Our December Theme is Opening to Joy.   Rev Roger and I will explore this theme in sermons on 12/5 and 12/12.  Also please see the materials for individual reflection posted here.   I hope you can open to joy this holiday season.

Here is a poem from Soul Matters materials to kick off the month:

It’s easy to get tricked,

taken for a ride,

convinced that joy

is a possession.

Something to be opened

just by us.

As if it’s a holiday special delivery,

waiting for us to unwrap it

and keep forever.

And who can blame us,

with pain being so prevalent.

Sadness seems to stay.

Why can’t joy?

But maybe it’s elusive

for a reason.

Maybe it’s slippery

in order to help us understand

that it was put here to fly.

Or better yet:

To be flung!

To be passed, not possessed.

To be spread

between you and me,

between the ones who received its gift

and the ones that have been looking for its treasure

for a very long time.

Maybe it’s a beautiful and elegant contagion,

over which we have more control than we think.

If only we share it.

If only we notice that joy is not ours to keep,

but ours to give.

Maybe joy opens us

as much as we open to it.

Maybe that’s the way light leaks into our world.

Materials for Individual Reflection December