Greetings!
This week's eConnect comes from Pastor Mark Groves of New Life Lutheran Church in Sergeant Bluff, IA. It's a great piece on Joy that I thought you might enjoy.
Tony
tony@cantonlutheran.net
Joy
"Ask
and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will
be opened to you." - Matthew 7:7
Though I've spent time with some monastic brothers I never
wanted to be a monk. But I certainly wanted some of what they had; a
singleness of purpose and a life devoted to the contemplation of God. It was during my time with them that I discovered the practice of 'Lectio
Divina' which simply means "holy reading." It begins with
reading a particular scripture, as well as some commentary, and then listen
in one's heart for what that scripture may be leading you. It continues
with meditation, prayer and finally contemplation.
Lectio Divina is much more than reading the Bible and sitting around waiting
for God to speak or, reveal a profound message. In fact, the brothers
spend their days doing their work, such as cleaning and cooking, working on
the farm or in the carpentry shop. The whole time they're praying the
scripture, listening and meditating on what the God is saying.
The hope is to end up in a moment of contemplation in which God is
revealed. This moment, when it happens, is often described as
'Joy.' It is the result of entering into relationship in such a way
that our wills have, for that moment, been completely given over to that
relationship and we become one with God. I forget where I heard or read
this, but I've heard that Joy is not something that we can hold or possess,
but something that "we kiss as it passes by."
Richard Rohr, an author and a monk says, "Joy is both a decision and
a surrender. Eventually we stop being preoccupied with creating a
fault-free environment that will ensure our own happiness, and we discover
that joy is much more like falling into an objective Presence, a Larger Body,
Love itself, a unified field, that many of us would call God. You do
not create love, you "fall" into it. You do not attain God, you
fall into Him or Her. You do not manufacture joy, you collapse into it
when you give up trying to make it happen. What freedom when we no
longer have to wait for ourselves to be happy! There is no waiting,
only receiving."
We all have desires in our life. They may be for material or financial
prosperity, physical health or even knowing a loving relationship; to
have someone be the witness that we existed in this life.
I think finding the willingness to be free of ourselves and our worldly
desires so we're able to fall into, "an objective Presence," is
exactly what Jesus means when he says, "Ask, and it will be given to
you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened
to you." It is in this Christian vocation that we're able to
discover that God is the giver of all things and letting go of what we want,
we receive what we need. And when we receive what we need, we discover
it's just what we desired all along... Joy.
Pastor Mark Groves
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