It’s always a bit difficult for me to talk about joy. It’s not because I’m against it, but because when I do I feel like I’m taking advantage of my very obvious connection to the word. Joy, the person, and I have been married for over 13 years. One of the things that attracted me to her was that her name and her personality were made for each other. I found out very early that our joy together was often manifested in different ways, but nonetheless, it was her infectious and deep down sense of joy that resonated with me. So when I start to talk about joy, I usually get some questioned faces as to which joy/Joy I’m talking about. Today, I want to talk about the state of being rather than the person (sorry Joy).
Several years ago I started noticing that something was happening in our world. This something is probably not all surprising to many today. I’d even imagine that many folks would agree on most all accounts. The “something” that I saw happening was the rapid irrelevance of the Church in our culture. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s during a time when the moral majority and the Christian right ruled the airwaves. I remember the “church” being wooed and dated by political pundits and even media outlets. Other faiths were looked at as evil and a “hill to be captured” or a “battle yet to be won.” I witnessed worship wars and heard every kind of preaching style known to man. I worshipped in giant stained glass sanctuaries and in tiny little store fronts and a couple home churches as well. I was a part of the “training up our children to think and act a certain way” model of discipleship and as a Pastor I even was trained to transmit some of those very same ways of disciple making.What I noticed was that this militaristic-bootcamp model of faith wasn’t really doing anything. Sure people were fired up, but just as many were being repelled by the behavior. Rather than falling in love with the savior, many were running away from the bride He came to call and redeem. I watched as fellow students that were “on-fire, born-again believers” began making horrible choices and choosing instead a bland spirituality of indifference or of exploring any and all kinds faith stories. As a Youth Pastor, I also began to notice many of my students were having a more difficult time connecting their faith to their life. They had a million opportunities in front of them and their faith was something they could maintain with or with out me and the church. As a result, many stopped engaging all together (one student even told me that they had done the prayer thing and now they could go and not worry about their faith any more).
As I started to look at the enormity of what appeared at the time as a lost cause, I started finding others who were worried like I was. Some thought it was time to re-up the battle plan and wage war on a new level. The problem with that was it was this very “crusader” mentality that was already turning people away from the church. I witnessed some create new worship environments that were more entertainment model than before. I’ve read books and I’ve attended seminars. I interviewed countless numbers of young and older adults who feel isolated and turned away from the church – many of which aren’t quite done with Christianity, just the church.
Yesterday, I was reading some articles on this pandemic and something struck me as a bit odd. The researchers were talking about the irrelevance of the church (in fact over 40% of former active young adult christians claim this as their reality). The authors began to talk about this irrelevance. Several talked about how the Church and weekly worship or discipleship opportunities were so opposite of their regular daily experiences. Sunday’s, or other gathering times, were boring or dry or just didn’t matter or connect to what they living.
There was one more piece though that was highlighted – the joylessness of our faith. The authors mentioned that many young adults explained their irrelevance, the boring-ness, the non-connection of worship to the idea that most churches are too stuck up on a sense of piety of holiness that they have completely walked away from the joy of faith. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is a place for reflection and reverence. I love quiet and hushed worship. But I also wonder if to many of our experiences are exactly the reason folks are leaving? I mean how often do we get quiet and reverent other than in church? Yes, it has to happen, humanity needs that moment, but we need those moments infused with the joy of our faith.
For instance, when was the last time you experienced a time of prayer, whether at an altar or just in a pew/chair, that brought a deep sense of joy and peace in your life? When was the last time that a sermon or worship experience brought you to repentance and made you smile instead of squirm? Repentance, the keen awareness of how lost and broken we are, is not a sad thing. Sure the reality is humbling and knowing that it’s caused the Lord sorrow is heavy. But also knowing that what causes the Lord of bliss to shout in happiness, is when one of his people repents and receives forgiveness, redemption and restoration.
The author’s point is really important – is part of the reason the Church, at least here in the west, is struggling so mightily is because we have adopted a joyless type of faith? A joyless person of faith will not be able to share their story. A person who is in the midst of the world’s junk, but still finds the joy of Jesus is someone we want to be around. Think of the early church, they had every reason to be quiet and forlorn and stay hidden. Isn’t it amazing that the early church couldn’t help but grow even in the midst of amazing persecution? These were a people who were finding purpose and joy that humanity hadn’t been exposed to prior?! This joy-filled faith was intoxicating to a broken world.
I grew up hearing the song “what the world needs now is love, sweet love.” I wonder if, in light of the church’s increasing irrelevance in our society, what the world needs now from the church is the Joy of our salvation restored? Sure we need the love, but we need to know that this love is transforming and transformation comes from a joy-filled people of God who know they’ve been redeemed and set loose as true joy distributors. As we begin the New Year, I’m covenanting with you to let God’s deep joy increase in my life. Will you join me? Will you let joy be your calling card?
May the God of joy, the Lord of Bliss, fill you with His Spirit and Love in such a way that joy overflows out of you and is infectious this New Year! Grace and Peace…and a lot of JOY too!