Choosing Joy
The
Yorktown United
Pastor Roy Grubbs
May 4, 2008
Psalm 100
7th Sunday of Easter
John 15: 9-11
Children's Communion Sunday
Have you ever gone through one of those periods when you couldn’t see how you
were possibly going to have enough time and energy to get everything done?
Or how about when there was no way you could meet all the deadlines or
handle all the stress that was thrown your way?
This is exactly where I was on Tuesday.
I was feeling might low. In
fact, I was getting downright antsy. Even
though RJ and I had just taken a couple of days to get away, it seemed like
everything around me was swirling out of control.
Those couple of days of rest seemed like they were years ago.
Over the past few weeks, there have been
many hardships and emotionally trying times for so many in the congregation.
Add to that all the depressing details in the news on the war, the
economy, and the fighting on the campaign trail.
Poverty and starvation around the world as food prices continue to soar.
How about the recent destruction to the Jewish Center here in town?
Then there was all the business with our normal schedule (Bible Study,
Confirmation class, meetings). And
to top it all off, there was the difficulty of laying to rest little Hannah
Fraser and leading the service for George Schutt.
It has been an incredibly busy and very emotionally taxing week.
By Tuesday, I knew that all of these services, meetings, Sunday worship,
classes, and visitations all lay ahead of me.
I took one look at my calendar, threw my hands up in the air and told God
I give up. I was tired.
I was upset. It was too much.
I vented my frustrations out to a couple of people, and decided to call it a night. After my meeting Tuesday evening, I did not know what I was going to do. As I was trying to relax and unwind that night, I was flipping through the channels on the television. Something caught my attention. It was Joyce Meyer. Now I don’t normally resonate with her style or with everything she says. I know that millions of people do. But her theme really spoke to me. I listened intently at first, and then got lost in her sermon. It was exactly what I needed to hear, at exactly the right time. Her theme was that we need to intentionally choose joy!
With all the bad news in the world, with all
the challenges we face each and every day, with all the struggles and hardships
that many of us are dealing with and the lack of community present in our
culture today compared with times past, life can become very hard.
We can feel alone; we can feel isolated; which can continue to put us in
a depression. Joyce continued to
talk about the fact that even if we do not become depressed, we can become numb,
almost robotic. Our world begins to
shrink. So much bad stuff can go on
around us that we will begin to just tune it out, distance ourselves from it.
We only think of ourselves and those in our immediate circles.
We find it difficult to feel happy; there is no joy in our lives.
What Joyce was saying was that in this day
and age, we need to make it a conscious effort to choose joy.
We have to try to get out of our ruts and choose to let the love and
light of Christ shine within us. We
have to look for the blessings in our lives.
We need to look for opportunities to connect with others in meaningful
ways. We need to open our hearts to
others. We need to allow ourselves
to have fun and not take life so seriously that we miss out.
In other words, we need to stop and smell
the roses. How many of you feel like
you work a lot? How many of you with
children truly think you are spending enough time with them?
How many of you really thin you are spending enough time with God?
When you get to the end of your life, do you think you will wonder if you
should have spent more time at work? Or
do you think you will wonder if you should have spent more time with God and
with your family and friends?
God wants us to be happy.
God wants us to have joy in our lives.
Sure there are very big problems in the world.
Sure there are big problems right here in our community.
There are even big problems in our homes and in our church at times.
But that does not mean that we need to get so weighed down that we cannot
move. We need to choose joy.
We need to work at our happiness. Joy
will not always come easy these days. We
need to be intentional about it.
After listening to Joyce Meyer’s sermon
for awhile, I went to bed. I said a
prayer to God to help me with my attitude. I
am normally a very happy and joyful person and asked God to remind me of that.
I prayed that God would help me this week.
I knew that God would see me through all of it, but it seemed like so
much work and emotional energy, that I didn't know if I would be able to do it
all. But I have to tell you, God
worked on me Tuesday night while I slept. And
God continued to work on me into Wednesday morning as well.
I woke up the next morning feeling much
better. I still wasn’t to joy yet,
but I felt more relaxed and refreshed. On
Wednesday, we were in between rainstorms and it was very beautiful outside.
Before I began my preparations for little Hannah Fraser’s funeral, I
spent some time outside on the bench under the beautiful tree in the island in
our parking lot; listening to the wind, looking at the beautiful flowers, and
spending some time with God in the sunshine helped tremendously.
I realized that even though this week was hard, I was not alone.
God reminded me that I only need to take life one minute at a time, one
hour at a time, one day at a time. God
also shared with me that everything was going to be alright and to just lean
into God.
That was enough for me.
Just spending that 20 minutes outside in prayer really helped.
I often come into the sanctuary to pray, but there was something very
special about being outside for me in the beauty of the spring day that really
helped me to connect to a sense of joy. As
I have moved throughout this week, I have felt God’s presence with me, guiding
my fingertips as I wrote the many sermons and homilies for the week.
I felt God helping me as I listened to people and sometimes needed to
share some spiritual guidance. God
definitely saw me through this incredibly busy week and gave me just enough
energy and drive to finish all that was needed.
Throughout my ministry, I have often felt
God working through me. But at this
point in my journey, when I was really struggling, when I really leaned into God
for help, for direction, I found that God not only took over, but that I felt
incredibly connected with God. And
this connection led me to feel a great sense of joy. And
this joy allowed me to connect with so many new people that I met in a positive
way, initiating important and lasting relationships, giving them the opportunity
to build and strengthen.
God wants us to be happy, to have joy in our
lives. Even if we are struggling,
even if the road ahead seems to be impossible, we need to choose joy.
This may not always be easy, but it is what makes life come alive. And
today is a perfect day to start. Let
us agree to all choose joy today. Let
us bask in the love of God and one another as we continue to worship together.
Let us leave this place knowing that no matter what may come about, God
will see us through.
As we prepare for Holy Communion this
morning, let us come forward to receive God’s grace.
Let us come knowing the gift that has been given us through Jesus Christ;
the gift that we will never have to walk alone.
Jesus is there to carry us even when we have fallen or are too afraid to
walk into the unknown. And Jesus
binds us together to lean on each other.
Let us come forward to receive God’s
sustaining grace. Let us come
forward to receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation.
Let us come forward with open hearts, ready to experience the joy and the
love that God is offering. And let
us share that love and joy as often as we can.
As we prepare for Holy Communion, let us let go of all the pain and
loneliness, let go of the worry and disappointment, let go of the heartache and
despair, and let us all choose joy.
Come and receive the gift of life.
Amen.