
One thing that was evident and at times even startling during my time away was when I experienced moments of newfound joy in my life. Please understand, I am not saying that I had no joy before taking my sabbatical, but allowing myself to let down the walls of stress, responsibility, and constant concern for others, opened a window that let in a fresh breeze of new joy in my life.
On occasion it was the fresh breeze of laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes. At other times, it was being overwhelmed by the landscapes, cultures, and beauty we were experiencing. And then there was the fresh breezes that blew as Sue, and I talked over wonderful meals, walks, and sunsets that rekindled the joy of our 29 years of marriage which we took time to celebrate in San Francisco on our anniversary.
After returning and having a couple of days in the office, beginning to make some visits, and checking the 300+ emails that I had forwarded and literally avoided checking while away, I headed to Yearly Meeting Sessions.
The theme of this year’s Yearly Meeting was Embracing God’s Abundance. A theme that clearly challenged people, including our Superintendent Shawn McConaughey. As many of you know, while we were gone Shawn lost his father suddenly to the consequences of a bad stroke. Shawn shared in his opening address the challenges of embracing God’s abundance during this difficult time. Taking a deeper look at the theme scripture from John 10:10, Shawn said that at Yearly Meeting Sessions we were focusing more on the second half of the text which reads,
“I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
But then he pointed out the first part of the verse which reads,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”
He proceeded to ask us all who we thought the “thief” to be and actually, took answers from those gathered. There were a lot of answers, until someone finally said, “fear” and he agreed. This really spoke to my condition, especially as I was considering joy.
Fear is and has been the thief that has come to steal, kill, and destroy our joy.
Let me say that again:
Fear is and has been the thief that has come to steal, kill, and destroy our joy.
God wants us to embrace life, to have it to the full – which in other places is literally translated as “making my joy complete.” In other words, life to the full is complete joy. Just think about that. Joy is rarely a topic of discussion these days. And if that is what is to complete us, no wonder we are struggling in our world.
Before returning, Sue and I went to see the movie Inside Out 2. If you saw the first movie, you were introduced to several personified emotions in the head of a young girl named Riley. The main character or emotion was Joy and she had some sidekicks, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness. But in Inside Out 2, Riley enters puberty, and some new emotions show up, one being Anxiety. At one point a joke is made about Fear liking how Anxiety thinks. In real life I think our fear and anxiety team up to become a thief of our joy.
This thief of fear and anxiety came knocking on Sue and my doors weirdly about every Thursday during our time away. Being hundreds of miles away from family, each of our children went through a major crisis that could have easily become a thief and stole our joy. One child was having a crisis with their job and was worried they may need to leave it, one was diagnosed with Covid, and one lost electricity at their apartment for four days due to a bad storm.
And even though it wasn’t on a Thursday, during our last week, we were sideswiped by a 4-Runner on I-90 in Illinois, just 30 minutes from our last stop. We could have easily allowed these things to rob us of the joy of our entire time away, but by this point we were not going to let the thief steal our joy by producing fear and anxiety in our hearts.
Instead, the night of our accident, Sue and I enjoyed dinner at McNally’s Irish Pub in St. Charles, IL where I first took Sue almost 25 years earlier for a date night, because she had mentioned she wanted to go to Ireland someday. Yet being newly married and on ministry/teacher salaries – McNally’s would have to do. McNally’s is about as authentic as you can get though, since an Irish family gutted a pub in Ireland and brought it to St. Charles.
Just before Covid, my parents, Sue, and I went to see author and speaker Rob Bell in Fountain Square. Not knowing that in about a month we would head into Covid, appropriately his talk was titled, An Introduction to Joy. In his own unique way, Rob addressed the fear and anxiety, but quickly moved to another joy stealer.
He pointed out that joy is the opposite of cynicism. Rob says,
“Cynicism is the new religion of our world. whatever it is, this religion teaches that it isn’t as good as it seems. it will let you down. it will betray you. That institution? That church? That politician? That authority figure? They’ll all let you down. Whatever you do, don’t get your hopes up. Whatever you think it is, whatever it appears to be, it will burn you, just give it time.
This is because cynicism is lazy, but joy puts the effort in, takes risks, goes all out. Cynicism is easy and unimaginative and kills off delight. Ultimately, there’s no room for cynicism in joy.
For Sue and I, getting away from the daily grind, turning off the TV, radio and social media, and spending our time enjoying the moment, left fear and cynicism at a pretty good distance. I found myself happier, or maybe I should say more joyful, and not looking through as critical of eyes.
