“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy.”
“Joy is the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.”
I cannot imagine giving a 25 hour long sermon… but you sure could fit a lot into it. That’s about 75 of my sermons (at the rate of 3 an hour!) So needless to say I was very impressed by Senator Cory Booker’s 25 hour and 5 minute long speech this past week. I wasn’t able to listen except for a few clips afterwards- including one of the very end where he spoke about Sen. John Lewis, the Declaration of Independence and then said “Let’s get in good trouble”, all of which brought me to tears. I am just so glad that he broke Sen. Strom Thurmond’s record long speech against the Civil Rights Act back in 1957!
April has arrived and with it more speeches and spring and big sacred stories – including two of the most significant stories of the Jewish and Christian faiths. They traditionally each take eight days to tell, over the 8 days of Passover and the 8 days from Palm Sunday through Holy Week to Easter. We fit a lot into this month but honestly, in just a few Sundays it’s impossible to do these stories justice.
Passover tells the story of Moses leading a big group of migrants out of Egypt and into the wilderness, where for over 40 years they survive and form a new collective identity and moral code. Palm Sunday and Easter week tell the story of Jesus (the “new Moses”) leading his followers triumphantly into the city of Jerusalem only to be arrested, tried, crucified, and in the Christian faith, bodily resurrected; his followers then form a new collective identity, theology and moral code. These are earthy stories about change and community, about bodies and movement. ground that becomes holy and food that becomes sacred. They encompass uncertainty and conviction, fear and liberation, oppression and revolution, suffering and rejoicing.
Is it problematic to practice joy in a time of suffering? Or is it imperative to keep practicing a certain kind of joyousness as a community- to keep rehearsing together the world we dream of? Here are some of this month’s questions from Soul Matters, a UU resource used by a few of our small groups:
- What simple joy rescues you over and over again?
- Has choosing joy ever been an act of survival for you or your people? An act of defiance?
- What is one of your best moments of bringing joy to someone else?
- If you could magically give a joy-filled week to someone, who would you choose and why?
With the joy of daffodils blooming in this earthy, sacred season,
Rev. Lee
To schedule a meeting or check-in: https://calendly.com/revlee-northparish