The Serious Business of the Church is Joy
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
John 15:9 - 17
September 25, 2011
Rev. Lou Nyiri

Life is a time to celebrate…so why does it sometimes feel like a catastrophe?
Life is a time to be happy…so why does it sometimes feel like a tragedy?
Life is a time to be joy filled…so why does it sometimes feel like a jumbled mess?

Maybe it’s because we have a misunderstanding about life and joy & happiness?
Life is meant to be filled with celebration, happiness and joy.
Life, however, has never been promised to us to be free from painful moments.
The following focus question has been used periodically in a Sunday School to help members bridge the gap between life one’s faith, each member is asked to answer or ponder the question, “Are you heading into a storm…Already in the middle of a storm…or Are you coming out of a storm?”

If there’s one thing we learn in life it’s this: we aren’t guaranteed (by God or anyone else) that we will not face trials.
Which is very helpful and easy when we’re talking with someone else about their life, what do we do though when it’s about our life?

What do we do when it’s happening to us or someone we love?
What do we do when it’s us or someone we love who hangs up the phone and turns to face those gathered around and speaks the words we’ve prayed not to hear?
What do we do when it’s us or someone we love who goes into work and gets the news that they need to clean out their locker or their desk because while the company thanks them for these many years of service that due to the economy we need to downsize?
What do we do when it’s us or someone we love who gets the news that the relationship they so dearly cherished and committed to through better or worse has suddenly taken a turn for the worse?

What do we do when the storm is raging in our own little world?

How do we find happiness and joy in the midst of such circumstances?

I think we do so by realizing that there is a difference between happiness and joy.
Frequently these two words are used interchangeably.
While they do share some characteristics, they are different.
Happiness is more of an emotion which is related to the circumstances currently going on around us.

Think about the times in your life when you are happy.
Make a list in your head what makes you feel happy.
Here is what one person came up with, in no particular order:

We see it, don’t we?

Happy things happen…then we’re happy.
I recently read how the word happiness derives from the same root as the word “happening” – so one could follow the line of reasoning then that happiness is based upon what’s happening to us.
It could be anything – small or big – from a good cheeseburger to when a baby wraps their tiny hand around your finger.
Yet, all these are fleeting…short lived…temporary things, which bring temporary emotional happiness.

When circumstances are good and going our way, we feel happy.
When things break, get old, disappoint, when we don’t get what we want, or when things don’t go our way, we tend to feel sad and unhappy.

Joy though is something entirely different from happiness.
Whereas happiness is something temporary; Joy is something that lasts.
When happiness fades, joy remains.
Joy is not based on something positive happening to us.
Joy is bigger than our current circumstances.
Joy brings peace amidst life’s storms.

Joy is less of an emotion and more of an attitude.
To be specific it is an attitude of the heart.
To be even more specific it is a gift of God’s grace.
Joy is something God deposits in our lives and cultivates by the Holy Spirit.

It’s not joy because of…rather it’s joy in spite of what’s happening around us.
I’ve come to realize in life that we can have joy even in unhappy times.
I’ve come to realize in life that joy and hope are linked – maybe even interchangeable – because hope does not disappoint.

Joy in spite of means knowing, believing, hoping that somehow, someway, somewhere God will work within the circumstances we find ourselves.
Joy in spite of means knowing, believing, hoping in these words, “While we don’t know what the future holds, we know the one and place our trust in the one who holds the future in the palm of His hands.”
Joy in spite of means knowing, believing, hoping in the facts
– the fact that “The joy of the Lord IS our strength”
– the fact that Christ has come and taught us things about our relationships with each other and God
– the fact that Christ has come and shown us how to love one another
– the fact that Christ has come and said these things to us so that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete
Joy in spite of means knowing, believing, hoping that our faith and the joy faith brings are often the very reason we can get through all of what life throws our way.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to be happy – who doesn’t?
However, doesn’t joy sound so much better?
Joy isn’t dependant on circumstances.
Joy can exist even in the midst of life’s trials.
Joy is internal…Joy is eternal…Joy is strength.

A man found himself in worship, seated in his pew, praying after receiving Communion.
It was a Sunday morning during Advent and he found himself lost in a haze.
He couldn’t focus on the gift of the day.
He couldn’t focus on the upcoming holiday or even on the sacrament.
All he could focus on were his fears about what the next few days would bring.

He tried to pray through the distress as the choir sang of Mary: “Hail, favored one, the Lord is with thee.” But his thoughts connected only with his anxiety.

Giving up his failed attempt at prayer, he listened to the choir.
He felt transported to another time and place, where sadness and anxiety had no place.
For they had evaporated like morning mist and a voice within him spoke to his fears: “It doesn’t all depend on you. I am here.”

For that moment he allowed himself to be drawn out of the world of his fears and he was swept up into an enormous space filled by this infinite Other, who lovingly spoke to him saying, "Do not fear. I will not fail you. Don't you know by now how much I treasure you?"


As the soprano descant soared above the choir, surprising tears appeared in his eyes.
These were not helpless tears of self-pity, which he would have expected.
It wasn’t sadness he felt; rather it was a joy and gratitude which flowed from a mysterious world deeper and more wondrous than the one his troubled mind had previously inhabited.

"It is the very nature of joy,” which C.S. Lewis has written, “makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.”

In life, what we have before us may not always be what we want.

In the middle of our stressful lives, God wants us to experience joy.

A joy that comes from knowing in spite of what goes on around us we are looked upon with favor by the God of the universe.
A joy that comes from knowing in spite of what goes on around us we are treasured by God.
A joy that comes from knowing in spite of what goes on around us God will not fail us.

May we have the courage to be joy-filled people who are able to sing “Joy to the World!” in spite of what goes on around us?

Amen & Amen.

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