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Joy, fruit of the Spirit, happiness
Joy, fruit of the Spirit, happiness Meditation: In Defense of the Hopelessly Happy
Monday, December 3, 2012 at 10:07AM 
When the Preacher, who confined himself to matters under the sun, intoned, “with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief,” he forever linked the idea that serious people were sad because disillusionment is the only choice of the enlightened. Camus, Satre, Voltaire (anyone from France, really) and most great thinkers have fallen in line with the fallen king of Israel. The wisdom of the wise is to expect disappointment, anticipate disaster, and gainsay anyone who prefers sunrise to sunset.
The worldly-wise require a dreary realism for club membership. The doorman greets the cynic, but keeps the hopeful behind the velvet rope. Happy people are hopeless, they say: hopelessly idealistic and hopelessly romantic.
In fact, the exact opposite is true: happy people are the hope-filled, the joy saturated, the ones so full of the Spirit he oozes out of them. The surprising testimony of the scripture, and the Lord of the scripture, is that history has a destination of unspeakable joy.
Even when we look cold-hard at the suffering of a desperate world, we can see the text of God super-imposed on the landscape, written with a feather-touch: “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This week I invite you to meditate with me on the fruit of the Spirit, those nine attributes I can never seem to remember in order: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Discover again with me that “serious” is not a fruit of the Spirit.
The shipwrecked and beaten apostle reminds us, “against such things there is no law.” They cannot be legislated into existence, nor regulated out. They can only be lived into. They can only be discovered as the natural outgrowth of a life lived in concert with the Great Creator, the Feast-throwing Father, the one who invites us, “enter into the joy of your Master.”
Reader Comments (2)
Ray, I am consternated. The joy of my Master that I share is not subject to the format of “our” present day church. We are continuing to grow into ourselves with mutual gratification rather than growing out into the world, though not subject to the world, to make disciples subject solely, and soul(y), to our Lord.
You just presented a piece much like a sales pitch to inspire the salesmen to stay in our company. This is not uncommon when our church format focuses toward one pastor for speech, even if he/she is a temporarily invited pastor, rather than allowing all the nerve endings in the body of our Master to share in learning, teaching and worship as equals.
This is what I thought “students of jesus” could not be in the pattern of because I wrongly thought the focus had to be on Jesus and not Ray. I sometimes get sold a bill of goods because I do what I’ve done something like I’ve done in this instance. I assumed the lower case “j” was in the example of Jesus’ humility and we would be learning students of His on an equal plane.
I’ve exceeded the parishioner’s allowed single paragraph of comment according to the Roman church in the name of jesus. I didn’t come to bring peace and joy in the present and neither did Jesus, of that I am certain. Since my accepting the Holy Spirit into my heart and mind I find joy on Earth when I get to see a sister or brother become equally subject to Him, also.
I have been disappointed here because I didn’t find disciples in the example of Jesus’ original twelve who partied for three years in the company of their Teacher and Master. Students who were allowed to be long winded or quiet as their spirit moved them in His attentive and immediate presence. The “Good News” is His presence is preemptively immediate today for us more so than it ever was for the first twelve.
I think I have shared as much as might help those who read this far why I might be consternated. I don’t want to be the long winded one lovingly tolerated in the congregation, all the while being subtlety pushed to start a movement of his own as the focus of his own congregation and not a distraction in theirs. I want short and long winded responses and comments from all disciples (students) in the class led by the Holy Spirit. The Internet is perfect for just that because everything but the hearts and minds of the participants can remain anonymous. Each can take their time in digesting the equally valuable thoughts and feelings of their supportive peers. Each can meditate in direct communion with the Holy Spirit as they respond in support, question, disagreement or any other form to help us all as one closer to Truth and Love. When we know and trust in the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds then there will be no need for hope (hopelessly) to be happy.
Our, not Jesus’, church format doesn’t allow for the Holy Spirit to inspire all in the Body of Jesus as that is the designated duty of the church officials and more often than not the pastor or pope. When we read the New Testament in His Spirit we read that He did not bring order into the church but He did bring focus. Twelve disciples went out into the world after Him and were all coordinated because the focus was on Him and not on the disciples. This went for 300 years, longer than the USA has gone, before it was too much and we had to establish our order. The Holy Spirit is just as much real, alive and well as He was in that 300 years but the focus is now primarily on the church hierarchy and not on Him.
I moderated a class once where I invited the Holy Spirit to lead and all I did was make certain every one in attendance got the chance to share their fill. The results from that class format were wondrously exciting as we found all had something they were harmoniously inspired to share to learn when they accepted the only law was love.
I am “hopelessly happy” in what little I am able to share with Jesus and remain hopeful but still consternated that we, as His disciples, can learn to share in the same love amongst us all. Love is the format that allows that to happen. Love!
Thank you, Ray. It reminds me of Hebrews 12:11...
Job seekers soon discover that the timeline for their new job dates back to or even predates the period of their most troubling uncertainty. They rarely give it much thought, but the upshot is that though they did not know it then, God did, and He already had the wheels in motion for a remedy. Knowing the outcome with absolute certainty, or trusting with absolutely certainty the One who controls it, makes the journey more of a fun than stressful adventure.