Celebrating
the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may
become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!
“Inner Peace, Outer Happiness”
PART II
October 1, 2006
Last week we were reminded that Jesus addressed the search for happiness and gave us the beatitudes for guidance. Among them is the one that says happiness can be found in being a peacemaker (which is the opposite of trouble maker). We were also reminded that there is more happiness to be found in giving [to others] than in receiving [for ourselves].
Last week we also looked to James, the brother of Jesus, for some guidance and discovered that James believes happiness is found through our actions toward, and on behalf of, others and should be seen as an entire lifestyle. James then re-titles this giving and sharing lifestyle by naming it with the word wisdom—for that’s exactly what James believes this lifestyle is — a lifestyle of wisdom and common sense.
We Methodists believe that God loves the entire world including atheists and agnostics. Because of this profound and unconditional love, God offers everyone in the world a life with meaning, inner peace, and happiness. As “open minded” and “open hearted” Methodist Christians, we believe that God attempts to communicate with all persons—not only those within the Christian church.1 Therefore, we need to be listening for the spirit of God in all persons and even in some rather unexpected places.
On Tuesday, the 20th of Sept., 30,000 people came to WNY’s Amherst Campus of the University at Buffalo stadium to hear the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. He addressed the issue of “Promoting Peace Across the Borders through Education.” The crowd included representative leaders of many faiths including United Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics including the Bishop of Buffalo, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhists, and others.
UB’s President2 graciously told the audience that he was honored to host his Holiness the Dalai Lama, one of the most important figures of the time. He said, “Very few individuals have a voice whose message resonates across (all) borders.”
The Dalai Lama has referred to himself as “just a simple monk” and also as “a simple human being.” His words remind us of the teachings of our own Scripture on humility and “walking humbly with our God.”
His Holiness said, “I would like to make it clear, that basically we are the same human being … emotionally, mentally and physically, even though I come from (a different) area, and was trained different spiritually.”
As human beings, everyone has the desire and the same right to have a successful, happy life, he said. Every human should try their best to achieve that today, in the 21st century. His words bring to mind the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes: 3:12“I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live.”
At another point he said, “I think the very purpose of our life, I believe, (is finding) happiness.” “Once a person really loses hope, the hopeless attitude shortens their life. Therefore survival of our life is based on hope,” he concludes. I agree: Christianity is so filled with the theology of hope that it long ago came to be known as “the Christian hope.” Saint Paul aligns hope with the three basics when he declares: 13“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
Another major issue is educating today’s youth, and the Dalai Lama’s belief is that students, from kindergarten through college, need to be taught techniques to find happiness and compassion. The Dalai Lama noted that more warm heartedness means more inner strength. This sounds strikingly similar to the teachings of James, the brother of Christ.
His holiness spoke of attitudes and finding happiness, explaining that small children, not caring or knowing about their friends’ religious beliefs, or if they are rich or poor, find a way to get along, but adults take many of those factors into consideration.
He said, “With compassion, there is no room to exploit, tell lies or bully each other, and we clear social ills.”
Plainly put, life is finding mental happiness and not relying on material goods for happiness, proclaimed the Dalai Lama, adding that he has met many rich people who are unhappy. His words are reminiscent of those of Jesus. Then His Holiness spoke about mental stress and allowing bad feelings to affect health and overall attitude. He said, “Harmony, I think, is very important – harmony based on mutual respect. It is very, very helpful to understand these different traditions … unfortunately, the different traditions of religious faiths are causing some divisions.”
The Buddhist Monk noted that the essence of all religions is to be a warm hearted person. He advises us to practice it sincerely and seriously, and in so doing, we find the inner peace and happiness that God intended for us from the beginning.
John Wesley also believed that “the warm hearted person” is the fruit of true faith. And who, more than the Wesley brothers, did exercise and practice faithful religion to perfection.
There are other faiths that place their priorities on a set of theological doctrines, many times to the exclusion of certain groups of people, but even to the exclusion of peace and happiness in their living. But exclusion is not the Methodist understanding of what Jesus was teaching us about God. Our priority remains: to receive “life and experience it more abundantly” just as Jesus offers it to us.
But we also discover that for many years, God has been planting seeds of wisdom about his purposes for us, all over the world in many of the existing faith communities. And we believe firmly, as do others that the very purpose of life given to us by God is to reach out and live for others—for God is found in others in addition to our own hearts and lives. We firmly believe this unselfish lifestyle results in our own spiritual abundance as it plays out in the form of inner peace and happiness.
Yes, we believe that our Scripture contains all that is necessary for faith and salvation. But there are other writings that reflect the transforming power of God that works for others in God’s creation, and because of that we must hold them in respect.
We believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior for all who chose to believe in him and certainly for us who have experienced his love and transforming power in our lives. Our job is not to demean, criticize or condemn those who have found God through other means, but rather our call from God is to be the witnesses to those who have not yet found God or God’s peace or the joy of God’s happiness in their lives.
Praise be to God that “we have a story to tell to the nations,” and we “love to tell that story,” but we must love as Jesus loved, with kindness, with human warmth, with generosity, with “open hearts,” and with “open minds.” Praise be to God for inner peace and happiness! Amen.
1 Prevenient Grace
2 John B. Simpson
