First Presbyterian Church of Albion Sermon for June 9, 2013 “Rejoice Always” Cultivating the Spirituality of Joy David F. Habicht After what seems like a very long winter, we’re finally coming into summertime. Kids are getting out of school, the weather has gotten nice (May and early June in Michigan is just gorgeous) and everybody’s looking forward to having some fun this summer. So I figured I’d keep it light. I didn’t want to make the congregation work too hard. So, preach on joy! I mean, how much trouble can you get into with that? Turns out . . . quite a lot. Because in the Bible, joy is serious business. Take that story from Genesis. This is the story of God’s covenant with Abraham and the establishment of Israel as God’s chosen people. And there seem to be a whole lot of laughing going on. Abraham, age ninety-nine, receives a series of divine promises. Among them, that his almost-as-elderly wife, Sarah, will bear a child. Not surprisingly, Abraham laughs. Big laugh. The Bible says Abraham fell on his face laughing. Later, three strangers visit the elderly couple. After Abraham offers them a meal (which is important to the story), Sarah overhears one of the strangers tell Abraham; again, that Sarah will soon conceive a child. And this time it’s Sarah who laughs. Probably louder than Abraham did. And the Lord says, “What you laughing at?” (Clearly, I’m paraphrasing now) “I didn’t laugh!” “You did too.” Every once in a while in the study of Scripture . . . the veil parts. And instead of Biblical archetypes inhabiting these stories that we’ve heard countless times, we can see people. And this is such a wonderfully human moment. I didn’t laugh--- you did too! Of course Sara laughed! Just as Abraham had laughed. This is a natural reaction to the Lord’s presence, and to the receiving of his gifts! And these messengers, these strangers . . . they were invited in, and given food. So in this story we have joy . . . and hospitality, connected. Because joy is welcoming! Have you had conversations in this church about being welcoming? (And this is a trick question, because I know you have.) Well when you talk about being welcoming, you should also be talking about being joyful. Because joy is welcoming. And we, as members of the Body, are called to be welcoming. The Great Commission is nothing more than our being instructed to welcome everyone whom we encounter . . . into the community of Christ. And what you welcome them to, is what you welcome them with! The joy of life in Christ. So, joy is serious business. Joy attracts, joy welcomes--- joy evangelizes. And you know what? We, the church, are not very good at this whole joy thing. We’re not very good at exploring and experiencing, and sharing with each other and with the world, the joy to which we are entitled as children of the covenant and heirs to God’s kingdom. We should be happier about this than we are. And our joy . . . should show. Please don’t mistake me. I’m not talking about going around like some kind of goofy, grinning Pollyanna. Life in this world can bring almost unbearable pain. We are beset with sin and sickness and death. Sometimes terrible things happen. Our anger and grief are understandable, normal and even healthy reactions to the very, very difficult and painful events and circumstances that visit almost every life. But anger and grief are emotional responses to things of this world. Joy, on the other hand, is a fundamental disposition toward God. In Galatians Paul includes joy in his list of “fruits of the Spirit” that is, gifts from God given to build us up. What characterizes Christian joy lies in its ability to exist even in the midst of our suffering. This kind of joy is happiness in God, which is not an emotion so much as an article of faith. So how do we find this joy? Where do we look for it? Now this is a little like the story of the Sunday school teacher who asks, “What’s brown, has a bushy tail and runs around in the trees?” and the little kid who answers, “Oh, oh! Jesus!” But when we think about joy, and its attendant characteristics such as happiness, humor and laughter--- even things like silliness and whimsy, the life and ministry of Christ is not the first thing that comes to mind, is it? And should be. But it’s not. Why is that? The historical Jesus was clearly a clever and articulate communicator. His parables, in particular, show us this. But there are very few stories in the New Testament that anyone would think of as being knee-slappers. Why not? Look, you’ve got these guys--- the gospel writers. And while their circumstances and motivations vary a little, for the most part they are recording stories about Jesus in order to attract people to his message. You would think that they would want to portray him as an appealing figure--- a man with a sense of humor. But that’s not what comes across at all. Why? Rabbi Daniel Polish in his book Bringing the Psalms to Life writes, “There are many parts of the Hebrew Scriptures that are intentionally humorous.” (!) Now, we don’t think of the Old Testament as much of a joke book. Nonetheless, we’re told that parts of it were meant to be laugh-out-loud funny. And this makes sense because all these old stories were part of an oral tradition--- passed down from generation to generation in order to preserve the Hebrew people’s history and identity. And one of the ways to make story memorable is to make it funny! Now, Jesus was a pious, first-century Jew. He grew up with these stories. And we know from reading the gospels that the Hebrew Scriptures is where he got a lot of his stuff. When we read the Bible . . . we’re hindered by a historical and cultural disconnect. Amy-Jill Levine is a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt and her particular interest is the Jewishness of Jesus. The church has often