Church,
This past Sunday, we heard the good news that joy is real and it is a tool for active resistance against despair and injustice.
Understanding joy as a way to rebel and resist helps to make sense of the role joy plays in Advent, a season of waiting. This understanding illuminates how joy can theoretically be present while we long for the world to be set right, but it doesn’t answer the practical question of what we are to do when joy feels hard to come by.
It occurs to me that joy can often surprise us, even in moments of hardship, but it seems to be fleeting. For whatever reason, joy just seems to be less sticky than some of the more negative experiences we feel. There is loads of research about why this is, but for now the question is not why but what now?
Joy can be sneaky or surprising, but when it comes to us it is as an invitation. As it is with any invitation, it is up to us to say yes to it — to give ourselves over to it.
This week, as the nights grow longer on our way to the longest night, joy may feel out of reach. And if that’s you, you’re not the only one. You are not alone.
Even if it feels far off, let’s practice saying yes to joy together. I’m saying “yes” to the invitation of joy this week by pursuing things that I love:
- Reading at a cafe
- Conversations with good friends
- Moving my body
- And meditating on things that I am grateful for
What are a few things that usually bring you joy that you could say “yes” to this week? What does it look like to lean into joy not as a bypassing or ignoring pain, but as an act of rebellion to the suffering you feel or see in the world?
Beloved, joy is real. It may be hard to find or feel fleeting, but there is joy here for you today. Not as a way of avoiding, but as an act of resistance and rebellion against pain.
May you rest in the knowledge that you are loved by God and by many. And may joy sneak up on you when you least expect it this week. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Peace be with you,
Spencer+
