A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy.

–        Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

 What do we seek in the community of the Church?  We all, hopefully, know that our purpose as a Church congregation is not to advance our own interests but to serve God.  Still, there must be something about the Church that calls out to our everyday life, something that exists in the here and now, something that is more concrete than a hope of eternal life.  Eternity is the grand goal, the ultimate end of our walk of faith but what about living life in the moment, being “happy” with what we have here, living a life of what Paul called in our recent Sunday text, “Godliness with contentment.”

            So many people in society today are preoccupied with being “happy.”  Happiness for most is defined as a condition that results from having one’s appetites satisfied.  If you are hungry, a turkey dinner will make you “happy.”  If you are thirsty, cold water will make you “happy.”  If you are lonely, having a friend will make you “happy.”  Go on with the list, with whatever material or worldly things you might think of, what will make you “happy?”  Then ponder what Mr. Merton says in the above quote.  If you are hungry and you have to share a turkey dinner with four or five people, your family and friends, your enjoyment may be increased but what if you had to share with 20, 30, 40 people?  Your “happiness” would begin to diminish.  These are material sources of happiness, they are finite and while they may be delightfully shared with a few, if they are spread too thin they will begin to bring less “happiness.”

            People who spend their lives chasing this “happiness” will ultimately end up unsatisfied.  But humanity goes on chasing the wind because, at least in this country, it is in our charter: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  There is but one pursuit that is big enough to make us “happy.”  In fact I would go so far as to say that this pursuit is not properly classified as the pursuit of happiness, it is rather, the pursuit of what C.S. Lewis called “joy.”  “Joy” is the satisfaction of an appetite for relationship with our creator, “joy” is the experience of the presence of God.  While “happiness” can be diminished by having to share with too many, “joy” is only magnified by the mutual experience of many and that is what we should seek in the Church.  The Church should be about trying to share the “joy” of relationship with God in Christ with as many people as possible.

            So what do you seek in the Church?  What do you seek in life?  Is it merely “happiness” or is it “joy?”