Joy Exploring the Themes of Our Lives June 2020 - Unitarian ...
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Exploring the Themes of Our Lives
June 2020
Joy
https://www.goodfreephotos.com/people/child-finger-painting-and-smiling.jpg.php
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de MontréalA Month of Joy
In my own worst seasons I’ve come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to
look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my
bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect
outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life
again. Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught
myself joy, over and over again.
– Barbara Kingsolver
Our friends at Soul Matters suggest a deep dive into the theological meaning of joy that surprisingly
resonates for me in this time of pandemic. Here’s to a complex exploration of joy together.
Be careful this month. Our theme of joy is deceptive. One could easily see this as a way to end the year
on a high note. But there’s deep work for us to do on this topic.
There have been many religious perspectives that begin with the idea that this world is broken, a place of
misery and pain, toil and struggle. We are told that our job is to survive it, indeed transcend it, through
sacrifice, confession of our brokenness, and an industrious Protestant work ethic. Joy is reserved for a
time far off and found in a heaven granted to those who earn it.
And yet there are others—Unitarian Universalism included—that just don’t see it this way. They look
out and like the God of Genesis, their response is “Behold, it is good!” The problem, according to this
spiritual view, lies not so much in a fallen, irredeemable world but with our limited perspective. Heaven,
as our UU forebearers argued, is right here on earth; our job is to see it and take pleasure in it. And far
from being indulgent or seductive, this work of pleasure and delight is the key to humanizing us. As
Barbara Kingsolver’s words suggest, joy has the power to transform us.
With one long hard look at a single glorious thing, we are suddenly re-connected. Balance is restored.
We see the world not simply as brutish, broken and dangerous, but also as gentle, surprising and woven
through with a Love that will not let us go. This simple act of sacred looking is not about distraction. It’s
about achieving a wider view. It’s about stepping back and seeing it all as a gift. When we feel joy, we
don’t simply feel delight in one tiny piece of the world, we feel welcomed back in—connected once
again to the whole.
In this sense, as many have said, the opposite of joy is not sadness, but isolation and disconnection. Joy
doesn’t just make us feel happy; it restores relationship. And not just relationship to the world, but also
to the Divine. Theologian John Cobb describes God as “the all of everything.” Joy places us within that
whole, not outside it. In this way, the experience of joy is very much also the experience of God.
So, friends, are you ready for this? Are you ready to be welcomed back in? If so, look around. There are
dozens of “glorious things” inviting you to return.
Stay cool and dry,
Rev. Diane Rollert
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 2Spiritual Exercises
Option A: Capture Five Images of Joy in Five Days
Read Mary Oliver’s poem “Mindful” and Anne Sexton’s poem “Welcome Morning”:
➢ https://wordsfortheyear.com/2015/07/22/mindful-by-mary-oliver/
➢ https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2013%252F06%252F22.html
Both poems invite us to pay attention and let in the holy right in front of us.
With that in mind, here’s your exercise: Capture an image of everyday joy five days in a row.
Keep your camera ready, or if you don’t have a camera, simply keep a notebook nearby and write about
an everyday joy. Just wake up and walk around with a bit more awareness of the thing that is trying to
“kill [you] with delight.”
Come to your group ready to share your photos or writing snippets and how they “instruct [you] over
and over in joy and acclamation.”
Option B: Start a Jar of Joy
Read Robin Hayes’ article “The Jar of Joy: How to Find Out What Makes You Happy”:
➢ https://medium.com/@robyn_96421/the-jar-of-joy-how-to-find-out-what-makes-you-happy-
bd20d8640b14
Start your own jar of joy and write down a joy every day for at least a week. How does paying attention
to daily joys impact your life in the time of COVID-19?
Come to your group ready to share your experience.
Option C: Bring Joy to Someone Else
What can you do to bring a smile to someone during this time of crisis? Write a letter or card? Call
someone to tell them you miss them? Offer to go grocery shopping? Deliver a homemade dish or baked
goods? Invite them to share a meal via Zoom? Whatever it is, why not bring joy to someone else this
month?
Come to your group ready to share your experience.
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 3Questions
As always, don’t treat these questions like homework. Find the question that resonates the most for you and let it
lead you where you need to go. Allow it to regularly break into—and break open—your ordinary thoughts.