misunderstood this aspect of Jesus’ life. And one of the things Professor Levine says is that what was seen as funny in first century Palestine often doesn’t come across that way to us. So for the people living in Jesus’ time, the setup or the premise of many of his sayings would have been much more enjoyable--- funnier. The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a plant so big that birds built their nests in it . . . would have been funny. The illustration of not being able to see the speck in another’s eye for the plank in your own . . . this would have been received as humorously over-the-top--- purest hyperbole. The parables drip with intentional incongruity. The poor are rich and the rich are poor. The blind see. The sighted are blind. This is the stuff of comedy! And the humor becomes richer--- the punch line comes when it dawns on the audience that Jesus’ insights are true. Putting a lamp under a basket, building a house on sand, and giving a child a stone instead of bread . . . these are mental sight gags. Daniel Harrington is a Jesuit priest and a professor of New Testament at Boston College. He writes, “Humor is very culture-bound. The gospels have a lot of controversy stories and honor-shame situations. I suspect that Jesus’ listeners found these stories hilarious, whereas we, in a very social setting, miss the point entirely.” So when we encounter the parables, we nod sagely (hmm). But when Jesus originally told these stories, they were often met with belly laughs. Jesus was a complicated guy. There were many aspects to his personality. And what I’m trying to do here is to get you to add a new dimension to your personal Christology. Yes, Jesus was a wise teacher, but part of that . . . was that he liked to tell funny stories. And he was good at it. Jesus made jokes! Jesus . . . was a raconteur! The Scriptural witness makes it pretty clear that he liked parties. He liked to be around little children. This sounds to me like a guy who liked to laugh. In fact the non-canonical gospels, those not officially accepted by the early church, refer to times when Jesus laughed. Now, there are actually some reasons why the early church might have wanted to downplay or even suppress stories about Jesus that were humorous. But we don’t need to go into that today. My point is simply that humor . . . is a natural byproduct of joy. And Jesus had joy. The kind of joy that I referred to earlier as happiness in God. And (drumroll please, because this is the whole point of my message today) Jesus wants YOU to have the same kind of joy that he had when he walked among us. It’s why he came! John 10:10. Jesus says, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” My friends, there is no abundant life without joy. An abundant life is filled with love and laughter. An abundant life, the kind of life that the ministry of Jesus Christ was meant to bring to you . . . is a joyful life. • So does this mean that we’re supposed to be happy all the time? No. Sadness is a natural response to pain, suffering and tragedy. Its human, natural, and in a strange way even desirable; your sadness in response to a tragic event shows that you are emotionally alive. If you weren’t sad from time to time, you would be something less than human. Earlier I talked about the reasons I believe that Jesus liked to laugh and tell jokes. But the NT tells us outright, without having to read between the lines, that when Lazarus died, Jesus wept. • The idea that you have to be cheerful all the time in order to prove God’s goodness is ridiculous. Unfortunately, this is a pretty common idea. One of its most pernicious forms is the so-called “prosperity gospel,” which claims that if you’re a true believer you’ll have a wonderful life. You’ll be professionally successful and have lots of money and if you ever get sick you can just heal yourself with prayer because this is Christ’s intention for all his faithful followers. I vehemently oppose this false “gospel.” It’s demonstrably untrue. Many of the world’s faithful, Godly people, are poor and suffer illness. The apostles had hard lives. Paul’s tent-making ministry didn’t make him rich. And he was sick, to boot! We too, suffer illness. We encounter tragedy. And it makes us sad. And what we are called to do as members of the Body is to share that sadness with God and with each other, just as we are to share our joy. Sharing your joy. Does that mean laughing and making jokes all the time? No. In fact, some people can’t tell jokes. Have you ever noticed that? In my family, my brother is famous for not being able to tell a joke. One night my father told a joke at the dinner table. And this will be the only joke in the whole sermon. I promise. (tell the story) So, my brother can’t tell a joke. But he still gets to laugh at other people’s jokes. He’s a joyful person, because he enjoys others. And, he lets others enjoy him! He doesn’t mind that I tell that story about him. He thinks it’s funny too. You don’t have to be a comedian to bring joy to others. Just enjoy them, and let them enjoy you. In Matthew 13, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a bit of yeast that a woman kneads into her bread. It only takes a little . . . to make the bread rise. Where joy is lacking, you can be the leaven. The love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. As a believer, your presence in any situation, whether happy or sad, can make grace manifest. Jesus wants you . . . to plant seeds of joy. Okay, fine. So Jesus wants us to be joyful. What does that really mean? How are we supposed to actually “live into” that reality? What does a joyful life look like? Well, let’s go back into the Scriptures. Who knows what the oldest book in the NT is? The majority of scholars think that Paul, while in Athens or Corinth around the year 