Yesterday my husband Jonathan and I celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary. We are grateful to still be together. Ever since we met one of the things we most enjoy is going on adventures.
We met 20 years ago in Minneapolis and in our first two years together we explored Lake Superior, made a road trip to the Oregon coast, camped at national parks, and hiked rim to rim of the Grand Canyon. We quickly discovered our shared love for adventure. We discovered joy in being surrounded by the beauty of the world.
When we first began dating I made a scrapbook of all of our adventures and showed the scrapbook to my oldest brother. The scrapbook was halfway filled with printed out photos and my own quirky travel commentary.
My brother laughed and said, “you really think you’re going to stay together long enough to fill the rest of that book?”
Twenty years later, we began dreaming about the opportunity to go on Sabbatical. I asked my husband, “if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?”
He thought about it and then said, “How about Hawaii?”
We began dreaming about Hawaii. For us, part of the joy of travel is the time ahead of the trip planning, pouring over the endless possibilities. Will we cave dive or sky dive? Will we stay near the mountains or near the beach?
What we didn’t know last year is that in the time leading up to the sabbatical, we both would have very serious medical conditions requiring significant surgeries and recovery.
What an unexpected joy it was to have the dream of Hawaii there alongside the waiting for a diagnosis, waiting for the surgery, waiting for the healing.
“Joy to the world” became the theme for my sabbatical because too often joy is overshadowed by all the things that are scary, hard, sad, painful, tragic, and unknown.
The scriptures in the New Testament letter to the Philippians encourages us to “rejoice!” Rejoice in the Lord always. And in the Old Testament the prophet Isaiah says that God will “destroy death and wipe away every tear from our eyes.”
In my life I’ve become curious about this spiritual joy the Bible talks about and realized that I didn’t quite know what it was talking about. I wasn’t sure how often in my life I had allowed myself to fully experience true joy.
After all we have all been through individually and collectively as a community, plus all the world is going through now…joy can seem like something of a bygone era, a time of innocence long gone, a Garden of Eden joy forever lost.
As a WISE (Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged) church for mental health, I became quite curious about how we access joy in the face of chronic illness and mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression.
The phrase “Joy to the world” kept coming back to me, calling my name. Thankfully the church’s sabbatical planning team went with the idea and off we went together dreaming and exploring this theme of joy.
I have to admit, I wasn’t quite sure what would happen with the sabbatical and I was a little afraid my attempts at joy might fail. I was afraid of disappointing my family and the church. Spiritual joy cannot be fabricated or happen by sheer willpower. So on faith, I dared to dream of a season of joy for myself, my family, and for the church. Both of us a bit skeptical of how much joy would actually happen. But I am so glad we took the risk to dream big together.
The news last year that First Congregational was awarded the sabbatical clergy renewal grant really kicked started our season of joy. But it also meant that now we really had to do it.
I’d like to share a few brief stories of the first theme “heaven and nature sing.” The sabbatical began with three weeks on the Garden Island of Kaua’i known for its natural beauty of lush green mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and rainbows. This time together included extended family members and friends. Most of all it was an adventure into joy.
Everyday in Hawaii was a day of rejoicing. It was healing to be surrounded by the sounds of bird song, ocean waves lapping the shore, and the laughter of children.
On my morning walks with God on the beach, God wiped away my tears, healing tears, as I opened my heart to the depths of spiritual joy available to me. The good news about spiritual joy is that it is always around us in the heavens and in nature. I realized I had forgotten this and that is why the Hawaii Islands called me.
While in Hawaii, in my quiet time with God, I spontaneously began writing haikus. Here is one called Sabbatical Joy:
Sunrise beach prayer walk
Walking home in the sunlight
Rainbows light my path
One of the highlights from Hawaii was meeting with a spiritual director for an afternoon retreat. I have to thank my therapist for planting the seed for this idea. When I told her about my sabbatical plans she said, “You’re taking all of these people with you to Hawaii. What are you going to do for yourself?”
On the spiritual retreat we visited ancient historical sacred sites around the island where for generations Hawaiians experienced heightened levels of spiritual energy. During this retreat I prayed for healing from all that kept me from experiencing spiritual joy.
We visited the ruins of an ancient healing temple. Here I was led to pray for healing of intergenerational trauma. Praying for the pain and suffering of past, present, and future generations to be healed. Specifically, thinking of my mother, myself, and my child.
After praying in silence, tears fell down my cheeks. I felt a deep sense of peace wash over me. A sense of balance. A lightness. A shift.
I realized that pain does not need to be carried. Pain can be released. We don’t have to keep passing it on.
Sabbatical created the uninterrupted time, expansive space and gracious freedom to reflect, pray, laugh, cry, and be with God, bringing me great spiritual joy. Rejoicing came naturally, bubbling up from inside. This joy cleansed me, baptized me. God showed me how to smile in my heart.
Throughout the Bible God is worshipped because of the glory of God’s Creation, the handiwork of God’s hands. Yes there is pain. Yes there is war. Yes children die.
And.
And.
And.
The vibrations of majestic green mountains…
The flight of the iridescent hummingbird…
The sound of the sea rushing through the volcanic rock blow hole echoing whale songs…
After visiting the south shore blowhole called Spouting Horn, the next day while sitting in the garden drinking our morning coffee, together my husband and I wrote this haiku:
Waves crashing on rocks
Bellowing whale’s gentle call
Spouting Horn blows free
There is healing that comes from rejoicing in the beauty of Christ in Creation. In these encounters of spiritual joy, God wipes away our tears.
The Bible doesn’t promise us a life without suffering. In Revelations 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
But the Bible does promise that as long as we live, God will be there when we do cry to wipe away our tears.
And now I know that joy will always be there, too, along with the tears, because I am part of heaven and nature’s singing. Each one of us is part of God’s good creation, the song that heaven and nature sings.
One more haiku:
Let the heart listen
Land, sea, sky join the chorus
Vibrations of joy
(A sermon preached at First Congregational United Church of Christ of Indianapolis, October 15, 2023)
Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund 
Thank you, Sarah! I’ve begun a healing time, born in the center of a labyrinth that told me “It’s time.” On my winding walk out, I noticed the colorful Fall carpet which urged me to weave a bouquet of spring greens turning to gold, reds, oranges and brown. It told me it’s a Healing Bouquet. I brought it home and wound it in plastic wrap. Oh, such relief to accept the healing power of God’s nature! Blessings to you as you hold on to your found joy that wipes away tears, even if only for the moment. Joy, like God, Jesus and The Spirit are not bound by space or time.
Thank you, Sarah! I’ve begun a healing time, born in the center of a labyrinth that told me “It’s time.” On my winding walk out, I noticed the colorful Fall carpet which urged me to weave a bouquet of spring greens turning to gold, reds, oranges and brown. It told me it’s a Healing Bouquet. I brought it home and wound it in plastic wrap. Oh, such relief to accept the healing power of God’s nature! Blessings to you as you hold on to your found joy that wipes away tears, even if only for the moment. Joy, like God, Jesus and The Spirit are not bound by space or time. I pray you find it as you need it.