A joy worth having

from Helen

May I speak in the name of God:Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN I love pink, it is not a slight like of a colour it is an almost unhealthy obsession with my favourite colour. With this in mind this Sunday is one of the best Sundays in advent because we light the pink candle. Now advent is all about waiting, preparation, getting ourselves ready to greet Jesus and praying for Him to come again but this Sunday is about JOY ! Joy is a beautiful word, and this Sunday is almost like party Sunday, it is the breather in the preparation. When I was thinking about this morning I was desperate to talk to you about joy and the fact that this morning is almost like a glimpse before the real thing. A little like seeing Father Christmas but knowing that when he next comes to visit there will be even more presents and rejoicing. Or like the time when Ian and I went to Rome and waited in St.Peter’s Square for the pope to give a blessing. We arrived early and the number of people started to swell and everyone was looking up at the window from which he would give the blessing and the curtain started to twitch we were all in anticipation then some arms appeared out of the curtain and a piece of cloth was placed over the window sill and then …. a voice was heard. The anticipation and build up was amazing. We will all have had moments of anticipation and excitement in our lives, at major events and times. One such for me was the joy and excitement of purchasing tickets to see Dolly Parton. Then there was the waiting for the show.. it went on for ages, months and months, but I had foreseen this and had written the date in my diary with a huge smiley face so every often I could look at the date and just know that Dolly was on her way. Then of course came the evening itself, and oh, did I feel happy, it was great this was truly the night when Dolly would appear. Then the lights went down and everyone was cheering, the music started the crowd were getting louder the cheering was deafening as people started arriving on stage and then a short woman with blond hair arrived and the crowd erupted –what joy, but … it wasn’t really dolly it was one of her backing singers and all of a sudden a Nashville voice said, ‘How y’all doing ?’ and it was Dolly ! This Sunday, this Sunday of the pink candle, of joy is our glimpse into what is coming next. We know that Jesus has come amongst us and changed the world, and as we wait to celebrate that arrival so we can breathe and rejoice as we think about the joy that comes from knowing God. In our readings today there was a strong sense of joy. In the reading from Isaiah (6:1-4,8-11) we heard God’s promise that things will get better. Mourning will turn into dancing, ashes will turn into flowers, all will be well. Joy is to be had. In 1 Thessalonians (5:16-24) we were reminded to pray without ceasing, to rejoice always, to give thanks in all circumstances. Then in the reading from the gospel of John (1:6-8, 19-24) we heard of John the Baptist preparing for Jesus as the one who wasn’t the light but who could tell of the light. A light which would be beyond everyone’s expectations. Our readings have spoken of a better life, a life full of joy, of fun. The joy we have heard of is not just about happiness and fun, it is a much deeper joy than this. It is a joy of certainty and contentment. It is not about telling jokes it is about so much more than this. It is the joy of knowing that in all circumstances God is with us, that however our life is going, God is there, that whether we are having a gloomy day or a sunny day God loves us and protects us, it is the joy of knowing that we can laugh, we can and should rejoice but we can also be sad. The song, ‘don’t worry be happy coz everything little thing is going to be alright’ would actually describe it well. I am a perpetual worrier, I bother and fuss, I don’t chill as well as I would like but I am determined to smile and enjoy life. This isn’t because I block out the world it is because I know that Jesus loves me and that everything is going to be alright in the end because Jesus has the victory. It may not always seem like it but Jesus is in control. This is true joy and happiness. People often moan about happy clappy church in terms of worship, I think that if we aren’t happy in our worship then we are not obeying the Bible where we have heard that we need to rejoice. You cant rejoice if your mouth is turned down. This as I have said doesn’t mean that you are always to be happy, happy but it does mean that rejoicing is something that we are all to share together. In the reading from the book of Isaiah we heard of the rejoicing that God was promising. This rejoicing was a huge promise to the people who first heard these words. They were in exile, awayfrom home, away from all that they knew, they weren’t being treated well, but God had promised to be there for them. God was going to change things, He told them of how things would be and they knew that every little thing was going to be alright. The readings have spoken of the ways that we can rejoice now, knowing that God is with us and even in the tough times when we don’t feel like smiling He is constant and will stay with us. I am sure that you all know who Kris Akabusi is, and your first thought of him is probably a smiling face and a huge laugh. He wrote that he had never smiled until he came to know Jesus. This is real joy. I know of an artist whose art was always dark with dark colours but once she came to know Jesus her style changed as she wanted colour to reflect all the joy and colour that she felt. Then there was the Christian song writer Keith Green in the 70s whose music until he became a Christian was depressive and strange often brought on by psychedelic experiences but when he became a Christian his following changed and many of his fans felt let down that he wasn’t miserable and searching anymore. To know Jesus is to know joy, it is to know certainty that everything will be alright at the end. As we wait for Jesus we have this helpful reminder that God is with us and we are to rejoice in Him, knowing that in all times the true light shines in the darkness, we can rejoice and should have joy because God is in control. May we rejoice, may we be joyful as we remember God’s love, a love so amazing and so divine that demands our lives, our souls our all. AMEN