Joy Indescribable
True confessions – it has been a crazy week. And this particular Sunday feels like the triple whammy of Sunday after annual conference and a funeral on top of confirmation on top of communion. So much to recognize. So much to remember. So much to celebrate. So little time to prepare.
And so much of my sermon prep this week has been in my head and heart, not so much on paper or in books.
In light of that, we are going to share the work today. This is going to be a dialogue and we are going to work to include age groups and stations of life, in the building and online. We are going to collectively preach today. And I think that is REALLY fitting for a confirmation and a communion Sunday – we are adding to the body of Christ and really demonstrating what it means to be the body of Christ sharing the work of exploring and receiving God’s word.
This is week two of our summer-long sermon series on fruit and gifts of the Spirit. The first half of our series focuses on fruit of the Spirit – those traits or experiences that we can nurture by deepening our relationship with God through the Holy Spirit.
Last week we talked about LOVE. This week, we are talking about JOY. And before I go further, I want to be clear that I think there is a difference between secular joy – the joy we experience disconnected from God, and joy that is a fruit of the Spirit, joy that comes from a deep and abiding understand that God is love, that we are loved by God and that the whole creation is an expression of God’s love.
I confess that today’s scripture is a little off-putting. To start with, it doesn’t plainly say a whole lot about JOY.
It’s from a letter attributed to Peter, but probably written by someone who followed Peter’s teaching. It was likely written late in the first Century, by someone in Rome addressing a Christian community in Asian Minor. This would have been after Paul’s mission work. Churches were more “established.” Maybe they were even feeling some of the newness and passion of early faith in the risen Jesus wearing off.
The part we heard today from the opening blessing in the letter – and right out of the gate, it expresses the gospel message that the community is given new life through the resurrection of Jesus. The passage alludes to the protection of God that comes with faith in salvation. And it suggests that there have been trials to suffer along the way. There even seems to be a bit of a suggestion that suffering is kind of a test, and that by “passing” the test, there will be glory and honor.
Some of that makes me really uncomfortable. It sounds a little bit like suffering is rewarded, or might even suggest suffering is necessary for salvation. And I don’t believe that is true. That’s not the God I know.
But let’s remember that the community to whom this is addressed had probably started with an expectation that Christ was going to return and establish a new heaven and a new earth any day… and as time has worn on, with no sign of a second coming, people have had to choose whether or not to stick around.
So perhaps there is some encouragement in this message for a community that is having to reconsider what it means to stay IN THE WORLD – the hard world - of the Roman empire rather than escape it through end times.
The line that really catches my heart here, my ear – is verse 8 – Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy….
That is not secular joy. That is joy rooted in the first hand experience of love of God.
And that has me thinking about what we experience as indescribable and glorious joy….
Our experience of God’s love is personal. And it changes over time. And it includes times of hardship and times of growth. I suspect we all have experiences of Joy that probably reflect something about how we know and interact with God.
For example, after a week of feeling pretty rough with a cold and have a gabillion things to do, I found myself on a ladder in the top of my sour cherry tree last night picking cherries. And it was PURE JOY. It was pure joy because I was working with my hands. It was pure joy because I know that I will make the most amazing cherry jam with those cherries. It was pure joy because the air was cool and dry and the juice trickling down my arms was not attracting bees.
Now….here’s where we share the work. And heads up to our confirmands…I need at least one of you to answer this question for us today. Let’s all take a moment and call to mind an experience of PURE JOY in our lives.
(AND FOLKS ONLINE, you are playing along too…be ready to share!)
Ok…a few breaths, pondering your experience of PURE JOY..
(ask a few people to share – be sure to check for and share online responses)
I suspect that we become more aware of joy in ordinary things as we become more attuned to how God is at work in the world.
I think we can experience JOY without really being aware of God, but I think it is likely a gift of grace that as we move into a deeper relationship with God, our joy changes.
And that isn’t meant to create a hierarchy of experience, either. I suspect a chuckling baby is one of the purest expressions of indescribably JOY as a fruit of the spirit. In part because I think babies have an unobstructed relationship to God.
I also think that as we encounter suffering, we might experience joy differently as well.
This week, I invite you to really pay attention to moments of JOY. Pay attention to how you recognize joy. Pay attention to how joy is a response to God.
And, because we are sharing this journey, you have a beautiful thing to write on today and a prompt for our altar and someone will be receiving those beautiful things after worship in the narthex (which is the space at the back of the sanctuary. If you are online, email me or the office with your response!
Here’s your prompt:
What makes your heart sing? Share one thing, event or idea that brings you unabashed joy.
(Noting the irony of “indescribable joy” may there be some humor in trying to write a response – feel free to draw a picture!!)
Now…let’s actually SING our JOY - # 593 Here I Am LORD
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