Circle of Joy

May 28, 2000

Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb

What do all these have in common--the arrival of a much wanted child, a graduation, a wedding, a visit to a theme park, a new discovery, obedience to Christ's commands? They all bring joy. The kind of joy Jesus offers is that which comes from being in an intimate relationship with another who understands our every thought and hope and dream, and who desires to fill us with joy. It is a kind of joy that only follows out of total commitment and obedience to and love for the other. It is a circle tha keeps joy growing in our lives. God built it in at the outset of creation.

Some of God's people recognized this. Philo understood the concept that joy is only found in God because only God is capable of perfect joy. He believed God gives joy and that its logical consequences are good health, freedom, honor, beauty, and worship. Philo refers to joy as "religious intoxication." Greek-speaking people often use Xara as a morning greeting--wishing each other joy. Those of you familiar with Greek may recognize the root word as being the same one that forms Xaris, grace.1 Grace is the source of our experience of joy.

Jesus knows that our joy will only be accomplished when we remain in union with him and the Father. We do that by obeying his commands. God knows what is best for us; God's intent is not to be a royal spoil-sport as some people see him. Following God's way in the world enables us to avoid many of the pitfalls of life and allows us to live peaceably in community with others and God, which in turn brings more joy. Jesus prayed for this to be a reality for all his disciples--the ones there in the garden with him and all of us down through the ages. Jeanie Miley wrote, "His petitions were for union with the Father, joy, protection, and usefulness. The sequence of those petitions is significant. Friendship with Christ is the first priority and is basic for the qualities that follow. Out of that intimate love relationship, joy is a logical consequence. Jesus knew, as he prayed for his disciples, that if they did indeed come into fellowship with him and exhibit the kind of full-fledged joy that he gives, there would be opposition from the world, and so he prayed not that his disciples would be protected from the world or taken out of it into a kind of insulated, holy huddle, but that they would be protected from anything that would destroy that union and joy." 2

Jesus knew that at times life in this world would be difficult, but he also offers the power and grace to face anything that comes our way. Because of this we can have joy no matter in what circumstance we find ourselves; joy, like love and thankfulness, is a choice. I remember hearing about of Corrie Ten Boom. Perhaps most of you know she was a Dutch girl whose family helped Jews during the war and so was thrown into concentration camps. One incident that was amazing to me was when she gave thanks for the fleas in her barracks in the concentration camp. She felt the Bible told her to give thanks for all things, so she began to thank God for the fleas that would bite her. It wasn t until much later that she learned that the fleas allowed for their barrack's relative freedom to study Scripture and do whatever they wanted because the German guards didn t want to get bitten by the fleas. God blessed her obedient spirit. God blesses our desire to be obedient as well. Obedience brings joy. Jesus's greatest commandment to his disciples was to love one another. We, too, are called to love one another. There is a poem attributed to Will Allen Dromgoole entitled "The Bridge Builder" that speaks of one way we can show love for others by paving the way and considering those who may come after us: "An old man, going a lone highway, came at the evening, cold and gray, to a chasm, vast, and deep and wide, through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim; the sullen stream had no fears for him;

but he turned, when safe on the other side, and built a bridge to span the tide.

Old man, said a fellow pilgrim, near, you are wasting strength with building here; your journey will end with the ending day; you never again must pass this way; you have crossed the chasm, deep and wide; why build a bridge at eventide? > The builder lifted his old gray head; Good friend, in the path I have come, he said,

there followeth after me today a youth, whose feet must pass this way. This chasm, that has been naught to me, to that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be; he too, must cross, in the twilight dim; good friend, I am building the bridge for him. " 3

Dear friends we, too, can be bridge builders. We can make the paths to the faith easier for others. We can meet their needs and be the love incarnate God wants us to be. We can feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We can listen to the hurting and offer shoulders for them to cry on. We can find those who are lost in sin and lovingly pronounce the forgiveness of God and the challenge to live as God intended with the promise of joy that accompanies that kind of living.

When we live in love like this, all of life becomes joyful. We can take whatever life throws at us and find the blessing God has for us, because we will be living completely trusting on our loving Creator to provide for our every need; worry is vanquished.

We can choose to find joy, even in life's little annoyances. Alan Cohen wrote of a time when his congregation held a potluck dinner. No one had brought dessert. The people decided that this was good because they would not have to worry about all the calories and they would be eating a healthful meal that evening. Then several weeks following they held another dinner. This time, you guessed it, everyone brought dessert. They again decided it was a perfect meal for it gave them the opportunity to celebrate--what they were celebrating no one knew exactly, but they celebrated.4

What a wonderfully joyful attitude to have! This joyful attitude comes from loving others, trusting God to provide for our needs, seeking an intimate relationship with God, and a loving acceptance of God's grand design. Those people could have made themselves miserable over having no dessert or too much thereof, but they didn t; they chose to live the joyful life God wants for us. They chose to focus on their relationship with each other which reflected their relationship with God.

That union with God should be our top priority. There is a story about a missionary who had to be gone from his family for an extended time. As he stood on the train platform saying goodbye, he picked up his youngest daughter and to soften the blow of his leaving offered her a bright shiny apple. He watched over his shoulder as he boarded the train; he saw her drop the apple and heard her calling after him, "I don t want what you give, I want you!"5 We want to come to that place in our lives where we feel that way about God--we will not look at God as a genie in a bottle who is there to grant our wishes, we will only desire to be in relationship with him. Then we will experience the joy God intends for us to have. When once we have experienced such joy it naturally flows out from our lives. It affects everything we do. It is as pervasive as the music in this graffiti on a New York subway descovered by William Carter, "You can punch my lips so I can t blow my horn, but my fingers will find a piano. You can slam the piano lid on my fingers, but you can t stop my toes from tapping. You can stomp on my foot to keep my toes from tapping, but my heart will keep on swinging in four/four time. You can even stop my heart from ticking, but the music of the saints shall never cease."6 When we have the joyful melody of God within us it is unstoppable it must come out. Joy is our strength, it is our reaction to trials, it accompanies our thanksgiving, in short it becomes our way of life. May God grant each of us the joy that comes from being in union with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who gave his life that we might live in joy and rose to celebrate his victory.

Copyright 2000 by Rev. Laurel Bobb

1 [Geoffrey Bromily, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 1299]

2 [Jeanie Miley, Time with God; Dallas:Word, 1991. p. 395]

3 [Alan Cohen, The Dragon Doesn t Live Here Anymore: Loving Freely, Living Fully. South Kortright, N.Y.: Eden Publishing Company, 1981, p. 38]

4 [Homiletics, July/August, 1998; pp. 72-73]

5 [Homiletics September/October 1998, p. 49]

6 [quoted by William Carter in "Singing a New Song: The Gospel and Jazz." Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No.1, p. 46.]

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