Minister's Highlights
Unity of Monroe
One Humanity, Many Stories: Awakening Joy
December 1, 2019
It seems the only time I read the newspaper any more is when I’m away with family at Thanksgiving. The most important part in the paper is, of course, the comic section and how appropriate that we have a little Peanuts Christmas humor. So dear old Lucy is going around wishing, “Merry Christmas” to everyone. Then she comes to good old Charlie Brown and says, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Since it's this time of the year, I think we ought to bury past differences and try to be kind.” Charlie Brown asks, “Why does it just have to be this time of the year? Why can't it be all year long?” To which Lucy scoffs, “What are you, some kind of fanatic?” Who knew good old Charlie Brown was a Unitic promoting loving kindness not just during the holidays but all year round. So on this first Sunday of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas Day, we are invited to move into a deeper relevance of the season through a quickening of our faith, peace, love and joy. These are days of wonder and awe in all the delights we see and feel; a spiritual preparation for a rebirth within.
Today we close out our yearlong series One Humanity, Many Stories and are honored to hear from Karen Midkiff on Awakening Joy. Of course, as we approach the heart of the holiday season we too are called on to an Awakening of our Joy, an awakening that, like Charlie Brown said, need not wait for some sort of seasonal activity. I think you might agree that the central idea of illumined Joy can be seen as a teaching and practice central to our Unity tradition in that it’s all about our Perspective in life. How often have you gone through a challenge that for you found fulfillment but for another there was only disappointment or vice-versa. I’ve known people who have lost what they thought was their dream job only to be reinvented in their true path in life. Or the person who goes through a devastating loss of a loved one or divorce only to find another rainbow waiting for him/her further on down the road. As Kahlil Gibran wrote, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?” Think of your own inner joy like a cup forged in the fire sharing with one another in passing the cup in a circle of communion and understanding. So many times I refused to welcome that inner spirit of joy and drink from that cup because conditions seemingly weren’t right. Yet when I find the depth of life within, which may include deep joy and sorrow, I can see what Gibran spoke of that our cup of joy can be made even fuller and deeper. While it is crafted by the kiln it is our attention to the cup how much we wish to fill it with that deep abiding joy.
The Dalai Lama, in The Book of Joy, stated that when the Tibetan people lost their country and became refugees it gave them new opportunities meeting with people around the world, different spiritual practitioners and scientists. This all took place through such adversity yet probably wouldn’t have happened if they were not driven from their land. The Nature of True Joy is finding our inner bliss that “The ultimate source of joy and happiness is within us.” As the Dalai Lama stated, “Therefore, if you look from one angle, you feel, oh how bad, how sad. But if you look from another angle at that same tragedy, that same event, you see that it gives new opportunities. So, it’s wonderful. That’s the main reason that I’m not sad and morose.” Is it then possible to find our joy and spread that it as a healing agent to the world?
Absolutely, for we are the agents of JOY from deep within our soul which doesn’t depend on what happens, says Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast. “Joy is our wholehearted response to whatever opportunity is given to us in any moment.” True JOY is a mental and spiritual construct and completely independent of what happens to us from the outside. I’ve said this many times and often get the roll of the eyes from my kids but no one and no event has any real and lasting power to make us happy or unhappy. To the world this may come as a surprise but no one gives it to us and while no one can take it from us there are obstacles and challenges we all deal with that can be an impediment to our joy. A long held belief of mine has been that “Joy is not something you take in from without, but what you let out from within you. Events merely give us an excuse to feel it.”
So once again we have the event of Christmas which represents joy in all its trimmings and trappings. How can you explain or describe or quantify what Christmas means in our lives? Like the time during the rush of the Christmas season when two men were standing in the heart of New York City waiting to cross the street. One of them was irritated by the traffic and said, “This town is totally disorganized just look at this traffic. It’s terrible and something ought to be done about it.” The other man was more philosophical about it as he stated, “You know, it’s astounding, the romance of it. There was a baby born of peasant parents halfway around the world with no social standing or money, yet two thousand years later that little baby creates a traffic jam on Fifth Avenue, one of the most sophisticated streets in the world. This irritates you? It should fascinate you.”
