The most incredible celebration I've ever experienced was in August 2004. My wife and I had been married for three months, but we delayed our honeymoon in order to fly to
At 6:00 we were escorted into the dining hall and served the first course, with wine and beer glasses that never ran dry. The second course was served at 7:00, the third at eight and the dessert at nine – a four hour feast. The food was exquisite, the wine superb. But the reason we will never forget that night had very little to do with food and drink. What made that night unforgettable was the incredible experience of being with a group of people who were experiencing and sharing abundant joy.
Now, I speak only a little bit of German – just enough to get into trouble, I like to say. My wife, Kristin, speaks even less, and that little bit very poorly. But thanks to some new friends who sat across the table from us, we were able to laugh and cry with our friends Sven and Eva as they toasted, ridiculed and celebrated the gift of each other and the new life together into which they were embarking that night. The shared joy in that banquet hall was so strong it was almost palpable. You could feel the abundance of love shared among the friends, even when you couldn’t understand a word of what was being said, and the food and drink didn’t matter: we could have been feasting on pizza and Mountain Dew and it would have been just as joyful.
I’ve thought of that feast often in the three years since we’ve seen Sven & Eva. I’ve wondered why it is that our shared life as God’s children isn’t more like it. Those of you who read The Lutheran probably saw the article in the September issue about the happy and sad Danes in Ringsted, Iowa: frankly, I thought the whole thing was sad. Joy, it seems, is an elusive quality for us, and not just recently: in the 1800s the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was so unimpressed by the lives of the people he knew growing up in a pastor’s household that he lost his faith. He once said that “[Jesus’] disciples should look more redeemed.” I’m pretty sure that he was right.
Paul Tillich, a German theologian who emigrated to
A life without joy is not the life to which we are called. A life without joy is not the life for which we were created. A life without joy is not a life lived in the image of our Maker. When God finished the creation on the sixth day, how did God describe God’s work? “God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” The creation is a cause for joy in the mind and heart of God – and thus it should be in ours as well. We were created out of the joy of a gracious and loving Creator – and thus our lives in that creation should be lives filled with abundant joy.
In joy God the Creator has given you this life, this day, this hour, this breath. You are, in the words of Psalm 139, wonderfully and fearfully made in God’s great love. So Paul’s words, then, cannot ring falsely in our ears. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.” Each breath is a cause for rejoicing, for God has made you and shaped you and provides for you in ways we cannot begin to understand or fully appreciate. So, then, knowing that we cannot express our thanks to God, respond by seeing the same joyful creation in those around us: as Paul says, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” Your neighbor is a gift of God, even when she doesn’t realize it. The stranger you meet at the gas station is, like you, fearfully and wonderfully made. The friend in the pew behind you that you haven’t seen in a while? Joyfully made in God’s image: shall we not, then be gentle with one another so that we might reflect the love in which God created us?
Paul continues: “The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In other words, Paul says, “You are not alone. God hears your prayers.” In the book of Romans Paul puts it another way: “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Even the groans of our darkest night are known and understood by our gracious, loving God. He is not distant or absent: God is as close as your next heartbeat and will never leave you or forsake you.
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Paul gives a reminder that we have far more for which we should rejoice than we imagine. Is there darkness in this world? Yes. Does sin threaten us with despair and denial of faith? Absolutely. Will death take us in the end? Of course: just today our congregation said goodbye to another brother in Christ whose life had run its course. But these things are not ours to fight or command: our strength is not equal to the fight against sin, death and the powers of darkness. But there is one whose strength is more than equal to that fight, and it is His promises, His grace, His steadfast love which gives us the promise of abundant joy. It is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has already fought the battle against sin, death and despair, and through His forgiveness we need not fear these things ever again. If anything in this world is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise, it comes from our Lord Jesus, the Word who was in the beginning and through whom all things are made. He is the promise of abundant joy, in whom you and I may rejoice always – and again I say, Rejoice!
Last night I was in a Bible study with some members of our congregation and we were talking about the lives of those who we considered our “elders” in the faith. One of the people in our group said something I’ll never forget. When talking about the elders who had inspired her own faith, she claimed it wasn’t their words that convinced her, but their lives. "You see their faith working," she said. That, friends, is what abundant joy looks like: faith that works so strongly in the lives of the saints that it’s visible to the people around them. When the people came to Jesus for bread, he didn’t criticize them because they were looking in the wrong place – Jesus criticized them because they asked for far too little of Him. “Why seek the food that rots,” Jesus said, “when I can give you so much more?”
It’s a scary thing, asking God to fill us with the abundant joy that Jesus promises, because it changes everything about us. Instead of coming to church for just enough religion to get by, we begin to hunger and thirst for a deep faith that impacts every moment of the day. Instead of being filled with just enough happiness to get through the day, we begin to sense a deep, awe-inspiring, overwhelming joy at the sheer wonder of the life God has given us. Instead of looking at the church building or the financial report and wondering, “How are we going to keep the congregation going,” we begin to look around and see an opportunity for ministry around every corner and in every conversation. Whether it’s donuts and coffee in the café or a four-course meal in a castle in
This is our service of Thanksgiving tonight. We gather together to remind one another that it is God to whom we give thanks, for the food we eat, for the friends we love, for the air we breathe. But I hope your Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow is filled with more than turkey and cranberries – I hope your Thanksgiving celebration is filled with the abundant joy that comes from seeing the hand of God in all that surrounds you. I hope you look around you, whether you’re surrounded with your families or enjoying a quiet meal alone, and sense that your life itself is a gift from God, and I hope you’re filled with such abundant joy that you feel like your heart might burst. If you do, don’t suppress it, don’t compromise it, don’t be scared of it: just let it come. The promise of abundant joy is given to you by a loving God who is happy to receive your tears of Thanksgiving. Just follow Paul’s advice, and rejoice in the Lord, always. And again, I say, rejoice. Amen.
[1] The New Being. Tillich, Paul.
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