Ikigai: Discovering Your Purpose, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

Ikigai: Discovering Your Purpose, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Spacious Christianity, Spacious Hearts A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Genesis 12.2;Matthew 16.24.

Curious about living a more meaningful life? This Sunday, discover your ‘ikigai’, your reason for waking up! Join us in-person or online for an inspiring message about generosity, purpose, and finding joy by serving others. All are welcome!

Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend.  Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.

At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.

Keywords:

generosity, faith and trust, living for others, spiritual practice, daring adventure, relationships, meaningful life, ikigai, heart’s deep gladness, divine voice, God’s love, joy in giving, purpose, deep joy, healing and transformation, presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian. We, at First Presbyterian practice a spacious Christianity, which means, no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830 or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support you. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome. In the days and weeks ahead, where there is hate, help us to love, O God, where others curse, help us to bless where there is hurt and. Help us to heal where there is darkness. Help us to be the servants of light where there is division. Help us to unite where there is rage. Help us to be the presence of calm where the humanity of others is denied, help us to affirm the days ahead remain uncertain. What is certain is that love wins. Love always wins. And if love isn't winning, it just means the story isn't over yet, and we are the storytellers of God's love. Remind us, even now, O God, that we are made by love. One day we will return to love, and in the meantime, we are here on this earth to love. May we live in this love and be a reflection of this love today and in the days to come. Amen. Are you a more generous person today than you were 12 months ago, are you investing more of yourself in the purposes of God than you were a year ago? Are you risking more of yourself for the sake of love than you were a year ago? Are you living from a place of faith and trust in God's abundance, or are you living from a place of fear and sense of scarcity. I mean, are you living like like this, or are you living like this? Pope Francis said, rivers do not drink their own water. Trees do not eat their own fruit. The sun does not shine on itself, and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves, living for others is a rule of nature. We are born to give ourselves to help each other. Life is good when you're happy, but life is much better than what it's meant to be when others are happy because of you, research has shown that that people people are happier, physically, emotionally, spiritually healthier when they practice generosity. Scripture says we are blessed so that we will be a blessing to others. Generosity is a spiritual practice as important as reading the Bible prayer. It is through our lives that God's generous love gives itself away. You know, maybe that's why we experience so much joy when we're generous. When we are generous, we bring something of God into the world. 1000 people over the age of 90 were asked if you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently? You know, think about that. Now. The third most popular response was, interestingly, I would live less cautiously. I would take more risks. Ellen Keller said, Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. Would you describe your life, your your faith, as a daring adventure? You know, we often misinterpret the the goal of our faith as arriving at a place where there's where there's certainty, where there where there's comfort. What if the invitation of faith is actually being willing to to leave our places of comfort, to to leave behind our places of certainty, to follow Jesus in the risky way of love, the greatest risk is to not risk. You know, something in us dies the light, the light within us dims when fear and self preservation rule our lives. Now, the second most popular response to that question was, I would focus more on my relationships? Yes and focus more on loving. Well, people don't talk about what they accumulated or accomplished on their deathbed. They don't talk about their cars, their house, their dream vacation. Without exception, they talk about who they love and who loves them. And the most frequent response to the question if you could live your life over again? Over Again, what would you do differently? The most popular response was, I would spend less energy building a world for myself and more energy building a world where my grandchildren and those less fortunate than me might have a chance to flourish. In other words, I would concern myself less with with success and and more with significance. I'd focus less on the the the elusive happy life and more on what it means to live a meaningful life, I would live my life in service to others. Martin Luther King Jr said life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? It seems the wisdom acquired by the time you reach the age of 90 is that the purpose of life is a life a purpose. Jesus said it this way those trying to preserve their lives will lose a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Those willing to give their lives away for the sake of love, they will find life. What good will it do for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Now our culture actually encourages us to live like this, to live for ourselves, to live for for self preservation. The true joy in life is to live like this, generously using using our gifts, our passion, our time, our energy, our resources, for something larger than ourselves. What are the areas in the world where, where it's been researched and studied where people live the longest with a high degree of life satisfaction and well being is, is Okinawa, Japan. And in Okinawa there, there's one word that that weaves its way through one's entire lifespan, and that word is ikigai. Now ikigai is roughly translated as the reason you wake up in the morning. One woman in Okinawa, who's who's 102 years old, said her ikigai, her reason for waking in the morning is to hold her great, great granddaughter and sing to her so that she might find the song in her own heart. This woman said, when I'm holding and singing to my granddaughter, my heart bursts with joy. Isn't that