Today I have been thinking about the connection between joy and grace. I have been wondering about these two important concepts intersect in our lives for God’s glory. . . For both are needed in times like this, and both are offered from God to us .
If you have been reading along with these daily pastoral thoughts for the last week and a half, then you know that I want to be joyful in every aspect of my life (it has been the theme we are working with together). I want to think and live in a manner that displays my joy, and the joy of Christ at work in me, to others consistently. Whether the joyful experience is something spiritual or not, I want to find, and mediate upon, the places in my day where I am joyful.
When I walk through the grocery store, masked and obeying social distance guidelines, I want others to see in my eyes that joy of God beaming over the light blue mask. I want to share stories of God at work in my life joyfully, and the life of my church family, as often as I can as a way to combat the cynicism and doubt of this generation. I want all my phone calls to be positive in nature and never have to have a difficult conversation with anyone.
And yet, I hear something on the news after dinner, or I see it on a social media post, or I meet someone in the store who I have a relationship with, and after listening, I am back being frustrated and grumpy by what I am seeing, or what is being reported, or what I read. It is as if the week’s work to be joyful work is so early destroyed by one little instance, or even one little sentence. . . My joy is so easily zapped (and I bet I am not the only one who feels this way or can empathize with me).
If are are struggling in maintaining joy as our summer continues and we see no end to the covid-18 troubles or the social unrest, then I wonder if the words of Paul Tillich will help reorient you, gracefully, back to God joy? He says:
“Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness.
It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life.
It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us.
It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear,
when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades,
when despair destroys all joy and courage.
Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: “You are accepted.”
An important part of living joyfully is the realization, and acceptance, that we are truly accepted by the God we love and who loves us. God’s grace is available to welcome us back to God’s side, and as we are welcomed home, we find the joy that was tamped down being reborn or restored entirely. What once caused our shoulders to slump as joy evaporates in us no longer holds us prisoner. We are accepted. We are loved. . . and that should cause joy to live in us again.
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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