It is clear that anxiety, stress, and fear can easily create cynical mindsets and have us consumed with what the outcomes might be – and folks, that is how our joy is stolen.
One night in our hotel, I was battling a cold or allergies and just wanted to rest while Sue went down to work out. I had not really turned on the T.V. in a couple of weeks, other than to check the weather. As the T.V. came on, it happened to be the last 5 minutes of the first Presidential Debate. I could instantly feel my anxiety skyrocket. I felt the “thief” sucking the joy right out of me and decided to turn off the T.V. and simply go to bed. The next day I had to internally fight myself not to consume my thoughts with what I saw in those 5 minutes. The fear, anxiety, and cynicism were trying to steal my joy – but I was not about to let it.
One morning, Sue and I decided to take a long walk on Newport Beach in California. We had already taken the two mile walk and ferry to Balboa Island a couple days before. So, this morning, we headed north which landed us in the Lido District. There people were exiting yachts and shopping in stores that we felt uncomfortable even window-shopping in. Just off the Lido District was a small independent bookstore. If you read my As Way Opens last week, you know that I was intentional about not taking any books on my trip and allowing myself to find the love of reading again.
You see, ministry, preaching, and teaching all demand I be constantly reading and learning, so as to be prepared to partner with what the Divine is putting on my heart to share with you. But after 29 years of doing that, I realized that even reading had become a thief of my joy. Intentionally putting distance between me and a book felt almost freeing – and that says something because I love books and bookstores.
When we walked into that little independent bookstore, I felt a bit anxious. I pursued the shelves but was cautious to touch any book. Sue had already found a couple books and was having a conversation with the bookseller. So, I sat down on the only chair in the store - kind of giving up. That is when my eyes caught the title of a book on the shelf in front of me. It was For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World written by Sasha Sagan.
At first, I had not heard of the author. But as I opened the book and began reading the introduction, I found out this was the first book by astronomer and scientist, Carl Sagan’s daughter. I was intrigued that of all people she was talking about rituals. Something, I honestly wrestle with as a Quaker, because at times in my spiritual journey rituals have been very important to my experience of the Divine. Don’t get me wrong…we Quakers have many rituals – we just don’t like labeling them that way.
But what sold me on this book, was one phrase in one paragraph in the introduction. Sasha wrote,
If you are devoutly religious, firstly, I’m delighted you’re reading this. Thank you. If you have total convictions about your faith, you have plenty to celebrate already. This book is not intended to dissuade you, only to increase what there is to be joyful about.
To increase what there is to be joyful about.
If I was to sum up my entire time away, I would use that phrase – it was to increase what there is to be joyful about. I did not know that until I read that phrase, but it has been evident ever since.
What I find interesting is that scripture is full of this same sentiment. Throughout the Bible – Old and New Testaments, Jesus, Paul, the Psalmists and Prophets all talk about increasing the joy – even making it complete. Take for example:
Nehemiah 8:10 (I love this one, just listen)
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Joy is strength. Lack of joy is weakness. I guess we need more joy, right.
Or how about John writing this in 1 John 1:4
Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
Joy is contagious and spreads. It is communal. Fear, anxiety, and cynicism leaves us alone and scared.
Or how about John 16: 24
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy.
The fullest possible joy. It seems that our joy is important to those throughout scripture.
And finally, we turn to Jesus in John 15:11 who not only wants us to have joy, he wants us to have HIS joy, saying,
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
And what that says to me is if we are to live like Christ then when we share the joy within us with someone else it becomes their joy and makes us both more complete. I kind of think I know why people don’t have much joy in this world these days. Might it be because we are not sharing it, experiencing it, or even recognizing it.
As I was writing this message, I came across a recent Global Report statistic that says,
45% of people have not felt true happiness (or joy) for more than 2 years. And for adolescents in the United States, it has consistently dropped since 2011 and is at an all-time low, while mental health issues are rising over three times as fast.
Now, we can argue about the differences between happiness and joy, or debate the benefit or detriment of technology and social media, but when we get right down to it, I think we need to ask ourselves some important queries about increasing the joy in this world. I have decided that I want us to look at joy for the next couple of weeks, because I have learned and am learning more about what we are missing, and I feel a nudge from the Spirit to delve into it.
Until next week, here are some of those queries to consider during waiting worship. Ask yourself,
· Where am I experiencing joy in my life? Do I know what gives me joy?
· Am I sharing that joy with those around me?
· Is my joy making me “complete” or is my fear, anxiety, and cynicism getting in the way?