“Rejoice, in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The weather can’t get any better. It has been a perfect fall day. We even had a partial solar eclipse to draw ourselves to the beauty of the world and the joy of life. Of course, good weather depends on where you are at the time, and joy depends on… something very different than what we often consider.

I’ve noticed good weather differs according to the person as well as the location. If you’re in agriculture and the crops need rain, then a dry sunny day probably isn’t what you want. If you’ve been looking forward to a golf game with some old friends, then a great soaking rain isn’t going to be the weather for you. Regardless, the weather is going to do what it is going to do. Like many things in life, the weather can change our plans, make us happy, or bring us anxiety, stress, or even fear. It is not consistent; it changes our routines and plans.

Joy and the joy of life appear to be inconsistent, unpredictable, and hard to hold on to. In our hustle and bustle, stress-filled lives, it can be forgotten. When in conflict, we expect a lot of things and look to anything to secure our position. Rarely do we look for joy amid trouble, or difficult challenges. Yet, this is what the Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians. Paul writes “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). It sounds great, but in hard times it also sounds impossible. I believe our problem is how joy is used in Christian teachings and how our consumer, fun-driven society understands the meaning. In our social world, joy is literally for sale. You find it in the use of material things or services for sale. All of which, like happiness, are fleeting. They change like the weather, unpredictable and dependent on your perceived need.

What if the Apostle Paul is writing about a joy that is like love, God’s love? He even tells us to rejoice and express our joy. To let our joy be part of what people see in our character and life. Paul tells us to have a gentle way about us that people can see in us and know us by. How is this possible? Paul writes a simple line, “The Lord is near.” How do we know this? How does it matter in a fallen world? Most importantly, how do we find this resilient unstoppable joy?

Join us on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. in worship or on Facebook Live and let’s consider this together.

May the grace and peace, (and joy) of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

Pastor Rick