Dear Blooming Glen Friends,
Generally, snow flurries depress me. I am a huge believer in the theological proposition that God righteously created snow only for mountain peaks, and that snow on the flat ground is proof of the Fall 😊. Since Thanksgiving, I’ve encountered two brief run-ins with snow: in Cooperstown, NY on the day after Thanksgiving, and this Tuesday morning. But neither one is taking away my joy this time around.
I have come to understand happiness as capricious and impulsive (like snow), but joy is steady and abiding (like the sun that melts snow). Psalm 30.5 reminds us that, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Joy is a certain as the sunrise – if we are willing to get up and see the sun rise.
Joy isn’t linked to the happenstance of life’s whimsy. Joy is fruit from the Holy Spirit. Fruit grows if the vine is planted, watered, fertilized, pruned, and generally cared for day in and day out. Likewise, joy grows abundantly as we tend to our souls. As we plant God-shaped habits of sabbath-rest, study, prayer, contemplation, and play, we bear the fruit of joy. As we adopt the peaceful practices of curiosity, discovery, engagement, dialogue, empathy, authenticity, dignity, and transformation, we discover joy blossoming in our souls.
When the Hebrew people of God began to return from their generation-long forced exile in Babylon, they were happy. They had survived the loss of their identity. They had overcome the loss of belonging to one another. They had persisted through the loss of purpose. They returned to Jerusalem full of happiness, only to discover the city was a wasteland. Houses were wrecked and ruined. Infrastructure was destroyed. And there was no public safety because the walls of the city had been razed. Happiness quickly faded into anxiety and chronic worry.
Then God sent Nehemiah – a Jewish expat serving in the Persian Imperial government, providing a last line of security to the Emperor. God sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with the mission to rebuild the walls of the city – to establish a new form of domestic tranquility and community pride. Nehemiah got government appropriations for materials to rebuild the walls, patiently worked to overcome the anxieties and fears of the returnees and challenged the local bureaucracy that wanted to keep Jerusalem as a failed city. Nehemiah organized the people to accomplish work they had not been able to previously accomplish and do the things they needed to do in ways they had not previously been able to get done before. And when the walls were rebuilt, the people threw a party. Nehemiah’s colleague, the priest Ezra, arranged for a celebration marked by community bible study (that’s my idea of a great party!). At the end the festival, after remembering of all the hassle, all the debris removal, all the construction, all the bureaucratic infighting, Nehemiah puts the capstone on the experience when he declares, “The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8.10).”
Friends, as the Advent Season begins, I urge you to seek joy. Joy endures. Happiness is nice, but don’t settle for mere happiness that comes and goes in fleeting moments of winning an argument or getting your way. Don’t settle for satiating your hungers with happiness but disregarding your appetite for joy.
The work of preparation, of succession, and of rebuilding the identity, belonging, and purpose of Blooming Glen continues. I pray it is as much a work of joy for you as it is for me.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Wishing you the joy of the Lord in Advent,
Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net
PS – Friday, December 1, is another opportunity to have a coffee and a conversation. I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind from 3:30 to 4:45 pm to drink good coffee and listen to good people. On Sunday, December 3, after worship, I’m going to play hooky from Sunday School, and I’ll be available to spend time together in the welcome center/library to enjoy coffee and listen to whatever might be on your mind. Finally, on Monday, December 4, I’ll be at the A&N Diner, 7:30-8:45 am to listen more.