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Discover Advent in Everyday Moments: Joy
Episode 25 • 12th December 2023 • Listening for Clues • On the Journey with Jon & Lauren
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Discover Advent in Everyday Moments: Joy

In this video, we interact with some inspirational figures - Dr. Sharon Runge, Executive Director of Kenya Connect (USA), Reverend Henrietta Wiley, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson, Maryland, and Markiesha E. Wilson, a human capital consultant. Dr. Runge speaks about the work her organization is doing in rural Kenya and her personal journey of embracing opportunities. Reverend Henrietta Wiley, shares her view on joy as a divine gift and expresses how her priesthood opened a 'floodgate of joy' for her. Finally, Markiesha E. Wilson emphasizes the role of faith in overcoming life's challenges, her experiences navigating the corporate world, and the journey of writing her book, 'In the Climb, Eight Audacious Actions to Overcome Life and Climb the Corporate Ladder with Joy.' Join us to learn from these women as they recount their experiences and share their insights.

00:15 Introduction to Dr. Sharon Runge and Kenya Connect

01:06 Personal Experiences and Impact of Kenya Connect

01:58 Cultural Exchange and Connection with Kenya

04:56 Introduction to Reverend Henrietta Wiley

05:42 Joy and Spirituality in Henrietta's Life

11:45 Introduction to Markiesha E. Wilson

12:57 Faith and Spirituality in Markiesha's Life

13:54 Markiesha's TED Talk Experience and Her Faith

15:27 Markiesha's Book and Final Thoughts

Listening for Clues is pleased to present our new series, "Good News!" featuring weekly conversations with people who are making a difference, large or small. We want everyone to know what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how. So, our listeners and viewers can experience the good news and go out and make a difference themselves.

Listening for Clues invites you into conversations that discover clues, rather than solutions to life’s problems. Join the journey with Jon Shematek and Lauren Welch, Episcopal deacons, as we explore whatever lies ahead. Check our website Listening for Clues.

© 2023 Listening for Clues

Transcripts

Jon:

Our special guest today is Dr.

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Sharon Runge, who is the Executive

Director of Kenya Connect (USA), a

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nonprofit that's working in rural

Kenya with the mission of enriching

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and engaging students and teachers with

21st century skills through an array of

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programs at 63 partner government schools.

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In this position, Sharon works with

Kenyan-led staff to develop partnerships,

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raise funds, develop and expand programs

and lead volunteer trips, which sounds

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interesting to me right off the bat.

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Yeah, I was gonna ask you

what this has meant to you

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personally, but you just answered

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Sharon: Yeah, yeah.

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I, I mean, it's been it's been

a, such a gift to me and, I'm so

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grateful that Tim invited me to

go to Kenya and that I said yes.

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Sometimes when I reflect back on

my experience with Kenya Connect,

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I think sometimes in our life

we're offered opportunities and

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sometimes we say no just because we

think it's too much of an obstacle.

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Like, you know, will the

kids be okay without me?

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Mike's working full-time.

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Will he manage, is this really

the prudent thing to do?

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And for some reason, my

inner voice said, go.

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And, my husband was incredibly supportive

and, and I went and, I never would've

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guessed at that point that this is

where I was gonna be and, and really

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become, Maybe the most important life

work I I've done besides raising kids.

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It's just been such a

dream for me personally.

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When I've brought volunteers

over, they feel like they're part

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of, the Kenya Connect family.

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I mean, when we go there we actually

get Kamba names and Kamba is one

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of the ethnic groups in Kenya.

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And the first visit when Reverend

Rosemary and I were there, we went

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to visit our partner school, . And

there were 300 children there.

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And.

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We're being introduced and all

these children are, looking at us.

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You know, sometimes when people

from the US come, it's the first

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time they've ever seen an American.

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And so we're, we're standing in

front of the school and James

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Musyoko says to the children,

well, what should their Kamba be?

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And suddenly, , there was this

murmur with the children and

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they were all like chattering

and suddenly a name comes forth.

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And I was given the name.

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Mutanu which means joyful.

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I think the whole time I was in

Kenya, I never stopped smiling.

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Every volunteer that's come over to,

Kenya Connect gets a Kamba name, . It's

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special to bestowed something like that.

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. Jon: today we have a special guest,

the Reverend Henrietta Wiley.

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Henrietta is Rector of Trinity

Episcopal Church in Towson, Maryland.

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She is brilliant, which we all agree with.

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Funny, meaning she has

a great sense of humor.

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I hope that's what funny means here.

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Also in your bio, Henrietta,

you said you were fat.

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Pink haired, which I do see.

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Middle aged, you are a lesbian

priest with the world's best

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spouse, whom we also love, Mary.

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. . And two madcap cats who may

make an appearance at any

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point during this presentation.

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Having known you for a number of years

and having literally experienced very

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profound and deep Joy, particularly

when we were in our cathedral years

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at the Cathedral of the Incarnation,

when we were at the altar together.

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You you, to me, have always

been just wrapped in joy and

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the personification of joy.

