“Every Party has a pooper and that’s what we invited you for. Party pooper! Party pooper!!”
Ever had that sung at you? Yeah, been there. Taunted by those you thought were friends because you wouldn’t go along. Or maybe you just raised a question about the appropriate of the actions in which the group was engaged. Or maybe you just didn’t feel like it, maybe it wasn’t a judgement call against anyone, but simply you just weren’t in the mood. And the wrath of the gang came crashing down on you. “Party pooper!” Or in a little more modern parlance we say “you’re a buzz kill!”
The buzz, that’s what we’re after these days. Whether the buzz is the center of attention, being talked about; or that is the excitement of doing something dangerous, or difficult; or that euphoric feeling that comes from life or a variety of substances, legal or otherwise; it is all about the buzz. And the worst thing we can do to anyone is kill that buzz.
We Christians have a reputation of being a buzz kill. The rather sobering read from a few years ago titled “UnChristian” reminded us all just how the world views us. This was a research project done by a couple of students from Wheaton College in Illinois, asking young adults who did not consider them a part of the faith what their view of Christians was. A buzz kill is the nicest interpretation we can receive from this work.
OK, there are some buzzes that probably need killing, I admit that. But after working our way through the fruit of the spirit that is love, it pains me that we aren’t first and foremost known as those who love. That we don’t put forward the face to the world that says we love first. We stand in the place of the One who loved first, the One who came because of love, who lived because of love, who died out of love for us and the whole world. Why isn’t that our lead? Why isn’t that our distinctive mark, our reputation? This is what Paul urged the church to do and be. Again and again, he called us, as John does in the letters, as Jesus, for heaven’s sake, calls us to do and to be.
It was this call from Christ himself that draws us here now. But, for those who may be keeping track, aren’t we moving on from love? Isn’t this a change of season? Aren’t we ready for joy? Well, I certainly hope so! But what I read, both in the scriptures themselves and in a variety of commentaries and reflections on these fruit of Spirit ideas, is that if we don’t grasp the love thing, the rest won’t fall into place. In other words we first need to have some understanding of love, some experience of love, some recognition that we are loved and that we can love in return. Without that we aren’t open enough for joy - or for peace and patience and kindness and generosity and faithfulness and gentleness and self control, for that matter.
But, praise God, once we have an inkling - not a full comprehension, but an inkling (the size of a mustard seed, let’s say) then joy comes rushing in, and takes up residence. And cannot be removed. Believe it or not. Take a look.
John 16:17-22 Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying to us, 'A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" 18 They said, "What does he mean by this 'a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about." 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, 'A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'? 20 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. 22 So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Uh, wait. Up there it seemed like you were talking about us being a buzz kill. But here it seems to talking about someone buzz killing us. What’s the deal? How about, I messed up? I genuinely intended to write about us losing our buzz, about all the things that happen to us to cause us to lose our grip on what is good about our faith, about all the things that squeeze the joy out of our lives. At least that is what I intended to write. And then I read the passage again. “No one will take your joy from you.”
I mean, if that is the promise, then we can’t really spend the time whining about those who steal our joy, can we? Unless we want to say that Jesus got it wrong. Which isn’t a position I want to hold very often. Like, at all, come to think about it. Except that I know the experience of having my joy stolen. I’ve been there. So, was He wrong, or is there something I’m not yet getting?
Maybe it is like the disciples in this passage. They weren’t getting it, they didn’t have a clue what he was telling them, and they were flopping around like fish out of water trying to figure it out. Doing everything except asking Him apparently. Luckily He is perceptive that way, or has really good hearing, or reads blank faces and furrowed brows. Whatever. He tells them that there will be pain now, there will be grief now, but when we see him again, then we will have joy. So, we’re still waiting. The joy hasn’t come yet. This is Kingdom joy, this is Someday joy. It isn’t here and to expect us to have it now is unrealistic. Isn’t it?
“When I see you again.” Did that mean at the end? When the trumpet sounds and the dead rise from the grave? Or when One dead rose from the grave? He saw them again after he went away, didn’t He? And when He saw them, they became different people. Still carrying the wounds of their experience, they launched a movement that changed the world. Because it was no longer about them. It was about the One they wanted to share with the world.
That is where joy comes from, the kind of joy that can’t be taken away, from surrender. It comes from recognizing that the true center of all that there is and all that there will be is not us, but is something that leans in our direction. And all we want to do is grab hold of that glory. All we want to do is worship. All we want to do is love. Because all we know is that we are loved. And we know that with a confidence that no one can take away.
Not pain, not grief, not suffering of any kind, nothing that happens to us in this world can take away that confidence, that contentment, that driving knowledge that love is all we need, indeed love is all there is - love that drives us out of ourselves into the lives of those around us, love that gives the world a color that can only be seen through the eyes of the beloved, love that sees beyond the surface into something deeper, something more real.
That’s where joy is found, in loving like that, not holding back, not saving some for later, but encountering the world the way God did when God sent the only Son, God so loved the world. And if that is how we are to engage the world, we ought to repent when we are experienced by way too many as buzz killers. If anything we should be buzz enhancers. Or maybe, more safely, we can say we are joy givers. At least I hope we can be. Not worrying that we might lose it, since no one can take your joy. Thus saith ...
Shalom,
Derek
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