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112
JOY!
Joyful,
joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, God of love;
Joys
are flowing like a river since the Comforter has come;
The
Joy of the Lord is my strength;
Joy
to the world, the Lord is come …
JOY! We see and hear this word often
during the weeks before Christmas:
crocheted on pillows, large-letters
on fireplace mantles, expressions in cards, spoken within sermons, and today –
the third Sunday of Advent – proclaimed while a candle (pink usually) is lit. During
the four weeks approaching December 25, Christian worship centers upon the concepts
of HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE in preparation for the birth of Jesus, the Christ
… the Promised Messiah.
Within past GRM
Blog Posts, I have spoken much about HOPE but hardly at all about JOY. I preached on joy this morning and would like to share some thoughts on this very
topic.
If the question were asked: what is JOY OR define JOY … we may hear
“happiness” as an immediate answer. Other replies might be “excitement” OR
“thrilling”. However, none of
these were in the above song lines. I
thought, also, of other expressions such as exhilaration, delight, intense
pleasure, elation.
As I take another look
at this list, it appears to me that they describe more of a surface response to
something very positive – a special happening on a human level … nothing wrong
with that – as long as it’s a healthy situation, of course! A person wins an award, attains recognition,
experiences a particularly happy event, receives a gift … happy situations,
indeed.
But let’s dig deeper …
with JOY. The late Henri Nouwen,
theologian and priest, speaks of JOY in his book entitled, Bread for the Journey and he places this article under the title
of “Choosing Joy”. To be sure, humans do not react to the same
circumstances in the same way: a comedy may not be perceived as humorous; a
compliment could be taken as a slight; disappointing turns in a relationship
bring a sense of freedom. One response
may be devastation while another looks deeper and asks, God, where are You in this? What is Your plan for me now?
With the assurance
that God knows each one of us completely and intimately, JOY comes from our holding on to God’s
promise of His divine presence that will
accompany us, no matter what.
God knows us through
and through: God knows our bodies, our minds, our emotions, and our spirits …
and still, God loves us through and through.
God WILL NOT leave us alone – though we may feel differently. JOY then, comes to us – and becomes a living
part of us – when we openly receive the peace God is offering in
order for us to accept and respond, in trust, to God’s wisdom and divine plan
for us.
JOY is found in what
I’ll call our “heart-memories” … our
recall of times when we know that we know
that God spoke to us … when, by divine
mystery, God lifted the veil between heaven and earth - and we experienced a
glory that could never be explained in human terms. JOY reassures that the divine is real - and the
Risen Christ is present for us.
It is at those times
and circumstances when we can meet Christ in our midst – in sickness, in
health, in sorrow, in normal everyday times.
Practicing the presence of God
anytime – anywhere, ushers in the
divine – and the depth of God’s nearness, care, love, strength, and peace. IT IS JOY when we behold and recognize this!!
There is still another
aspect of JOY: I have read true-life
accounts and spoken with persons who have experienced unthinkably sad, unfair,
and/or devastating tragedy. Yet these
folks, as well, have encountered God in unexpected, empowering, and even
miraculous ways. To hear their stories and to see the expressions on their faces
of peace and joy re-presents the work
of God within human life.
If we regard JOY as a
gifted presence of the divine in our individual lives, then, is it not wondrous that the Triune God: Father/Son/Holy Spirit also experiences JOY when we do?!!
Think of this: when JOY comes to us through a recalling of a
heart-memory OR a present happening, God is sharing this same JOY with us! In other words, we are at-one with God. We are
experiencing the same JOY together!
Recall … Recognize … Reveal!
JOY comes when we
recall and recognize God;
and
JOY comes when we
experience God’s revealing God’s JOY with
us!
May you experience the
true blessings of joy: God-with-us!
Rev. Janet Jacobs,
CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery
Ministries
For
more information on problem gambling and recovery issues, visit:
