Advent 3, 2006
December 17, 2006
Christ Church, Covington
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” (Phil 4:4).
Everybody here knows what happiness is; at least, I hope they do. We may never
be perfectly happy in this world, but we do know the taste of the thing, even if
only in memory or by anticipation. Happiness is fulfillment, completion, the
sense of being in the right place and in the right circumstances. Happiness
banishes disturbance and anxiety, surrounds us with a sense of security and well
being. The ancient Greek philosophers contended that human beings were created
for happiness, and I believe they were right. Happiness is the only way that
human beings will ever be complete. We know happiness when we see it.
Now if you know what happiness is, then you probably know about joy. Joy, not
happiness, is what Paul is talking about in our second reading today. They
aren’t the same thing. Joy is more spontaneous and less settled than happiness.
It creeps up on you when you least expect it; in Wordsworth’s phrase, we are
“surprised by joy”. It doesn’t come at the end of the process as fulfillment or
completion, but is more provisional; it breaks out suddenly and overwhelms us.
There’s also the sense, as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his book with the same
name, that joy disappears when we try to domesticate it or replicate it. Joy,
unlike happiness, simply won’t be managed, show up in the right place and the
right circumstances; instead, it comes and then goes with a will.
Joy is far more “edgy”, more liminal, more “out there”, than happiness. Paul,
and the rest of the New Testament, remind us that joy can manifest itself in
situations where we could never talk about happiness. “May you be prepared to
endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father”
(Col. 1:11), Paul writes in one place. “Whenever you face trials of any kind,
consider it nothing but joy” (Jas. 1:2), the Letter of James puts it. “Happy”:
not quite; “joyful”: yes, without a doubt. Lewis, again, calls it
“bitter-sweet”. Joy breaks out even in situations where no sane person could
talk about happiness, because joy is a fruit of the Spirit that lives within us
(Gal. 5:22). It is the gift of God. A holy card I received years ago says, “Joy
is the flag that you fly from the castle of your heart, when the King is at home
there”. It’s an assurance and consolation that in its spontaneity and
hard-to-pin-down quality buoys us up, especially when we are on the edge.
Joy is an Advent theme, because in this season we hear messages both of judgment
and mercy, “edgy” messages indeed. Advent is a time of transition, both “of now”
and “not yet”. And of course, inhabitants of “Hurricane Land” know all about
joy, because we know what it is to live on the edge, and to rejoice in spite of
it.
But even more, joy is our theme today: the bitter-sweet fruit of the Spirit that
God gives to folks who are in process, still heading in a direction and not yet
arrived. I think on a day like this we might not manage happiness precisely, the
happiness of settled contentment; but God might give us joy, as we perch in this
dizzying and unsettled place where God has placed us, priest and parish
together. There is much to rejoice in, even if it is with a tear; and the take
away for us is to savor that joy as much as we can, knowing however that we
cannot pause here for very long, but must press on toward fulfillment.
On an occasion like this, in fact, we are overwhelmed, by joy, not knowing what
lies ahead but looking forward to the good things to come. It is a bitter-sweet
moment, this moment of joy. It is spontaneous and surprises us, so that we
experience joy when we least expect it. We are joyful because it is God who is
sustaining us, holding us up, moving us ahead even in difficult circumstances of
leave-taking and new beginnings. It is God who is in control, and not we
ourselves. This is the source of our joy.
- the Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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