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Written by Jeanne Knepper
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Sunday, 05 August 2007 |
THE WAY OF JOY
Psalm 107; Colossians 3:1-14; Luke12:13-21
August 1, 2004
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” Isn’t that the goal, so often, of our work, to get to the point where we can say to our souls, to our vulnerable and frightened parts, “Okay, there is enough on hand. Relax. Take it easy. Enjoy life. You’ve got it made.” Sometimes, when we work, or pay bills, or maybe on a morning when we’d rather sleep a while longer, doesn’t a part of us long to hear those words? Don’t they seem like the essence of happiness?
I was surprised to be reminded that the phrase, “eat, drink, and be merry” is Biblical. It sounds more like something out of Shakespeare, advice to enjoy life, to let the world be the world and see to our own happiness. But, here it is, the goal of the land-owner who finally had so much produce that his barns, ample enough to hold an ordinary year’s produce, that his barns just weren’t sufficient. Sort of like feeling, “I’ve gotten such a raise that my old wallet won’t hold it. Guess I’ll have to buy a new one, to show myself that I’ve finally got it made. Now I can be happy. Now I can enjoy life. Now, I can rejoice. Now, when I have it all laid out, now I can find joy.”
But of course, Jesus’ point in the parable was exactly that this was not the pathway to joy. No surprise there, maybe. But if not a barnful of goods, if not a bankful of accounts and stocks, if not food and drink and merriment—then what is it that brings joy?
Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Lots of things can make me happy: French vanilla ice cream on fresh picked blackberries; hearing my daughter’s voice on the phone; seeing the bright blue summer sky; listening to my cat purr. And just as many things can make me unhappy: being treated rudely; not getting enough sleep; pulling a muscle; having to do something that I don’t really want to do. Happiness is transitory; joy is not. Happiness is frosting on the cake; joy is the bread of life. Happiness, or unhappiness, can be set off by things outside of ourselves, but joy is the result of character and choices.
In this week just passed, I spent some time in prayer with Barbara Sawyer. She and Carolyn are living in difficult times, and many of us are holding them in our hearts and prayers. As I settled into a time of focused, silent prayer, I found myself led in a way that I hadn’t expected, led to a willingness to pray that they would experience joy they couldn’t have expected, a growing into the realm of God, a deep peace that could make even hard times a blessing. Could this be possible?
When Etty Hillesum was imprisoned in Auschwitz, a Nazi work and extermination camp for Jews during World War Two, she wrote in her diary:
You have made me so rich, oh God, please let me share out Your beauty with open hands. My life has become an uninterrupted dialog with You, oh God, one great dialog. Sometimes when I stand in some corner of the camp, my feet planted on Your earth, my eyes raised toward Your Heaven, tears sometimes run down my face, tears of deep emotion and gratitude. At night , too, when I lie in bed and rest in You, oh God, tears of gratitude run down my face, and that is my prayer.
I cannot imagine being happy in a concentration camp, but I can imagine being joyful, being immersed, even there, in a quiet, sure presence of God that holds me secure in all circumstances. I haven’t been in a concentration camp, but I have been in sorrow, in grief, in the pain of betrayal and fear and loss. And I have known, even there, that there is a God who loves, who shares the pain, who is present and loves, loves me, loves you, loves all of us, even when we goof, even when we go astray, even when we feel hopeless. When I couldn’t hope in the hard circumstances of my life, I could still hope in a God who knows me and stays with me through everything. And that, I think, is the first and most foundational base of steady joy, to know that there is a God who surrounds us in love and care at every moment; to know that we are loved, that we belong.
And then, I think, there are four more aspects of life, ways of being, choices we make, that contribute to joy. One is to belong to someone or something beyond ourselves—to God, to a family, to a beloved one, to a church, to a community, to be committed to something beyond ourselves. We seek and want a place to be known and loved, to be accepted, as we are, a place where we can help others to feel accepted as well. Some of us have known that acceptance all of our lives. Some of us have struggled through families and neighborhoods that were cruel and never showed us love. Regardless, we seek a place, a people, who will dare to know and love us. And when we have it, oh, that is a source of joy. And when we can become that place for others, we are creating God’s realm, here on earth.
A second aspect of joy, I believe, is to cultivate a sense of meaning to our lives, a sense generally enhanced by service to others, by kindness, by mercy, by works of love and justice. Reaching out to others makes us more joyful. Picking up litter; tending a garden; feeding the hungry; serving on a neighborhood committee; taking a role of leadership or service in a church, participating in a discipline of praying for others: these are all ways to joy, for they take us outside of preoccupation with ourselves even as they give our lives greater meaning.
Immersing ourselves, however we can, in beauty is another component of joy. We will experience beauty in different ways, one of us prizing a flute solo while another loves percussion; one seeking quiet streams while another longs for mountain heights; but the role of beauty in bringing joy is unmistakable. I believe that the ability to perceive and enjoy beauty is God’s signature, written indelibly on our souls, claiming us for all goodness, excellence and wonder. To cultivate the ability to see beauty, wherever we are, is to make ourselves open to God’s presence, everywhere, to make ourselves open to joy.
Finally, I think gratitude is essential for joy. The very act of expressing gratitude brings blessings back to mind, makes us aware that there is so much to be grateful for, helps us to see beyond whatever difficult part of life is right before us. And to express gratitude to God, as a matter of habit and practice, reminds us, daily, that we are not alone, that God is present in our lives, that we are beloved.
Knowing God’s love. Belonging, service, beauty and gratitude. These are the components of joy; these are the foundation of a life that can be good, fulfilling, joyful, whatever our circumstances. And knowing this, in our hearts, in our lives, can lift us off the treadmill of working for the full barns, laboring for the full bank account, postponing joy until some future time that may never come about.
Today, we celebrate our common feast, our commemoration of the reality that God’s love brings us to one table as one people. This is a radical, a hopeful, a joyful act, a ritual commitment to join ourselves with God’s realm, in spirit and in truth. Let us sing out, then, God’s welcome to all of God’s beloved people, everyone. May we, may we all, be joyful. Amen.
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