beautiful? Everyone, even when you're 102 everyone, needs a reason. Needs a purpose greater than ourselves. To wake us up in the morning. You know, our alarm clocks might tell us when to get up. It doesn't tell us why to get up. We all need a why. You know, I'm often asked the question, why? I'm usually asked the question, well, how do you spell Presbyterian? But more often than not, I'm asked, what does it actually mean? What's it mean to be a Presbyterian? There are two things, first, Grace, what we fundamentally believe is the love of God revealed to us in and through Jesus, how that love is generous, that love is unconditional. And the second thing we believe is that each and every person, each and every person, is called by God to be a unique expression of that love in the world. It's not just pastors or leaders or or some other special category of people. It's. It's not just them who are called by God. Everyone, everyone is called by God. You are called by God to be a unique expression of God's love in the world. You know, our faith says there's a divine voice amidst all of the other voices that clamor for our attention, there's a divine voice that speaks deep, deep within our hearts, calling us, summoning us, calling us to a life larger than ourselves, calling us to a life big enough for our souls, calling us to joy. Frederick Buechner said, the place God calls you is where your heart's deep gladness and the world's deep needs meet. So listening for God's call involves both looking inward and looking outward. Your heart's deep gladness is not merely self interest. It's not self ambition. It's much deeper than that. There's there's so much in this world that that promises life, but honestly, most of those things just end up stealing your joy, stealing your gladness. God desires for us to experience a deep gladness. I remember visiting the Philippines and receiving the gift of a of a flower necklace. I found out later this gift was worth a week's wages for the man who gave me the gift, and in giving me the gift, can't even begin to describe it. He exuded such joy, such joy in being able to give this gift to me, a complete stranger. Now, the gift I really desired was the freedom in that man's heart that allowed him to give so freely, to give with such joy and generosity. Bikner says, to discern our hearts deep gladness, we need to listen to our lives. Got to pay attention. Where are your moments of deep joy? Where are the moments that make your make your heart sing? Where are the moments that that bring happy tears? Where are the moments when, when everything is aligned and life feels on purpose? Those moments. You know those moments when it feels like you're doing what you were meant to do. Now, those moments just might be whispering about where God is calling you. But we can't just look inward. We can't just look inward to discern God's call to us. Looking inward is only half the equation. Buechner said, if you if you come alive, when you use your gifts, you presumably met requirement a but if your gift is writing, for example, and you're using that gift to write cigarette ads, the chances are that you missed requirement B, for God's calling. After looking inward and reflecting on your heart's deep gladness, we need to look outward. We need to look at the world and all its pain and anguish and deep need, and ask, How can my heart's deep gladness touch this? How can I use use the gifts, passions and and the skills that make me feel most alive. How can I use those gifts to heal the brokenness of this world? Healing and transformation happen for ourselves and for others when our heart's deep gladness meets the world's deep pain and need. I remember visiting Jean Dillard, who who now lives with the great company of the saints and God's eternal love. But at the time I was visited her, she was feeling she was feeling really despondent because. She wasn't able to participate in church life and participate in the mission of the church in the way that she had before, because of because of her health, she was essentially bedridden. I asked her what she missed the most. I asked her what what she cared most deeply about. Jean said she missed in encouraging people who are struggling. She always she said she always felt needed and and useful when she could reach out and support other people. And she said she missed seeing the children and the youth in our church, you know, she told me, they're so important and and so much need of our support and encouragement. I told Jean that she had this, she had this real gift for helping other people feel seen and and valued and important and and she really did. So I suggested she might, she might consider writing notes of encouragement to our youth, just simply letting them know that that they're loved and that she was praying for them. Now, Jean only had the energy to write one note of encouragement a day. And when she no longer had the energy to do that, she she would dictate have someone else write the note for her, for her, she said to me, not long before she transitioned from this life to more life, she looked at me and said, I loved I loved knowing that God still had a purpose for my life. Even being stuck in this bed writing these notes has brought me so much joy, and I could see it on her face, as for the cards, as for the notes she wrote. My son got one of those cards when he was a teenager going through a particularly tough period in his life, and I remember him saying, Wow, this woman, I don't even know, she said she believed in me and that God loves me, that's pretty cool. Now, did that make a difference? I don't know. I do know that a woman's deep gladness met a teenager's deep need, and when that happens, something of God is brought into the world. Friends, God is calling you. God is calling you to move from living like this to living like this. Sure, life is good when we're happy, but we know joy when others are happy because of our generosity. May it be so. Friends, God is calling you. God is calling you to move from living like this to living like this. Life is good when we're happy, but life is so much better, and we know joy when others are happy because of our generosity. Go in the peace and the love of Christ, and May the love and the generosity that you bring into this world, May it bring peace to others. Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these broadcasts possible or support them many ways. First, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community. You can make a financial gift online@bendfp.org every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You