Third Sunday after Epiphany Nehemiah 8:1-10 January 24, 2010

       3Epiphany2010                                         Nehemiah 8:1-10                                  January 24, 2010

I bet it’s been a long time since most of us, including me, have read the book of Nehemiah. If all we read of it is chapter 8, it’s worth it.  Nehemiah was written about 400 years before the time of Jesus.  It tells of Jesus’ ancestors coming back to Palestine after years in forced exile. The task now was to re-build the Temple and gather the people again for worship. The Torah scrolls were finally unrolled and read and it’s such a graphic scene it is captured in numerous works of art. [powerpoint pictures of Ezra reading from scroll]

The people broke into shouts of “Amen, Amen!” and bowed their heads to the ground.  There was mourning and weeping – almost a Post Traumatic Stress situation – for good reason. We may take it for-granted that we can openly gather to worship and hear the Word of God, but we probably wouldn’t if that freedom was taken away for years upon years.  Nehemiah 8 records that moment when the freedom to worship was restored!  And the people couldn’t contain themselves!

And as Ezra read and interpreted the Torah he responded to the people’s emotions: “Do not weep or mourn, for this day is holy to the Lord.  This is a time for feasting.  Eat the fat, drink sweet wine and provide for those who have none. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  If we remember anything from Nehemiah it’s probably this verse: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  It’s this “joy” that I want to reflect on this morning. 

Whenever someone is baptized these words are said as hands are laid on them: “Sustain the baptized with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence.” Psalm 16 says the same, “In thy presence there is fullness of joy.”
 
At Confirmation these gifts of the Spirit – including the gift of joy is affirmed. Galatians 5 names the fruits of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Joy comes second – right after love and is both gift and fruit – freely given! 

If St. Paul were to come back today he’d be shocked to think Christianity was seen as anything but sheer joy. His letter to the Philippians is filled with joy.  He knew “the joy of the Lord” even while in prison. “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say “Rejoice.” Paul wrote those words even with shackles dangling from his rejoicing arms. 

But, still, I can sympathize with how a Biblical faith can be perceived sometimes as joyless. The Bible is a Gospel and Law book and sometimes the law looks joyless. But not to the Secretary of the ELCA, David Swartling! David calls himself a recovering lawyer, having practiced law for 30 years in Seattle.  But he’s using his law background still in his job with the ELCA where, as Secretary, he is charged with seeing that we stay faithful to our constitution and by-laws. 

[powerpoint picture of Swartling www.elca.org ] David was the speaker for the Deans’ meeting I attended a week ago at the Christ the King Retreat Center in Sacramento. David came with his red constitution book saying, “This is not a boring law book, but a joy-filled mission guide.”  In his introductory comments about the constitution on our ELCA website he writes:
“Our Constitutions, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions commit this church to the centrality of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, carrying out Christ’s Great Commission, serving the neighbor in response to God’s love, worshiping God, nurturing members in the Word of God, and manifesting the unity given to God’s people in living together in Christ. At the same time, these documents provide necessary organizational policies. They remind us again and again that this is not our church, but God’s. As God’s people, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world. We are doing God’s work.”   For David Swartling, nothing brings more joy!                            
The joyful news is that we have a purpose, a mission. We are God’s people, called, gathered and sent to do God’s work in the world.  Joy has more to do with meaningful lives than lives frantic to find our own personal kind of happiness. Father Thomas Keating the founder of the Centering Prayer writes about “programs for happiness.”  He says we need to be set free from our self induced “programs for happiness” – the addictions, compulsions and wants we substitute for what will truly make us joy-filled. 

Like for instance, a few days after Christmas a family among gathered us as extended family in San Francisco and had a lot of fun together. And part of the fun was the joy of serving meals for Glide Memorial’s homeless program.  God cares about people and joy comes from doing God’s work with our hands through the gifts of the Spirit: “The joy of the Lord is our strength.”

It was joy that exuded in the National Youth Gathering as we heard stories from people who had given their lives to meaningful action. One told of reaching out to the homeless by creating a jogging club for them. It was started by giving them shoes and introducing them to the art of running.  I’m reminded of this as I see the overflowing box of shoes in our hallway.  We have plenty of shoes for the children in Kagitumba, Rwanda. Our job now is finding the best way to get them there.  But picture the joy on Pastor Elidard’s face when he opens such a love package!

[Powerpoint pictures of Lutheran World Relief in Haiti – from www.elca.org] And what a joy it has been to communicate that the ELCA is one of the best organizations in reaching out to Haiti. 100% of what is given through Lutheran World Relief goes directly there. One family among us decided to add their own touch and spent a Saturday making baby blankets for Haiti.  Yards of flannel material were bought and cut and folded and UPS sent them.  Joy is given as a gift from God and that gift wants to be shared.  And the truth is, we can never lose joy.

God’s gift of joy given in Baptism is never withdrawn from us. It can get covered by the stuff of life, but joy is still the Spirit’s gift and nothing can take it from us. That’s where prayer and worship help.  It can help restore our awareness of joy.  Joy is as close as our breath. We often forget we’re breathing. And so too with joy, we forget how close at hand it is.  As the Psalmist says, “In God’s presence there is fullness of joy,” God is always present– if we will notice.

Sometimes joy is confused with happiness.  The root word of happiness is “hap” – meaning happenstance – or chance.  Happiness is circumstantial.  Joy, on the other hand, is a gift we don’t manufacture for ourselves. Joy is a gift we receive – God’s gift – despite our happenstance. Joy is trusting God accompanies us through every storm and dark night. Joy is that truth Julian of Norwich knew, “All shall be well and all shall be well and every manner of thing shall be well.”

As a fruit of the Spirit joy grows as we grow to trust God’s faithfulness.  To be Christians is to be gifted with the potential of knowing joy always – on happy and on not happy days.  Jesus wasn’t always happy.  Many of his circumstances must have caused him heartaches, but Jesus knew the joy Ezra spoke of.  

We are intended for that same joy, even when we’re facing hardships – like St. Paul did – or grieving, like the people in the book of Nehemiah were. Ezra’s words are for us too: “This day is holy to the Lord your God, do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  

This day is every day, and my prayer for us and for the ELCA in its congregations, synods and churchwide expressions is that joy will bubble up in our hearts – not just the happenstance of happiness, but the Spirit’s gift of joy.  If our awareness of God’s joy among us will be what we exchange with one another – more than grievances, more than worries, we will become a contagious community – not with a cold, but in a good way. Nothing is more healthfully contagious than gratitude for God’s promised joy as we do “God’s work with our hands.” Nehemiah couldn’t be more right: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” May it be said more and more of Faith Lutheran and of the ELCA that “the joy of the Lord is our strength!”

                                                                                                          Amen

+Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA

                                                                                                                        Amen

   +Pastor Peg Schultz-Akerson, to the glory of God
Faith Lutheran Church, Chico, CA