Good morning and greetings friends. The Maroni’s have been fortunate to have much to celebrate right now. Mila will turn 3 in just over a month, Krista and I celebrate 12 years of marriage tomorrow, and I finally feel like a real adult! We finally upgraded from our folding camp chairs and have patio furniture. 

As I was processing what I wanted to speak about today, I found myself thinking about what I’ve been feeling recently. By that I mean the literal emotions. Within the past week I’ve felt: 

• Ecstatic
• Defeated
• Freaked out
• Triumphant
• Anxious 
• Joyful
• Angry
• Ashamed

I’ve felt multiple versions of each of these, and while most of them have been self-induced there are a few that have been triggered or caused by other people — which leads me to the title and center of my sermon today. 

I want to encourage us to interact this morning, so a priming question for each of you is “How did someone make you feel this last week?” Please speak out if you are comfortable. 

[Jon, keep track of how many emotions are positive or negative.]

Isn’t it interesting what we’ve all shared? Now we seem to be the exception/norm based on the human experience. 

In general we tend to experience and remember negative emotions more deeply than we do positive ones. I think this makes sense because we try to avoid negativity at all cost. In my personal experience we haven’t practiced holding onto Joy the way we hold on to harder emotions. 

I don’t think that I’ve ever heard someone say to me, “How are you processing that joy? Are you handling that okay?” 

I want you to think about some of your best moments in life. For me the top two moments are Krista’s and my wedding day, and the day that we became Mila’s parents. Now I want you to think about who was with you in that moment, and did they help you feel the joy of that moment? Did they cause that joy for you?” 

I don’t want you to think about your most challenging moments, because I don’t want you to relive them. But do you think this is true, do we feel pain, sorrow, lost, sadness, shame, grief more intensely? 

Experiencing joy can lead to lower risks of cardiovascular disease, lowers your blood pressure, enables better sleep, essentially it is a super help for all physical conditions. So if you haven’t done so in a while, go to the comedy club or watch a comedy special, your body will thank you. 

There are many instances in scripture where people felt joy because of others in their world. 

Joseph, his brothers and his father reunited: 

Genesis 45 

Joseph could stand it no longer.

“Out, all of you,” he cried out to his attendants, and he was left alone with his brothers. ² Then he wept aloud. His sobs could be heard throughout the palace, and the news was quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace.

³ “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers couldn’t say a word, they were so stunned with surprise.

⁴ “Come over here,” he said. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt! ⁵ But don’t be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it! He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. ⁶ These two years of famine will grow to seven, during which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷ God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive, so that you will become a great nation. ⁸ Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh, and manager of this entire nation, ruler of all the land of Egypt.

⁹ “Hurry, return to my father and tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says, “God has made me chief of all the land of Egypt. Come down to me right away! ¹⁰ You shall live in the land of Goshen so that you can be near me with all your children, your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that you have. ^11-12 I will take care of you there”’ (you men are witnesses of my promise, and my brother Benjamin has heard me say it) ‘“for there are still five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise you will come to utter poverty along with all your household.”’ ¹³ Tell our father about all my power here in Egypt, and how everyone obeys me. And bring him to me quickly.”

¹⁴ Then, weeping with joy, he embraced Benjamin and Benjamin began weeping too. ¹⁵ And he did the same with each of his brothers, who finally found their tongues! ¹⁶ The news soon reached Pharaoh—“Joseph’s brothers have come”; and Pharaoh was very happy to hear it, as were his officials.

Sarah giving birth to her son: 

Genesis 21 ^1-2 

Then God did as he had promised, and Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a baby son in his old age, at the time God had said; ³ and Abraham named him Isaac (meaning “Laughter!”). ^4-5 Eight days after he was born, Abraham circumcised him, as God required. (Abraham was 100 years old at that time.)

⁶ And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this shall rejoice with me. ⁷ For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a child in his old age!”

Jesus and the Woman caught in adultery: 

John 8 

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, ² but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. ³ As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

⁴ “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

⁶ They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. ⁷ They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” ⁸ Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

⁹ When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

¹¹ “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

The question that I want us to wrestle with this morning is “how are we making others in our sphere of influence feel? How should we try to make them feel? Do we realise the power we have over how others feel?” 

People will not remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. I challenge you to use that power responsibly. 

As we move into our time of open worship, I do have a few queries:

QUERIES

How can I use my influence to bring joy to others?

Who has caused me to feel joy, how did they do it and what can I learn from them? 

This message was given to Spokane Friends Meeting by Jon Maroni on July 2, 2023.