December 14, 2014: Advent 3: Joy

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28

Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.  (Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT)

Four Promises that Can Change Lives: 3 – Joy

Most of us know that joy and happiness are not the same thing.  Happiness usually has something to do with our circumstances but joy can often be found in spite of our circumstances.  So here is a little story to illustrate.

A Joke: A teacher was testing the children in her Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven.

She asked them, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?”

“NO!” the children answered.

“If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?”

Again, the answer was, “NO!”

Now she was smiling. Hey, they’re getting it, she thought! “Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?” she asked.

Again, they all answered, “NO!”

She was just bursting with pride for them. “Well,” she continued, “then how can I get into Heaven?”

A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD.”

Dying is rarely thought of as a happy occasion but going to heaven is always seen as a joyous one.

Prayer: God of all joy, help us to see how we can rise above our circumstances.  Amen.

Most of you probably know that on the internet are sites that allow people to display their videos.  One of the most used sites is YouTube.  If you were to go to YouTube, you would find that many of the most viewed videos have to do with pets and that one of the current big internet starts is Grumpy Cat.  She is all over the internet and just recently there was a movie in which she starred.

Grumpy Cat got her name from her face.  She always has a big scowl on her face and always looks like she is fed up with the world.  No matter what is in front of her, all she can see is a problem.

Sometimes people are like that too.  Always a frown, always grumpy.

Well, I don’t know about cats, but I find that people who are always grumpy are the ones that always feel trapped.  Somehow life has handed them some bad circumstances and those people feel like there is nothing they can do to change anything.  But you know, that isn’t true.  No matter what we are going through, no matter how helpless we are to change things, we can change something that makes life so much better.  That something is our attitude.

Paul was a man that was very familiar with things not going his way; he was whipped, stoned and spent a lot of time in prison.  And yet, as unpleasant as much of his life was, he learned this lesson: 16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

How are we supposed to always be joyful?  Well, he tells us – never stop praying – when our relationship with God is strong we are much more content.  We talk about how God is always present but when pray, God’s presence becomes far more a reality.  Saying the words, “We are not alone” is one thing but having a sense of God’s presence is far better.

The second thing we are told, is to “Be thankful in all circumstances” – it is hard to be truly thankful when we are sick, when we are facing a major problem or when someone we love is hurting but we can be thankful for all the times in the past when were sick or facing a big problem or someone we loved was hurting and God took care of us of those we love.  And it would be crazy us to be happy because the doctor has just told us that we have pneumonia or cancer and might die soon or that we have dementia and in all likelihood will soon forget who we are and who all of those people who we love and love us are.  But we can be joyful knowing that no matter what we face, God is with us helping us and that no matter what we are facing God can use the bad things in life as well as the good things to help us understand God better.

You see, whether or not we are happy usually depends on our circumstances but having a sense of joy deep down inside is often in spite of our circumstances.

Grumpy Cat is always grumpy even when things are going well.  It seems she just can’t see the good and so to her, things are always bad enough to complain.  When we have joy, even when what’s going on tells us we can’t be happy, we can be joyful because God is with us, because God cares for us, because God always supplies what we need, because God always has a plan and purpose for us even in the midst of our suffering.

And so, we return to the words found in 1 Thessalonians, 16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Prayer:

Open our eyes, Lord.  Help us to see the opportunities you set before us to help us make our lives and the lives of others rich and full even when our health is failing or our age is increasing.  Open our eyes to your instruction that comes from your hand through the everyday circumstances of life.

Help us to remember that you want us to have lives that are full and rich regardless of how our bodies and brains may fail us.  Give us the courage to say, “Hello” to the day with a sense of expectation and to be ready to learn more about you.  Help us to be truly joyful people even when we are not happy.