“The Search for Happiness” – A Great Place To Start?

Looking for where we find happiness as an inspiration for creating a new inclusive church for a new day? Worth a try, I think.

I was originally inspired in this quest by an article in the November 2017 issue of National Geographic entitled “The World’s Happiest Places”.  Not to keep you in suspense, they are: Costa Rica, Denmark, and Singapore. The places themselves are important; immigrants to these countries who arrived in deep distress carrying their suffering with them, soon reported the same happiness level of those who were native-born. Article author, Dan Buettner concluded: “Seemingly their (new) environment alone accounted for their increased happiness.”

Recreating aspects of those environments in our own church, therefore, I thought might bring the freshness and inspiration we need as we grapple with the great questions of life, death, meaning, and God’s will.

Costa Rican society stresses and promotes “feeling joy every day, health, faith, family” by helping people make daily choices that favor time with friends they can count on, a strong faith life, and emphasis on family and community involvement. Interestingly, unlike many Latin American and other countries across the world, Costa Rica historically elected teachers and educators as leaders, those who were not bound to, or oppressed by, “corrosive colonial institutions” and, thus, led the population into an upward spiral of well-being and a preservation of their true heritage. What if our church hierarchy shed its oppressive colonialism and smothering entrenchment? What if our church, while acknowledging and comforting the suffering, did more to promulgate community involvement, joy, and well-being?

Denmark has placed its civic emphasis on “trust and community”.  The history of this is enlightening: “Denmark’s societal evolution may be traced to the Second Schleswig War, in 1864,…when Denmark lost a quarter of its territory to Prussia.” The author quotes Danish sociologist, Peter Gundelach: ‘With that defeat, we lost our ambition to be a world superpower. It humbled us. Our government began to strengthen our national identity and build inward instead’” This focus has led the country to ensure its residents’ lifetime health and well-being needs were covered, which “enable people to live a purposeful life better than anywhere else.” Over 40% of the population volunteers for civic groups, recognizing that helping others helps themselves.  What if our church lost its ambition to be a superpower dictating to its subjects and instead became a champion and facilitator of our living our lives as true children of God, with all of us, all genders, leading the way? What if our church humbled itself and focused on both inward enrichment and outward service, on enhancing purpose-filled lives?

Singapore’s emphasis is on finding happiness through pride of accomplishment and in the ancient Asian values of “harmony, respect, and hard work”. Interestingly, the country is dedicated to rewarding all those who try to work, at no matter how mean a job, with living wages, subsidized healthcare, and housing. Although they may strive for material success and work long hours, Singapore’s people are also highly philanthropic; they are committed to respecting others and themselves and have created a culture in which people take pride in their values, in achieving their goals, and in having a sense of belonging. What if our church paid more attention to its values in an ever-evolving world? What if it regained our respect and helped us to be more respected as we help it become more respectful? What if it fostered a new sense of belonging, of justifiable pride in its mission and its whole community, including women and others who are marginalized by ancient traditions and lack of foresight?

We don’t need to live in Costa Rica, Denmark, or Singapore to achieve our own happiness, fulfillment, joy, purpose, pride of accomplishment, supportive, caring, sustainable community.  I would argue we don’t need to flee to other denominations, religions, or secular options either; we probably do not even need to start our own small outcrops of church, although that has its own joys and rewards. We really may have all we need right here in our own church if we can pressure, cajole, protest, persist long enough to bring it all to the forefront.