From the rector: Finding sustained joy
What brings you deep and sustained joy? I am not asking what you enjoy or what makes you happy, but what lifts your chin and raises your shoulders and keeps them there. What makes you trust that this life is beautiful, that this world for all its flaws, is wonderful?
For me it is connection, feeling connected to this created world and the people therein. I thrive when I feel seen, known, appreciated and a vital part of a larger whole. A plunge in the lake or ocean feeling the water all around me, hiking to the top of Cadillac Mountain in darkness and watching the sun come over the horizon, kayaking or canoeing down through the moving current, walking through the woods with my dog all bind me to this fragile island home. But it isn’t just the feeling of being enveloped by the majesty or beauty of this earth, it is often the people who were by my side, or the countless other interactions that remind me that life is so, so good. It is physical touch, a good hearty laugh with a friend, a new connection with someone different from me and possibly challenging to me, a shared vulnerability where someone has seen me or I have seen them. These are the moments I feel alive and one with the world.
As I write this, the heartbreaking stories that have remained near the top of our daily headlines have taken a momentary back seat to the school/church shooting in Minneapolis. There is so much to lament about the state of our world, but I turn to those moments that assure me that there is so much good and beauty in order not to fall into despair. And if my joy comes from being connected, part of a greater whole, one with this world, then I believe I also am created to be one with the suffering and brokenness that is as much part of life as that glorious sunrise. I imagine that whatever brings you enduring joy also requires your full presence and participation, the more that you lean in, the more it fills you. And I do believe that a full, integrated life requires seeing and experiencing both the joy and hurt together and the hope and goodness that exist amid and beyond the worst of what we do to one another.
Our prayers and our sorrow knit us to those directly affected. Our desire to understand why we continue to hurt people so profoundly engages us more fully. I believe the greatest danger is retreat and isolation. I seek oneness with the people and elements that provide me such joy and fullness and I choose (and have to choose again and again) to bind myself to what is broken and hurting. Strangely, I do believe this is the path to sustained joy, because it is part of the oneness to which we were made and are drawn.
Ben+
The Rev. Benjamin Wells Maas is the rector of Saint James’ Episcopal Church and the chaplain of Saint James’ Episcopal School. Contact Father Ben at rector@saintjameswarrenton.org.