Joy!



December 20, 2014

Joy!  By Marta McLaughlin

Scripture: Psalm 139

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me.”  Psalm 139:1

I am often filled with joy for no apparent reason.  The sky looks bluer and the plants greener, I say just the right thing at the right time, walking feels like dancing, and everything seems to flow.  Of course, sometimes I’m filled with joy because I’ve gotten good news or something that I have been hoping and praying for is happening.  But what is the key to this other joy?  

Psalm 139 eloquently describes how intimately God knows each one of us. God invests time and energy in developing each one of us.  God continues to form us with unique skills, interests, gifts, and experiences.  God affirms our infinite value.  God is with us wherever we go, embracing us, guiding us.  We are not alone.  We are known.  We are loved.  God  actively seeks to develop a relationship with us.  God wants us to be a part of what God is doing in the world.  God gave us each other, community, to love and care for one another.  The details of how we do that are different for each one of us.  But I am reminded of the quote from Frederick Buechner — 'The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.'  When I’m able to set aside self-doubt, stress, anxiety, and regret; when I remember that God knows me and loves me just as I am; and when I feel connected to God and my community, I feel that I am where God has called me to be in that moment, and I’m overfilled with joy.

During this week of advent, we remember the joy God brought into the world through Jesus Christ and the joy that each of us has the opportunity to experience through our relationship with God and our community.

Prayer: Nurturing and affirming creator, you know us inside and out, from beginning to end.  You know our faults and our failures,  and you love us just the same.  Help us to lay down the stress and anxiety of our own goals, help us to turn our self-doubt over to you, help us tune into joy to recognize where you are calling us to be.  Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scripture as a guide and not a weapon

Daily reading: Acts 15:1-19 Monday May 15, 2017
As the body of believers is growing and the Spirit is out ahead of the physical movement of followers, infusing communities and surprising both believers and non-believers, word has spread to Paul and Barnabas out in the Gentile community that those in Judea believe that salvation only comes to those who are circumcised.  The church in Antioch sends Paul, and Barnabas and several others to Jerusalem so they can present a different view point.
When they arrived, they give a full report of the Gentile conversions and the work of the Spirit in the communities they had visited.  It is at this meeting that some of the scholars of the law stand up and say, “The Gentiles must be circumcised.  They must be required to keep the Law from Moses.” And thus a debate ensues.
While we have a tendency to use scripture as a weapon to prove we are right, be it on a number of issues throughout time as a means to end the discussion, that is not what the Jerusale…
Keep reading

Relationship

Daily reading: Job 1:1-22 Saturday July 9, 2016
Focus passage:  Job arose, tore his clothes, shaved his head, fell to the ground, and worshiped. In all this, Job didn’t sin or blame God Job 1:21-22
There is unimaginable suffering that happens in our world.  We have heard of others like Job that have lost everything in the blink of an eye.  For those of us who are worriers, when we hear about similar stories in the news it send us into a state of panic and anxiety. 
So the more beneficial question is how do we respond to undeserved suffering?
Job responds by praying to God and blessing God’s name.
If the book ended here, it would be a much simpler parable.  We still would have to deal with a God figure that allowed undeserved suffering for the sake of proving a point, but it wraps itself up quite nicely.  Job is faithful when he is wealthy and happy beyond measure and is still faithful when all has been taken away and he has suffered unimaginable lose.

Prayer:  God you are Holy and worthy t…
Keep reading

Faithfulness

Daily reading: Job 42:1-6 Sunday August 7, 2016
Focus passage: My ears had heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you.  Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes.  Job 42:5-6
While on vacation, I had the pleasure of finally meeting one of my neighbors.  My kids and husband had met him probably about a year ago, but I was always away from the house when they had their conversations over the fence that our yards share.
He asked what I do for a living and our conversation blossomed.  What was intended to be a quick question at our front door ended up with a conversation around our dinner table.  He really wanted to hear what I thought about the life of the church in this era of what seems like a mass exodus from faith communities.  I won’t go into the details of our conversation, but will highlight a common theme.  Laced throughout the conversation was the theme of why faith and faithfulness is important and how we live our faith is vital not only for ourselves but for our c…
Keep reading