Terry Paul Choyce
November 26, 2006, Brunswick Street United Church
The National Wellness Institute has listed six conditions of personal wellness. They are: intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational and spiritual.
If I were making up that list, I think I would start with spiritual, because I think that is the foundation of all the other conditions. If we do not have a healthy sense of our spirituality, everything else suffers. Almost all religions have the same spiritual tenants, which are listed below. They are:
1) The belief in the connectedness of all of creation.
2) The knowing that God is a part of everything, and created everything.
3) The desire to diminish pain and suffering - in one's self, and others.
4) The need to seek meaning and purpose in life.
5) Living in appreciation and gratitude for all that you experience.
6) An openness to new possibilities and ways of doing things.
7) An acceptance of differences among people and cultures.
8) Having at least one expression or practice which enhances your spirituality. This can be church, prayer, meditation, communion with nature, service to others, care of animals, yoga, or any number of activities which help you feel connected to the Divine, and to your true self.
9) Living the values of respect, compassion, unity, hope, and generosity.
Our New Testament reading this morning was about building your house on a rock, not on the sand. (Matt. 7:24-28) We know that a house that has a weak foundation will not withstand storms and stresses. Likewise, if we build our lives on values that have no spiritual connection, we will suffer. If we do not have any beliefs, or appreciation for the beauty and the sacredness of life, we will have problems emotionally and socially. If we have difficulties with our emotions, they always create physical difficulties, which affect us socially and occupationally. And if we are intellectually narrow in our interests and pursuits, we will live a very unfulfilled life. So it is essential to our happiness and wholeness to have some sort of spiritual foundation and practices in our lives. Our spiritual wellness is the rock for our complete wellness.
Victor Frankl wrote a very famous book about his life in a Nazi concentration camp, called Man's Search for Meaning. I will be doing a whole service about this book at some point, but now I just want to emphasise the basic point of the book. He says that the majority of the people who survived the horrors and the tortures of the camps were those who had a strong spiritual base, and a belief in the meaning of their lives. These people had the faith, hope, and inner fortitude to endure unbelievable suffering. Without this foundation, people gave up and died. How healthy they were when they entered the camps, how educated they were, how wealthy they were, all were not as important as how connected they felt to their God and to their own importance in the big scheme of life.
If you have a belief in God and in your own importance in this world, you can better withstand all of the trials and tribulations which you will experience. None of us are exempt from hardship of some sort. It is how we handle our rough times that determines how healthy we will be, and how happy we will be. If we have faith in the goodness of God, and that there is a purpose for our lives, we can navigate the pains that come our way with more composure, acceptance, and determination to make our lives better. The Israelites who walked into the Red Sea (Exodus 14:13-22) had faith in their God and in their leaders that they would not drown. And the waters parted and they were safe. We need such faith as we enter our own forms of the Red Sea.
I'd like to read this excerpt from the book The Art of Resilience by Carol Orsborn (page 5.)
"It is our spirituality that gives definition the our personal river banks. It is how we live our values everyday that keeps us connected to our beliefs, and to our own personal integrity. If our beliefs and values do not remain strong, our lives begin to flow in negative directions, and we become demoralised, depressed , and we feel overwhelmed and lost. We drown in a sea of disillusionment and despair."
So let us focus on being healthy. Let us try to be the best we can be in every way. Picture yourself in perfect health, with enough money to be comfortable, lots of people to love, many passions and interests to enjoy, work that is fulfilling,
and a spirituality that sustains you and makes you shine. You are helping all that to happen by being here this morning, sharing this important spiritual practice of worship. In your everyday life be mindful of the other components of spirituality as well. Have positive thoughts, act lovingly, seek out the meaning of your life, be grateful for everything, be open and accepting, be of service to others, and love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, as we were instructed to do by Jesus. You will then have spiritual wellness. And your life will be transformed.
Praise the Lord.
Terry Paul Choyce
"We are in the world to wonder and be responsible for each other." - Sam Keen
Check-out:
firethegrid.com
bsuc.chebucto.org (sermons)
ckdu.ca (live and archived radio shows Sunday at 2)
spiritnovascotia.ca
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