1. How is joy inviting you to return to life?
2. When was the last time you chose joy?
3. What helps you cultivate joy in the time of Covid-19?
4. Could a little more courage on your part invite more joy into your life? How?
5. Who has helped you see the joy in front of you? Is there something you can do now to bring joy to
their life?
6. Do you feel like you’re too responsible to let joy in? In what small ways can you invite more joy
into your life, even in this time of crisis?
7. Have you been too tied to convention to let joy in? Too embarrassed to stand out? In what ways
can you counteract that training?
8. Is joy holding back until you deal honestly with sorrow? Can you invite both joy and sorrow into
your guest house, as Rumi urges? (See “Guest House” in the “Recommended Resources” section.)
9. Is joy waiting for you to risk trusting and loving again?
10. When was the last time you did something “useless”? Might joy be waiting for you there?
11. When was the last time you were “recklessly joyful”? Is it time yet?
12. Is there a child in your life calling you to joy? Are you listening?
Worship in a Time of Social Distancing
Please join us for our virtual worship services. Details can be found on our website at ucmtl.ca, our
Facebook page (facebook.com/unitarianchurchofmontreal), our YouTube channel (UCM Worship
Team) or through our weekly email messages. For more information or to be added to the email list,
contact office@ucmtl.ca.
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 4Recommended Resources
As always, these resources are intended to inspire your reflections and are not required.
We will not analyze or dissect them in our group.
Wise Words
“Joanna Macy writes that until we can grieve for our planet we cannot love it—grieving is a sign of
spiritual health. But it is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the
earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world
holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head
in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
– Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
– Henri J. M. Nouwen
“Submit to a daily practice. Your loyalty to that is a ring on the door. Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window and look out to see who’s there.” – Jelaluddin Rumi
“Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to you. [. . .] The root of joy is
gratefulness. [. . .] It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.”
– David Stendl-Rast
“Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained.”
– Terry Pratchett
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” – Mark Twain
“Some of you say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow,’ and others say, ‘Nay, sorrow is the greater.’ But I say
unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board,
remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Joy is not in things; it is in us.” – Richard Wagner
“We’ve got to discover our sources and our senses of joy. You have to sniff out joy. Keep your nose to
the joy-trail.” – Buffy Sainte-Marie
“Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about
yourself to make room for it in your life.” – Jean Shinoda Bolen
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 5Articles and Blog Posts “A Demanding Joy,” Leaf Seligman (UU World) http://archive.uuworld.org/2002/06/encounter.html “Anne Lamott on Forgiveness, Self-Forgiveness, and the Relationship Between Brokenness and Joy,” Maria Popova (Brain Pickings) https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/12/05/anne-lamott-almost-everything-joy/ “The Best Life Possible,” Joseph Trunzo (Aeon) https://aeon.co/essays/it-takes-psychological-flexibility-to-thrive-with-chronic-illness “Bicycling for Ladies: An Illustrated 1896 Manifesto for the Universal Spendors of the Bicycle as […] a Portal to Joy,” Maria Popova (Brain Pickings) https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/04/08/bicycling-for-ladies-maria-ward-1896/ “Black Joy Is Resistance: Why We Need a Movement to Balance Black Triumph with Trials,” Kleaver Cruz (Black Youth Project) http://blackyouthproject.com/black-joy-resistance-need-movement-balance-black-triumph-trials/ “The Jar of Joy: How to Find out What Makes You Happy,” Robin Hayes (Medium) https://medium.com/@robyn_96421/the-jar-of-joy-how-to-find-out-what-makes-you-happy- bd20d8640b14 “Joy in the time of COVID,” Ariel Gore (Psychology Today) https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/women-and-happiness/202004/joy-in-the-time-covid “Love What You Love,” Erika Hewitt (UU World) https://www.uuworld.org/articles/cheerleaders-simple-joys “Reading Joy in the Time of Coronavirus,” Donalyn Miller (School Library Journal) https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=reading-joy-time-of-coronavirus-distraction-donalyn-miller “Surprised by Joy,” Omid Safi (On Being) https://onbeing.org/blog/surprised-by-joy/ “The Promise and the Practice: ‘Black Joy’ Reading,” Kimberly Quinn Johnson (UUA) https://www.uua.org/worship/words/reading/promise-and-practice-joy-unspeakable-reading “These Black Nature Lovers Are Busting Stereotypes, One Cool Bird at a Time,” AJ Willingham (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/us/black-birders-week-black-in-stem-christian-cooper-scn- trnd/index.html “When Pigs Fly,” Meg Barnhouse (UU World) https://www.uuworld.org/articles/when-pigs-fly “You’re Allowed to Feel Joy Right Now,” Ryan Howes (SELF) https://www.self.com/story/moments-of-joy-in-pandemic Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 6
Poems “Benediction for the Heavy Heart,” Mason Bolton (UU World) https://www.uuworld.org/articles/benediction-heavy-heart “Cherries,” Barbara La Morticella (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2016/06/22/cherries-by-barbara-la-morticella/ “Cutting Loose,” William Stafford (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/04/27/cutting-loose-by-william-stafford/ “For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing,” John O’Donohue (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/03/27/for-one-who-is-exhausted-a-blessing-by-john-odonohue/ “For the Raindrop,” Mirza Ghalib (The Big Sigh) http://thebigsigh.blogspot.com/2005/10/for-raindrop-mirza-ghalib.html “Guest House,” Jelaluddin Rumi (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2016/12/26/guest-house-by-jelaluddin-rumi/ “Joy,” Terri Pahucki (UU World) https://www.uuworld.org/articles/poem-joy “Messenger,” Mary Oliver (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2020/04/04/messenger-by-mary-oliver/ “Mindful,” Mary Oliver (Words for the Year) https://wordsfortheyear.com/2015/07/22/mindful-by-mary-oliver/ “Welcome Morning,” Anne Sexton (The Writer’s Almanac) https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2013%252F06%252F22.html Podcasts “The Joy of Math: Learning and What It Means to Be Human,” Krista Tippett with guest Keith Devlin (On Being) https://onbeing.org/programs/keith-devlin-the-joy-of-math-learning-and-what-it-means-to-be-human/ “Nature, Joy, and Human Becoming,” Krista Tippett with guest Michael McCarthy (On Being) https://onbeing.org/programs/nature-joy-and-human-becoming-may2018/ “Resilience after Unimaginable Loss,” Krista Tippett with guests Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant (On Being) https://onbeing.org/programs/sheryl-sandberg-and-adam-grant-resilience-after-unimaginable-loss- apr2017/ “Tending Joy and Practicing Delight,” Krista Tippett with guest Ross Gay (On Being) https://onbeing.org/programs/ross-gay-tending-joy-and-practicing-delight/ Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 7
Videos
“Be More Dog,” Stash Creative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExnWRuniooY
“Flash Mob in the Copenhagen Metro,” Copenhagen Phil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gww9_S4PNV0
“How Can I Keep from Singing,” NYC Virtual Choir and Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLPP3XmYxXg&
“The Jar of Joy,” Liz O’Riordan (TEDxStuttgart)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc1PIAG8Bgg
“Joy Comes Back,” Ruthie Foster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXp4BfMtQ-c
“Justin Trudeau Sings ‘Speaking Moistly,’” Anonymotif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eySDeBdqxGY
“Pie to the Face Game,” DailyPicksandFlicks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVSj1WUZ7Zk
“Sharer of Joy,” Nataly Kogan (TEDxBoston)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKaCN0-kpVE
“Speed Up Your Life: Take This Slide!” Volkswagen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4o0ZVeixYU
“The World’s Deepest Bin,” Rolighetsteorin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw
“Why We Pursue Happiness But Overlook Joy,” Ingrid Fetell Lee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_tMeSgw_DM
“You Need to Foster the Power of Joy,” James Goebel (TEDxTraverseCity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh2DChInJNc
Website and hotline
The Joy4All Project
https://www.joy4all.ca/
1-877-JOY-4ALL
Thank you to Soul Matters and the UCM Worship Team for the resources in this packet.
Thank you also to Louise Halperin, who happened to mention the Joy4All Project!
Unitarian Church of Montreal | Église unitarienne de Montréal 8You can also read