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And I'm just wondering if you have

a word to say to those of us like

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me, not Lauren so much, but me, who

tend to take myself so seriously.

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And want to know what do you

have a secret about that?

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How do we

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Rhetta: what, yeah.

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All right, so this shocks me to hear,

Jon, because as I recall, we needed to

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be separated at the cathedral because

we made each other laugh so much.

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That's my memory.

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Maybe I made that up.

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Jon: No, you're right.

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You're right.

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Rhetta: That's true.

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I remembered.

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So, I consider joy to be a gift of the

Holy Spirit, and and it is rooted to me

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in a sense, an unshakable sense of God's

love, an unshakable sense of God's love.

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And that As Kingsley said we have to

love people, but we get to love people.

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And when we do it well, it's awesome.

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It's so much fun.

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It's so much fun.

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And and so it springs from a sense of

being loved and from a sense of gratitude

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a habit of gratitude maybe which is

which may be a little bit trite at this

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point, but when you realize how precious

and wonderful everything is around you,

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even when things are pretty crummy,

there's always something beautiful.

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There's always someone who says good

morning to you at the right time, but

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most importantly, there is always Jesus.

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It is much, much easier

for me to access that joy.

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I would say it's also connected to

my vocation, my sense of vocation,

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which is as some of you may know,

I, I started out as an academic.

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And my academic field of

study was the history and

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literature of the Hebrew Bible.

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And I loved that, and I

continue to love that.

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But I felt hobbled.

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And what I mean by that is that

I was hopping around on one

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leg, and I was missing a leg.

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And I didn't know what it

was, and it was sacrament.

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And once I started practicing my

priestly ministry, it opened a

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floodgate of joy for me, because

worship is so real and powerful for me.

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Our forms, which can be stodgy, but

don't have to be our forms for me

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are Exquisite channels of glory and

love and power and presence of God.

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And so it makes it much easier for

me to access joy, which I think

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we all have the capacity for.

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But remembering how loved we are,

being grateful for that and allowing

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ourselves the vulnerability.

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Joy is a very vulnerable

emotion, actually.

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So allowing ourselves to be

vulnerable enough to experience

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joy is tremendously rewarding.

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Jon: today we have a very special

guest with us, Markiesha E.

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Wilson.

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Markiesha is a human capital consultant,

a leadership coach, An author and

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an expert in change management.

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In her bio that she provided for a TEDx

talk that she's given about forgiveness

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as a powerful tool in the workplace,

this is how she describes herself.

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Being an authentic leader is difficult and

especially difficult if you are a woman.

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Even more challenging if

you are a woman of color.

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She is a human capital professional

with over 15 years of proven experience

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in strategizing and partnering

with leadership teams to design

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and empower dynamic workforces.

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Markiesha is a leadership coach with

a unique ability to ignite growth.

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She is an expert level facilitator and

designer of highly rated interactive

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leadership and communications

courses for adult learners in the

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defense and financial industries.

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So, you know, the other thing I'm kind

of curious about, Markiesha, is you're

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totally unashamed about your faith.

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You talk about it in your

book, you have quotations from

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scriptures, you paraphrase.

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You have an NIV according to Markiesha,

something like that at the end of

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it I know your faith has sustained

you through so many difficult times.

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How else has your life experience

or your faith as a Christian woman,

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kind of informed your spiritual life?

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Yeah,

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Markiesha: it, it is.

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It is my, my Christian walk

is my whole hope for tomorrow.

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It's what gets me through.

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It's my source of strength.

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It is my blueprint for living.

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It is my source of joy.

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It is everything to me, right?

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If I can just tell you one little thing

about the TED Talk, when there's a rule,

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you can't bring up God in a TED Talk.

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Wow.

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And they said that is one of the

many reasons why TED Talks don't

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get published because you can do

one and they don't publish them all.

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I was, I felt blessed that they published

mine, but you cannot mention God.

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And at first I was like,

I don't want to do it.

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How am I going to not say God?

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And I heard God say, listen,

you gotta get the word out.

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This is, these are ways to get the

word out without getting the word out.

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Right?

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People will watch mine

and then they'll find me.

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And then they'll find what would sustain

me through my childhood, through trauma,

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through the death of two parents.

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You'll find that it was

God that enabled me to.

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become successful when I shouldn't have

been, when I graduated college early.

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You'll find it was God that enabled

me to be the only Black woman

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in these spaces and be respected

and make it through disrespect.

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You'll find that it was God in

everything that I have done.

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So I took the opportunity to do the

TED Talk to speak without saying

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God, but He's everything to me.

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I, you know, when he says I

am, he was talking Markiesha.

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I am whatever Markiesha needs.

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That was just for me, y'all.

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Jon: Thanks so much I do want to just kind

of and I have it right here, Markiesha.

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This is your book.

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Oh, that looks familiar!

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It looks familiar.

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It's called, it's got a very long

subtitle, like most books have these days.

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It's called, In the Climb, Eight

Audacious Actions to Overcome Life and

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Climb the Corporate Ladder with Joy.

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There's that joy message again

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