50, wrote a letter to the church that he had established at Thessalonica. This would make 1 Thessalonians the earliest of the writings that eventually came to comprise the NT. Written before Acts, which describes events in the early church--- written before Mark, which was probably the first Gospel, 1st Thessalonians is, chronologically, the first book in the NT. And unlike some of Paul’s other letters, in 1 Thess Paul isn’t responding to some heated theological debate within the Christian community. Nor is he scolding the church for some litany wrong-headed thinking or bad behavior. Mainly, he’s just encouraging the Thessalonians to lead holy lives. The entire letter belies Paul’s reputation as ill-tempered, pontificating prude. The tone is warm and pastoral throughout. And near the end of the letter, Paul makes this remarkable statement, offering a three-part prescription for the Christian life. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; (and this part’s important) for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (!) You could spend the rest of your life meditating on just that one sentence. Or just on the words “rejoice always.” What’s that mean? Can you even do that? Is that even possible? We know what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that you cannot be sad about suffering, or angry about injustice, or that you should be indifferent to tragedy. Not only do many of us face very difficult circumstances in our own lives, but the headlines bring us wave after wave of bad news. As I said before, we live I a world . . . where terrible things sometimes happen. To confront evil with joyfulness . . . feels like complicity or cowardice. But in the time of Paul, life in the Thessalonian church was no picnic either. Thessalonica was in Macedonia. Macedonia was a province of Rome. Under the heel of the empire, many Thessalonians would have been living as slaves. Of those living free, most would have been illiterate and poor--- unable to obtain what we would consider the most basic necessities of life. Illness and early death would have been commonplace. And Paul tells them to rejoice always. I think the point is that, from that time until this, people who seek to follow Christ have found ample cause for unhappiness. But Joy . . . is deeper than happiness. Joy is a virtue that finds its foundation in the knowledge that we are loved by God. For Christians, the knowledge that Jesus has been raised from the dead is cause for rejoicing . . . even in the darkest times. Suffering . . . brings sadness. Of course it does. But suffering is not the last word--- in Jesus’ life or in ours! And this knowledge can lead to a deep and abiding joy. In the midst of tragedy, we should be honest about our sadness and share it with God, knowing that God can lead us to that deep-down joy that can carry us through those difficult, and sometimes unbearable times. And, “rejoice always” doesn’t mean that we should just “look on the bright side” or “keep our sunny side up” when faced with injustice. In fact, the anger that you feel over an unjust situation may be a sign that God is moving you to address that injustice. God may be speaking to you through your outrage. Allow me to offer a caveat. The Spirit of God is more likely to speak through your anger when the injustice . . . is being visited on someone else. Beware of the anger of self-righteousness. It may . . . merely be a response to wounded pride. Whereas anger in the defense of another brings the joy of knowing that God is working through the compassion that you feel. God desires a just world, and joy can come from heeding his voice, and working as a member of the Body, to bring about justice. So, back to our text. Many modern believers think of Paul not as the apostle of joy, but rather as the purveyor of gloom--- a cranky moralizer. But here he is in the earliest letter of his that we have, encouraging us and inviting us into a joyful life in Christ. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances . . .” Paul ties these three together . . . as the way for us to live. These three things--- joy, prayer and gratitude . . . are all connected. Because joy has its roots in gratitude. When we bring to mind the things, the life events, and the people whom we’re grateful for, we feel joy. And prayer supports this. An attitude toward life that is prayerfully attentive . . . makes it easier for us to be aware of our blessings. And then, completing the circle, joy . . . moves us to gratitude. Joy can also move us to prayer--- sharing with God . . . our joy in life. Paul felt that some of the churches he founded from time to time required reprimanding in stern language. But to the Christians at Thessalonica and to us, here, this morning . . . he commends three things. And the first of these is joy. AMEN God of love and laughter, make us joyous! Bless us with the healing and forgiving power of laughter. Help us delight in each wonder and surprise that you bring us. Preserve us from sanctimonious solemnity and morose moralizing, and deliver us from the vanity of regret. Take away our perverse insistence in making mountains out of molehills. Help us to bear our personal foibles with patience, and replace our self-importance with humility and humor. Remind us that it is your love . . . that gives our lives meaning. And that joy and laughter and singing are echoes of that tremendous love. Let us not forget to rejoice. Let us not be in too much of a hurry to be cheerful and kind. Let us not be too busy to offer a smile. We ask these things, loving and joyful Lord, so that someday, we may join in the laughter of the saints and the singing of the angels, praising you forever. AMEN
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:51:21 +0000
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