The theme for this Advent season at Lakewood United Church of Christ is JOY to the World. Each day during the Advent season, a reflection on a scripture passage related to JOY will be posted. We hope these daily reflections help you to have a joy-filled Advent.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
Psalm 43:4
There are many ways that we think about God and refer to God and conceive of God. In the church, a multiplicity of images are used: Creator, Father, Mother, Love, Rock, Redeemer, Shield, Protector, Sustainer, Source, Guide, Judge. But how common is it to think of God as joy? The Psalmist images, “God my exceeding joy.”
I once heard John Dominic Crossan, a biblical scholar of the Jesus Seminar, talk about how the church had been preaching and teaching love for hundreds of years, but where had it gotten us? He suggested that the church try replacing the word “love” with the word “justice” and then see how things went. Crossan implied that our word justice is closer to how Jesus was portraying the commonwealth of God.
I am wondering about using the term “Joy” for God. What if we replaced the word God with the word Joy. What if we prayed, “Our Joy, which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name”? Or, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray for Joy my soul to keep”? Or, sang, “Praise Joy from whom all blessings flow”? Or “O Joy, our help in ages past”?
I am thinking about where we might be if we exchanged the word “Joy” for the word “God.” Where might that lead the church? In my experience of church, I have seen God portrayed far more as Judge than as Joy. What kind of church would we be with a greater emphasis on Joy? How would things be different? How would Christians treat others if God was imaged primarily as Joy? How would non-Christians perceive Christians who worshipped Joy? How would the world be different if our God was Joy?Maybe the church and Christians and the world would be happier and more joyful.
The Psalmist talks about praising “God my exceeding joy. . . with the harp.” This time of year, we are surrounded by the sounds of Christmas carols and songs. They express the joy of this season. I love to sing Angels We Have Heard on High, O Come, All You Faithful, Good Christian Friends, Rejoice, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and Joy to the World! Joy infuses We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Deck the Halls. Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, and, of course, Jingle Bells all ring with joy.
This season, surrounded by the carols and songs of Christmas, is the perfect time to try out imaging God as our exceeding Joy!
Prayer
May our lives, our faith, our church, our service, and our praise proclaim Joy within us, around us, and among us. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 