Where's The Joy?

Where’s The Joy?

Recently, as part of a team from our Presbytery, I was consulting with a Session of a troubled congregation. Things weren’t going well, new members weren’t joining, the building was in disrepair, the leadership languishing. As we began our conversations, I asked them to tell us “What about your church brings you joy?” The silence, as they say, was deafening. We talked for hours about what was wrong, but hardly five minutes was spent describing what brought them joy.

In this troubled world, where can joy be found?

Perhaps the answer comes in knowing the difference between “happiness” and “joy.” The late William Sloane Coffin, a Presbyterian minister and author, once said that, in his assessment, Christian faith was more about finding joy than happiness. “Happiness,” Coffin wrote, “connotes pleasure while joy is a deeper emotion that, far from excluding, can actually include pain. Joy often points to a profound sense of self-fulfillment: ‘For this I was made and meant to be’—that’s a joyful experience.” Coffin concludes: “Far from gloomy, Christians are called ‘Children of light.’”

Where can joy be found? I see it each week as I look upon the faces gathered for worship. We cry together, we laugh together, and we sigh at the unrelenting tragedy of the world – but still we stand and sing together, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” Gathered together, we discover the deep joy that Christ is alive. Perhaps you find joy in knowing that God is at work in this church – equipping our youth to ring bells, our families to care for victims of Hurricane Katrina, and our youngest ones to sing God’s praise. Or maybe you find joy in knowing that this is a church dedicated to fellowship and study, determined to celebrate our diverse array of gifts. Where can joy be found? Wherever God’s people open themselves to God and affirm the good news that even five Sundays after Easter, Christ is still risen!

Our lives ripple with joy at the news: Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! May that bring you deep and abiding joy.

In Christ…

Chris Keating, pastor