Maybe it does fascinate us the Infinite possibilities that are here at this time of the year and that open us up to the mysteries around Christmas. When we observe the life of our Wayshower Jesus we know he brought great joy to those he encountered and still does so through words and deeds attributed to him. In the Gospel of John you read, "These things I have spoken unto you, that my JOY might remain in you, and that your JOY might be full." Wow! There you have it! A one sentence peek into the cosmic rationale that inspired Jesus to walk the dusty byways of ancient Judea challenging minds and enchanting hearts with a teaching that was so pure and inspired it’s still haunting us this Christmas time, nagging at us to wake up; take a deep breath, feast our eyes on the signs and sounds of the season and IN-JOY. Metaphysically we might interpret this passage as a calling or birth of our own Christ consciousness. When Jesus guides us within and says do this in my name or states that “my joy might be in you” is he speaking about the human Jesus or his spiritual identity of the Christ? Metaphysicians around the world remind us that Jesus didn’t point to the egoic-man but to the spiritual man or being that he demonstrated. It sounds like a great plan to find the release of our own imprisoned splendor of Joy this season. What better time on earth could there possibly be to work on our capacity to express lighthearted levity as our basic nature than the "Season to be Jolly!" Can you imagine a Sunday here without an emphasis on the power and healing activity of Joy. Joy is the healing power within us because it aligns our thoughts with that which uplifts us into the healing mode. Joy can be a connection with other people, with nature, and with other beings. It is the wonder, the delight, the welling up of loving energy - so that we feel our connection to God in all its forms in One Humanity and Oneness - that brings forth the light of the soul as joy. It is seeing the miracle of life and celebrating it and it all comes as a prayerful meditation on the power and passion of Joy moving as us.
Throughout this year we’ve explored our yearlong theme, One Humanity, Many Stories. It has been said that if you knew another person’s story, you couldn’t help but love them. Each of us has known hardship and heartbreak, just as each of us has known bliss and joy. Some people have overcome unimaginable adversity while others seem to have been blessed with all a human being could ever want. Yet a greater story overarches them all: We are all one. Despite the appearance of separate bodies, individual personalities, and different pursuits, we are one humanity. Like a prism divides light into a rainbow of colors, we humans express God in infinite ways. One God, one humanity, many stories. This years theme of One Humanity, Many Stories has featured many of you sharing the blessing of your lives and I want to thank everyone who participated. To close out this years theme and to share her story I want to invite Karen Midkiff to come forward as she honors us this day.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org
One Humanity, Many Stories: Awakening Joy
December 1, 2019
It seems the only time I read the newspaper any more is when I’m away with family at Thanksgiving. The most important part in the paper is, of course, the comic section and how appropriate that we have a little Peanuts Christmas humor. So dear old Lucy is going around wishing, “Merry Christmas” to everyone. Then she comes to good old Charlie Brown and says, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. Since it's this time of the year, I think we ought to bury past differences and try to be kind.” Charlie Brown asks, “Why does it just have to be this time of the year? Why can't it be all year long?” To which Lucy scoffs, “What are you, some kind of fanatic?” Who knew good old Charlie Brown was a Unitic promoting loving kindness not just during the holidays but all year round. So on this first Sunday of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas Day, we are invited to move into a deeper relevance of the season through a quickening of our faith, peace, love and joy. These are days of wonder and awe in all the delights we see and feel; a spiritual preparation for a rebirth within.
Today we close out our yearlong series One Humanity, Many Stories and are honored to hear from Karen Midkiff on Awakening Joy. Of course, as we approach the heart of the holiday season we too are called on to an Awakening of our Joy, an awakening that, like Charlie Brown said, need not wait for some sort of seasonal activity. I think you might agree that the central idea of illumined Joy can be seen as a teaching and practice central to our Unity tradition in that it’s all about our Perspective in life. How often have you gone through a challenge that for you found fulfillment but for another there was only disappointment or vice-versa. I’ve known people who have lost what they thought was their dream job only to be reinvented in their true path in life. Or the person who goes through a devastating loss of a loved one or divorce only to find another rainbow waiting for him/her further on down the road. As Kahlil Gibran wrote, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?” Think of your own inner joy like a cup forged in the fire sharing with one another in passing the cup in a circle of communion and understanding. So many times I refused to welcome that inner spirit of joy and drink from that cup because conditions seemingly weren’t right. Yet when I find the depth of life within, which may include deep joy and sorrow, I can see what Gibran spoke of that our cup of joy can be made even fuller and deeper. While it is crafted by the kiln it is our attention to the cup how much we wish to fill it with that deep abiding joy.
