The Communal Joy that Heals Our Soul
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
August 4, 2024
Good morning Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. Today, we are coming from my backyard due to the parking lot resurfacing at the Meetinghouse this week. This week the scripture I have chosen is from Philemon 1:7 from the Contemporary English Version and summarizes well what I am going to talk about this morning.
My friend, your love has made me happy and has greatly encouraged me. It has also cheered the hearts of God's people.
So, the last couple of weeks as I have talked about joy, I have focused on first the things that steal our joy, and last week the positive effects of joy on our lives. Please understand, this is a huge topic and has many facets, so each week we explore another layer. One thing I have not talked about is what to do with suffering, struggle, sadness, depression or simply difficult times.
I wish there was a simple formula or steps for one to follow, but that is almost never the case. The reality is that everyone has found themselves lost in hard times and struggling on various levels to restore their joy.
I am sure if you took a moment to consider the times when you were struggling to find joy, you could easily recall the feelings, and even tell me what it took to return your joy. But there are some of us in this room this morning, who are struggling right now, maybe lost in trying to find that joy, and wanting some help or guidance. I am not planning to give specific answers, but more of a communal response.
As I was preparing for this message, I took some time to read not only the experiences of others, but also to sit with my own understanding and struggle to find joy at times in my life.
At different times, I personally have struggled to find joy. Sometimes the struggle has been because of my environment, sometimes other people, and sometimes my own mind. We all must admit, life, people, families, careers, politics, social media, and so much more, can not only steal our joy, but can leave us empty, drained, and not knowing, on our own, how to find joy once again.
Before we get too far into this, please note, I am a pastor, not a psychiatrist, and some of our depression and struggles need professional therapy and at times even medication. And that is alright. If you are struggling in a manner that is beyond what I am talking about today, please take the time to seek some help or ask Beth or I for a referral. We have a list of counselors/therapists we can recommend.
This week, I would like to start briefly with Jesus. As I have mentioned the last couple of weeks, scripture is clear that Jesus came that we might have joy and that following his teachings we might experience a fuller joy in this life.
Yet many in our world today, have somehow identified Jesus and his teachings with the religious systems and organizations that have formed around the various interpretations of his teachings. And through various lenses those teaching have morphed and been turned into oppressive rules, doctrines, or statements of faith in which people are not just to follow but literally defend with their lives.
This in turn has transformed the joy of Jesus’ words and life into trying to live up to and perform endless duties that keep one out of a place called hell. When in reality, it has created somewhat of a hell, instead.
All this to say, Jesus has often been highjacked by the various different religious views we have today. And let’s be honest, some of those who call themselves Christian are far from the teachings of the Jesus they say they follow. It is almost as if they no longer know what he said or lived. And this could be a catalyst for some of the suffering we see in our world. John Pavlovitz described it this way,
You see, over the past few decades, these people have become experts at slapping a shiny veneer of religion onto the most abominable of ideas and the most sociopathic of behaviors.
They know they can weaponize the rather generic idea of “God”, manufacturing a deity in their own bloodthirsty, morally-inverted, predatory image: a vengeful, joyless, avatar.
They can wield a few random, poorly-exegeted obscure scripture passages like a hammer in order to justify their every phobia and hangup, making frequent mention of a Bible they’ve torn a majority of the later pages from.
They can brazenly conflate Christianity and America and give life to the grotesque, Frankensteined violent nationalism they daily traffic in as if it were sacred, and they will find a small army of devoted disciples willing to suspend disbelief so they can ratify their hatred.
Folks, that right there produces an enormous amount of suffering and struggle and it is NOT the Christianity that Christ, the Bible, and especially Quakers proclaim.
As my faith has matured and spiritually formed over the years, I have come to find the Quaker-Christianity I profess to not be based on fear, or rules, or the avoidance of (or for that matter the belief) in hell, or any of those descriptors that John Pavlovitz describes, but more about learning how to enjoy the world and the people we live with, right now – the Spirit of the Present Moment as I spoke about last week. Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, Sustainability (our S.P.I.C.E.S.) are much different and produce much more joy than these other views.
As I hear more and more of your spiritual journeys and what brought many of you among us at First Friends, I am both concerned for the greater church and also concerned for First Friends - that we will continue to grow into more of what Christ had in mind. Instead of what much of the church, especially in America has embraced and sadly morphed into.
Now, I would be remiss if I thought Quakerism or Christ’s message was solely about enjoying life. That might be a daily challenge, but our faith should not ignore the real problems that you and I face in this world. Even Jesus often emphasized joy amid great suffering. Jesus as he goes to the cross to be executed by people who had turned their religion into rules and could not see the joy in front of them, tells his disciples, “There’s joy, right here, right now” amid very challenging times. And I think I am starting to understand how he could see that.
You see, Jesus modeled a unique attitude of joy – a joy that could be cultivated and developed no matter the circumstances of life. And what may surprise you is that it took more than Jesus alone to foster it.
The query for us this morning is how can we cultivate that joy in our lives? Amid our difficulties, amid our pain, amid our confusion, amid you and I simply having a bad day?
