ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 10, 2022
Tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Advent, often referred to as “Joy Sunday.” This is the Sunday when we remind ourselves of the difference between joy and happiness. The two might overlap, but joy has this amazing capacity of showing up when happiness is not the mood of most. Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes, Professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School, writes:
“Happy helps me see that a more robust future is possible; joy gives me the fire and insight to refuse to give up on making that future real. Happy gives me a lens into hope for the world; joy pulls me, gooses me into not settling for far too little in my life and witness.”
I love the distinction she makes. Happy (happiness) is seeing the possible, but joy is the tug (“goose”) to continue to strive toward the possible without reservation about it actually happening. I think we have plenty of happiness in our culture, but like spectators, our happy presence is not actually helping to achieve much on the field of play. Don’t get me wrong, we like positive people. We like happiness and the occasional cheerleader, but someone—and the church needs to be a central player in it—needs to purposefully and lovingly guide the world toward God’s great dream. Some days it is hard enough to find happiness, but trust me when I say that joy is both marvelously wonderful and faithfully risky. Of course, the one whose birth we shall soon celebrate, will tell his followers later in life, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The “end of the age” is another way of saying “the fulfilling of God’s great dream.”
May the Christ story, which you gave life to, O God, bring me boundless joy no matter what is going on inside and outside of me. It is the wonderful ability of the Good News to inspire and encourage me in every moment of my life. Thanks be to you, O God! Amen.