The Dalai Lama, in The Book of Joy, stated that when the Tibetan people lost their country and became refugees it gave them new opportunities meeting with people around the world, different spiritual practitioners and scientists. This all took place through such adversity yet probably wouldn’t have happened if they were not driven from their land. The Nature of True Joy is finding our inner bliss that “The ultimate source of joy and happiness is within us.” As the Dalai Lama stated, “Therefore, if you look from one angle, you feel, oh how bad, how sad. But if you look from another angle at that same tragedy, that same event, you see that it gives new opportunities. So, it’s wonderful. That’s the main reason that I’m not sad and morose.” Is it then possible to find our joy and spread that it as a healing agent to the world?
Absolutely, for we are the agents of JOY from deep within our soul which doesn’t depend on what happens, says Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast. “Joy is our wholehearted response to whatever opportunity is given to us in any moment.” True JOY is a mental and spiritual construct and completely independent of what happens to us from the outside. I’ve said this many times and often get the roll of the eyes from my kids but no one and no event has any real and lasting power to make us happy or unhappy. To the world this may come as a surprise but no one gives it to us and while no one can take it from us there are obstacles and challenges we all deal with that can be an impediment to our joy. A long held belief of mine has been that “Joy is not something you take in from without, but what you let out from within you. Events merely give us an excuse to feel it.”
So once again we have the event of Christmas which represents joy in all its trimmings and trappings. How can you explain or describe or quantify what Christmas means in our lives? Like the time during the rush of the Christmas season when two men were standing in the heart of New York City waiting to cross the street. One of them was irritated by the traffic and said, “This town is totally disorganized just look at this traffic. It’s terrible and something ought to be done about it.” The other man was more philosophical about it as he stated, “You know, it’s astounding, the romance of it. There was a baby born of peasant parents halfway around the world with no social standing or money, yet two thousand years later that little baby creates a traffic jam on Fifth Avenue, one of the most sophisticated streets in the world. This irritates you? It should fascinate you.”
Maybe it does fascinate us the Infinite possibilities that are here at this time of the year and that open us up to the mysteries around Christmas. When we observe the life of our Wayshower Jesus we know he brought great joy to those he encountered and still does so through words and deeds attributed to him. In the Gospel of John you read, "These things I have spoken unto you, that my JOY might remain in you, and that your JOY might be full." Wow! There you have it! A one sentence peek into the cosmic rationale that inspired Jesus to walk the dusty byways of ancient Judea challenging minds and enchanting hearts with a teaching that was so pure and inspired it’s still haunting us this Christmas time, nagging at us to wake up; take a deep breath, feast our eyes on the signs and sounds of the season and IN-JOY. Metaphysically we might interpret this passage as a calling or birth of our own Christ consciousness. When Jesus guides us within and says do this in my name or states that “my joy might be in you” is he speaking about the human Jesus or his spiritual identity of the Christ? Metaphysicians around the world remind us that Jesus didn’t point to the egoic-man but to the spiritual man or being that he demonstrated. It sounds like a great plan to find the release of our own imprisoned splendor of Joy this season. What better time on earth could there possibly be to work on our capacity to express lighthearted levity as our basic nature than the "Season to be Jolly!" Can you imagine a Sunday here without an emphasis on the power and healing activity of Joy. Joy is the healing power within us because it aligns our thoughts with that which uplifts us into the healing mode. Joy can be a connection with other people, with nature, and with other beings. It is the wonder, the delight, the welling up of loving energy - so that we feel our connection to God in all its forms in One Humanity and Oneness - that brings forth the light of the soul as joy. It is seeing the miracle of life and celebrating it and it all comes as a prayerful meditation on the power and passion of Joy moving as us.
Throughout this year we’ve explored our yearlong theme, One Humanity, Many Stories. It has been said that if you knew another person’s story, you couldn’t help but love them. Each of us has known hardship and heartbreak, just as each of us has known bliss and joy. Some people have overcome unimaginable adversity while others seem to have been blessed with all a human being could ever want. Yet a greater story overarches them all: We are all one. Despite the appearance of separate bodies, individual personalities, and different pursuits, we are one humanity. Like a prism divides light into a rainbow of colors, we humans express God in infinite ways. One God, one humanity, many stories. This years theme of One Humanity, Many Stories has featured many of you sharing the blessing of your lives and I want to thank everyone who participated. To close out this years theme and to share her story I want to invite Karen Midkiff to come forward as she honors us this day.
Unity of Monroe • 272 Britton Lane • P.O. Box 138 • Monroe, Ohio • 45050
513-539-5103
E-Mail • unitymonroeohio@earthlink.net
WebSite • unityofmonroe.org