To help us begin to process this query, I want to start with a man, that some of us probably already know, Howard Thurman. His association with Quakers began when he read Rufus Jones’s book Finding the Trail of Life back in 1927. After reading it, he sought out Jones to learn from and study with. Howard Thurman was also known as a mystic, non-violent activist, and had a kind of well-known student named, Martin Luther King Jr.
What you may not know is that Thurman was both a student of Christianity and Buddhism and believed that suffering is a natural part of life, yet that it does not have to define our lives. He would state that we can find joy amid our pain and suffering, but it will take more than ourselves.
Thurman was a big advocate for community, what his student, Dr. King, would later label, The Beloved Community. Thurman claimed that what would make suffering intolerable was if we suffered alone. Yet, none of us if we really examined ourselves would find that we suffer in isolation.
Howard believed that not only Jesus suffers with us, but he suffers with us through our community. This makes sense as Quakers. When we say there is that of God in our neighbor, God/Jesus/the Divine is suffering with us through our neighbors or community. This is why Thurman was always pointing out the need for us to have community in our lives. He believed it to be the way of Jesus and the way of healing for our pain and struggles in this world. This became so central in Dr. King’s work that he described this community this way:
The Beloved Community is a realistic vision of an achievable society, one in which problems and conflict exist, but are resolved peacefully and without bitterness. In the Beloved Community, caring and compassion drive political policies that support the worldwide elimination of poverty and hunger and all forms of bigotry and violence. The Beloved Community is a state of heart and mind a spirit of hope and goodwill that transcends all boundaries and barriers and embraces all creation. At its core, the Beloved Community is an engine of reconciliation. This way of living seems a long way from the kind of world we have now, but I do believe it is a goal that can be accomplished through courage and determination, and through education and training, if enough people are willing to make the necessary commitment.
If you read Scripture carefully, I think you will find these same sentiments in Jesus’ teachings. And please understand, Jesus was not trying to create a building or organization called the church, rather he was focused on the people, creating a Beloved Community where questions could be asked, where reconciliation could heal, where people could be taken care of, where no one would go hungry or need anything, where there would be no economic or societal inequalities, where compassion would be the standard.
That is far from the community that has evolved that we call the church, today. If anything, much of the church of today is in its very nature a huge failure to Jesus’, Thurman’s, and King’s vision.
And sadly, many Quakers have bought into this mindset and followed the same path. At times, we at First Friends dabble in this as well, but more than not, I see us at First Friends, as a community that wants to change this and embrace more of what Jesus, Thurman, and King were getting at.
Jesus clearly wanted there to be less suffering, pain, and struggle in the world and he believed that would come about through community – or what was originally labeled in scripture, “The Way.” Scripture says, this “Way” was a means of salvation – again that word too was highjacked to mean being worthy of an afterlife.
But salvation in Greek means deliverance, welfare, prosperity, preservation, and safety. At one point in scripture salvation is even equated to giving someone a cold cup of water - relieving their suffering. We have gotten way off track, and I sense that may be why we are missing our calling to see those in our midst who are suffering and struggling.
Again, let’s pause here for a moment. Mental Health professionals and statistics are trying to get our attention that the United States is suffering from an epidemic called loneliness. Just listen to this:
· Loneliness is one of the fastest growing causes of death in our country.
· It is now being compared to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. (That blows my mind).
· Young people ages 15-24 are at the greatest risk, currently, with a huge 70% less interaction with their friends.
· Men over the age of 55 are reporting a lack of friends and isolation, a growing concern for men’s health.
· Depression has risen to 41% among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. That is the highest ever.
· Isolation as a factor was on the rise before Covid and has almost quadrupled since.
What this says to me is that now more than even we need life-giving, joy producing communities, and we need to embrace our gifts and rolls in those communities. I believe we at First Friends are working hard to do this. But every once and a while, we need a reminder to open our eyes, to look around us (inside and outside of our meeting). And we need to ask ourselves:
· Who are the suffering and struggling around me?
· What might be my role in bringing a newfound joy to their lives?
Joy amid suffering can be cultivated when we look up and see that there are compassionate people supporting and concerned about us. That we are not alone.
When we suffer alone, we suffer more. And that means we cannot see new opportunities, we cannot experience care, we cannot move beyond our suffering and pain and find joy again. We need each other. We need communities that compassionately engage one another and help us make our joy complete.
This morning, I want you to take a moment and think of one person in one of your communities who you know is suffering, struggling, depressed, having a bad day? Got that person in mind? Now, I want you to think of one way you could bring them joy, today?
I have been intentionally doing this since I returned home from sabbatical. Because I realize how it makes me feel when others recognize me when I am suffering or struggling, or simply having a bad day. It means the world, it brings me hope, I feel a sense of deep love, and know that I am in a Beloved Community that wants me to experience joy. Also, I have found that when I do this for others while I am struggling, it brings me joy as well.
As, we enter waiting worship this morning, allow these queries to speak to your condition and embrace your roll in the Beloved Community!
· Who are the suffering and struggling around me?
· What might be my role in bringing a newfound joy to their lives?