I believe that the only thing that can keep a church from being too big to feel a sense of belonging is small groups. That’s why I hope that you will join one of the sermon based discussion groups for our November series about “True Joy.” It’s so important to be connected both to others and to God’s Word. Here’s a fresh opportunity to combine the two!
As for joy, some of us may remember the old campfire song that said, “If you want joy you must shout for it.” But I have discovered that you can shout for joy all that you want, but demanding it only scares it away.
Here’s the thing: joy is a “by product”, not an “end product.” It’s not a target, like a marketing goal. Joy is a beautiful surprise that catches you off guard when you least expect it. Take last week. I had come through an exceptionally busy time that left me quite tired. I wasn’t grumpy exactly, just a little bit out of sorts and glad to be home. Then my sixteen year old granddaughter Face Timed me. “Hi grandpa,” she said, blessing me with that big beautiful smile of hers. She wanted to know what I had learned about some of the Canadian colleges that she had asked me to investigate for her, now that she’s in grade eleven and thinking about her future. I told her what I had learned. Then I felt inspired to teach her FOCUS, the decision making tool that I shared with Hope Fellowship in a recent sermon. She wrote it all down. F stands for Facts. O stands for Options. C stands for Consequences. U stands for Understanding. S stands for Solution. I encouraged her to prayerfully use this process to choose the right college for her.
In our conversation, joy was not my goal. But I felt it right after we said, “Love you,” and signed off. As I sat there looking at my iPad screen, it occurred to me how amazing it is that this teenaged girl regularly connects with us and that she takes my opinions and advice seriously. After speaking with her I still felt tired, but there was not a trace of grumpiness left in me. Instead, I felt honoured, and along with feeling honoured I felt a profound joy welling up in me, a feeling that caught me by surprise. “Imagine that,” I said to Marja. “What a great conversation. Man, I love that kid so much!” I felt quite emotional. Crazy, huh?
C.S. Lewis wrote a spiritual memoir in which he described his journey from agnosticism to deism to Christianity. He called his book Surprised By Joy. It’s a great title because joy is always an unexpected emotion most often experienced against the background of a painful experience or a difficult challenge. True joy surprised the author of The Narnia series, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters when God enabled him to believe in Jesus with a childlike faith after a lifetime of skepticism and doubt.
You could say that joy is like a sudden rainbow, a radiant splash of colour created by sunlight breaking through dark clouds. That’s what that unexpected teaching moment with my granddaughter was for me. That’s what C.S. Lewis’ unexpected conversion was for him. A polychromatic gift from God, right out of the blue!
As we learn about joy this month by looking at Philippians, Paul’s “treatise on true joy,” I hope that we will be surprised by insights and experiences that fill us with gratitude for God’s gracious ways. I especially hope that the discussions in our small groups will be delightful and, yes, joyful.
- Pastor Peter
As for joy, some of us may remember the old campfire song that said, “If you want joy you must shout for it.” But I have discovered that you can shout for joy all that you want, but demanding it only scares it away.
Here’s the thing: joy is a “by product”, not an “end product.” It’s not a target, like a marketing goal. Joy is a beautiful surprise that catches you off guard when you least expect it. Take last week. I had come through an exceptionally busy time that left me quite tired. I wasn’t grumpy exactly, just a little bit out of sorts and glad to be home. Then my sixteen year old granddaughter Face Timed me. “Hi grandpa,” she said, blessing me with that big beautiful smile of hers. She wanted to know what I had learned about some of the Canadian colleges that she had asked me to investigate for her, now that she’s in grade eleven and thinking about her future. I told her what I had learned. Then I felt inspired to teach her FOCUS, the decision making tool that I shared with Hope Fellowship in a recent sermon. She wrote it all down. F stands for Facts. O stands for Options. C stands for Consequences. U stands for Understanding. S stands for Solution. I encouraged her to prayerfully use this process to choose the right college for her.
In our conversation, joy was not my goal. But I felt it right after we said, “Love you,” and signed off. As I sat there looking at my iPad screen, it occurred to me how amazing it is that this teenaged girl regularly connects with us and that she takes my opinions and advice seriously. After speaking with her I still felt tired, but there was not a trace of grumpiness left in me. Instead, I felt honoured, and along with feeling honoured I felt a profound joy welling up in me, a feeling that caught me by surprise. “Imagine that,” I said to Marja. “What a great conversation. Man, I love that kid so much!” I felt quite emotional. Crazy, huh?
C.S. Lewis wrote a spiritual memoir in which he described his journey from agnosticism to deism to Christianity. He called his book Surprised By Joy. It’s a great title because joy is always an unexpected emotion most often experienced against the background of a painful experience or a difficult challenge. True joy surprised the author of The Narnia series, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters when God enabled him to believe in Jesus with a childlike faith after a lifetime of skepticism and doubt.
You could say that joy is like a sudden rainbow, a radiant splash of colour created by sunlight breaking through dark clouds. That’s what that unexpected teaching moment with my granddaughter was for me. That’s what C.S. Lewis’ unexpected conversion was for him. A polychromatic gift from God, right out of the blue!
As we learn about joy this month by looking at Philippians, Paul’s “treatise on true joy,” I hope that we will be surprised by insights and experiences that fill us with gratitude for God’s gracious ways. I especially hope that the discussions in our small groups will be delightful and, yes, joyful.
- Pastor Peter
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