Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

March 04, 2018
Rev. Justin Schroeder
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It seems that almost anything can be done with “joy.” In fact, a quick search on Amazon pulls up The Joy of Sex, The Joy of Gardening, and The Joy of Parenting. The list goes on and on. Interestingly, I didn’t see anything on “the joy of being part of a religious/faith community,” and yet for many of us, First Universalist is where we find and wrestle with a deep, abiding, almost nameless kind of joy. In this service, as we launch our “All In! Annual Giving Campaign,” we’ll explore the nuances of joy that can be uncovered and discovered in this community.

Order of Service: March 4 Order of Service

Listen to the Sermon and Wisdom Story:

Offering Recipient: Mni Ki Wakan: World Indigenous People’s Decade of Water Summit (give here)

March Worship Theme: Wrestling with Joy
What purpose does joy serve? What is its function? Joy has no utilitarian use, so why is it so necessary? Why does life feel flat without it? In Jack Gilbert’s poem, A Brief for the Defense, he states: “We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight.” Joy lightens the heavy lifting of justice work, or the difficulty of simply living. Joy is about experiencing life welling up, of lithe spirit having its way with us even in the midst of sadness. This month we wrestle with the meaning of joy, something that serves no purpose but is absolutely necessary. We cannot make it come to us, nor can we corral it into staying. Still we can invite it, become more prone to its appearance. Most certainly, it takes wrestling with all the ways and means by which we tell ourselves that joy is frivolous.

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