Kingdom Joy

Jesus points to daily stuff of our everyday lives to help us ponder the Kingdom. Like the VALUE of the Kingdom. Not a monetary, quantity value, but a value found in our interior life with God, a felt sense in our bodies and spoken about through our scriptures: JOY.

The value of JOY transforms everything. Joy can always be found by the owner of the field; all the finest pearls mean nothing to the one who finds a priceless one: both lose the life that they know for a greater one, a precious and treasured life of JOY.

In the Atrium, children are drawn to Kingdom joy. Not a happy birthday joy but the joy described in the parables, a joy that makes them satisfied. After their first 30 or 4o minutes, a child might discover something that touches a chord within them, invisible to us, a privilege to witness: a child sings and sways at the prayer corner, whispers to a small sheep, scoops or colors, again and again. Something has been found and felt in the secret of their hearts: JOY

I often think back to the 90s when Joe and I took students to Nicaragua. We lived in the homes of a Base Christian Community in Managua, people who had survived our contra war of the 80s and had a party for us… when we arrived, when we were leaving, and any chance in between. The children danced, the men played guitar, the women shared any food they could spare. They were poor, their lives were hard, and they had no reason to celebrate. But over and over again, they were drawn to Kingdom joy.

At the last of her days, my mother had lost most of her family members, her independence and mobility. I asked her, “Would you take an exit sign?” “Oh no, Carla.” “Why not? “ “I would miss this conversation with you!” “Is this really worth it, Mom?” She smiled, “Few things are worth it, Carla. Living, is worth it.” She had found Kingdom joy.

We can be buried in a field of sadness and heartbreak. Everything we have held onto and searched for can be lost. The Kingdom parables tell us that what shakes us up can shape our faith, that we aren’t made to stay the same. We are called to lose ourselves, again and again, to a deep joy within. We transform and the Kingdom grows.

What Kingdom joy is my own to find, buried underneath the field of my life?

What do I hold on to that is priceless, that gives me rest and satisfies?

Matthew 13: 44-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”