From the Live Service conducted on March 13, 2015
Let us first take some time to meditate, to center ourselves, to reflect on the topic “Hope When You Feel Hopeless”
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May the Force be with you all
This sermon has come to me on the heels of a rather depressing few weeks. It has been depressing to see that despite all of my hard work and my keen desire to serve others, wherever and whenever I try to open the door I have been unsuccessful. It has made me wonder if the world has been right about me all along. If perhaps I am a helpless, hopeless case who should just accept that and let the world “care” or “not care” for me. These are the thoughts I was thinking in the middle of the night.
But then, I felt something from the Force. Little by little this came to me. A lesson for me a sermon for you only because I know I am not the first to feel hopeless and helpless. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last.
This is what the Force has revealed to me.
To feel hopeless, to feel despair is an average thing, common to all people, but you must not allow it to swallow you up, to make you forget yourself. Because you really are someone of value. You are more than the sum of your success and your failures. You are the bonds you create with others as well. But if we want to talk about successes, then let’s look back a bit, shall we? Now, I’m not talking about big successes, although those are important too; I’m talking about the little things. EVERY time you got back up when the people of the world, when the circumstances of the world, knocked you down. To fall 20 times is indeed saddening, but you get up 21 and it’s no longer sad, it’s a success; and those times you fell aren’t as important anymore. And don’t forget also, that every big success in life is made up of little successes day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, step by step.
Remember that you have power in your corner. The feeling of despair is made exponentially worse when one feels all alone, when one forgets they have the support surrounding them that they need to make it through the rough patch and come out on the other side. We Jedi are fortunate in two ways: we have the Force which guides us and reveals things to us and we have each other here at the Temple. As I said earlier, the Force revealed the subject and body of this sermon to me, but I wouldn’t have received it if I were closed off.
Furthermore, the Temple presents an elaborate support structure with listeners and lessons. There are opportunities to vent your frustrations to a sympathetic ear, and you may find that in the midst of your venting there is some solution or a lesson or two. Most important, don’t forget that the Temple is here for you in your dark moments as well as your light. Resist the temptation to hide away, to fight and tame the dragon alone, because you are not alone. We are on a journey together.
To conclude, to get hope when your feel hopeless, you need only remember that the feeling of despair is average, that you are more than the sum of your successes and failures, that you have come through this before, that life’s big successes come step by step and that the Force and the Temple are your allies.
Thank you very much for your time. May the Force be with you.
And now, let us recite the Creed
I am a Jedi, an instrument of peace;
Where there is hatred I shall bring love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
I am a Jedi.
I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The Force is with me always, for I am a Jedi.
