I will be singing with the Give Get Sistet during services. This service is part of our year-long residency with First Universalist Church.

ABOUT THE SERVICE

March Worship Theme: Wrestling with Joy
What purpose does joy serve? What is its function? Joy has no utilitarian use, so why is it so necessary? Why does life feel flat without it? In Jack Gilbert’s poem, A Brief for the Defense, he states: “We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight.” Joy lightens the heavy lifting of justice work, or the difficulty of simply living. Joy is about experiencing life welling up, of lithe spirit having its way with us even in the midst of sadness. This month we wrestle with the meaning of joy, something that serves no purpose but is absolutely necessary. We cannot make it come to us, nor can we corral it into staying. Still we can invite it, become more prone to its appearance. Most certainly, it takes wrestling with all the ways and means by which we tell ourselves that joy is frivolous.