Now that the frigid temperatures of our deep winter are promised to soon close in on us I am thankful for the thermostat that keeps me warm. It is such a relief to trust that the little device on the wall will adjust and correct and maintain our house as we want it. Of course, I can adjust it; and I do. I am aware of it, but for the most part, I let it go, and simply trust. And now because of a commentary on Romans 16:25-27, I am going to see that very same thermostat as a metaphor of God-given joy. I never looked at it that way before.
This Sunday we have that short passage from the very conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Romans appointed for the final week of Advent. The commentator I was reading, Rev. Catherine F. Young, a retired Presbyterian pastor from Waterloo Iowa, described the passage as a joy-filled doxology. (Doxology means “word of glory.”) She made the case that joy is much more than happiness.
She wrote, “The root of the word happiness is ‘hap,’ which means ‘chance’ (as in happenstance). Happiness is a mood, an emotion that changes as circumstances around us change. It is like a thermometer that goes up and down as it interprets the events around us, making us vulnerable to happiness one minute and despair the next. Joy, on the other hand, sets the temperature of our environment rather than responding to it.” She even used the word thermostat in reference to Joy.
I like the direction she took with the concept of joy. Joy is a very significant quality for the spirit, a very big topic in the New Testament. And on Sunday, we are definitely going to be celebrating joy!
Yes, in a very, very big way JOY will be heard in our church and in every church across the world. You know what I mean, “Joy to the World, the Lord is come!” In that way, we can think about joy as something more than a response or reaction, and more of an understanding, a position, and a place to dwell. Joy is more than an emotional state; it is a blessing given in promise, relationship, and security. Joy is a gift of God who was, who is, and who will be.
More than one Christian writer has described how joy entered into their lives and spirits and was capable of empowering, comforting, assuring, enlivening, brightening, rescuing, and transforming. Many have commented that joy took them by surprise as something that came to them from beyond themselves, many times in circumstances of need and conditions that would seem to contradict joy.
Later in the evening this Sunday, we will hear the Christmas story and the announcement of the angels about “good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). This joy is a gift. It is a gift from God. It was proclaimed to humble and receptive hearts in a very turbulent world. Trusting that joy made a difference in their lives and indeed in the world. That joy is still a gift, and trusting that joy will continue to make a difference in your lives and indeed in the world today. We all know by listening to the news that this world is again troubled and turbulent and in need of a message of great joy.
If happiness is more ephemeral and subject to change, I appreciate the potential of joy, this perspective provided from one whose vantage point is higher than mine, allowing me to hold on to an inner attitude of gratitude, a guiding serenity and a promise of peace. Joy, given by God has the capacity to be that thermostat for your soul. Just like that tiny device on my wall which so tenaciously, even stubbornly, maintains our home at an even temperature; God’s joy can be that steadfast and resolute peace for your life. So I pray for joy in your lives, for Christmases that will indeed be merry, and that all your celebrations “repeat the sounding joy.”
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Reverend Mark Ditmanson of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Marais.
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