Choosing Joy

12-15-21 Glenda Simpkins Hoffman

At the recent Cathedral Brass concert, I heard for the first time a musical setting for Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I had recently reread the book and watched one of the many movie versions. If there is anyone who is the exact opposite of joy, it’s Scrooge. Though financially secure, he is completely obsessed with making and keeping as much money as possible. In living a joyless, lonely life devoid of meaningful relationships, he fails to see his life for what it is.   

But through the Spirits of Christmas past, present, and future, he has an epiphany. He begins to see himself for the selfish miserly, miserable person he is. On Christmas Day he awakens with a second chance to live a new and different kind of life—a life of love, joy, kindness, compassion, and generosity.   

The story concludes, “He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them. His own heart laughed; and that was quite enough for him.” This was a Christmas miracle. Sad, sour, stubborn Scrooge was transformed, becoming a man filled with joy who was committed to spreading that joy to others.  

Scrooge is a good (and horrible) example of a person who is devoted not only to pursuing but securing his own happiness. However, the story reveals how he actually failed to do so. And the truth is, we are all like him, even if not as extreme.   

Early in life, we somehow learn and begin to live the false belief that we need to take care of our own needs and satisfactions. Each of us takes on coping skills and patterns that help us to feel good about ourselves and the world around us. This is our strategy for meeting our basic needs for love, security, power, and control.  Scrooge offers a classic example of how this can go awry.   

In his book The Good and Beautiful Life, James Bryan Smith unpacks Jesus’ teaching on The Sermon on the Mount. He writes, “I have never met a person whose goal was to ruin his or her life. The problem is, Jesus tells us, we have bought into false notions of happiness and success. These self-centered decisions lead us further into the vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, avarice, worry and judging. Eventually we find ourselves living a beautifully packaged life of self-destruction.”   

That is what happened to Scrooge, who was greedy for money. It is what can happen to any of us. But we have an alternative: to learn how to live the abundant life that Jesus has already brought us, which is characterized primarily by love, peace, and joy.  

In many of his letters, the Apostle Paul follows up with more teaching on how “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds” (Ephesians 4:23-34; see also Colossians 3; Galatians 5; Romans 5:13-26).   

Classic spiritual writers refer to the old self as the false self. Our false self is built on an attachment to an image of our self. We might say it is based on the strategies we use to attempt to secure our happiness. However, as Scrooge learned late in life, that doesn’t really work.   

I love the quote by Basil Pennington: “Unhappiness is always a result of not being able to do something I want to do, have something I want to have, or concern about what others will think of me.” As David Benner writes in his book The Gift of Being Yourself, “This is the core of the false self—placing my value in what I have, what I can do and what others think of me.”    

If Scrooge is the example of a person devoid of joy, the Apostle Paul is a sterling example of someone who is filled with joy, as his letter to the Philippians makes clear. It’s important to remember that Paul was sitting in a Roman prison facing an uncertain future not knowing whether he would live or die. Even so, he exuded joy in Christ, in his relationships and shared partnership in the gospel, in his proclamation of the good news in Christ, (1:18), and that his own sacrificial ministry was not in vain (2:17-18).  

He goes on to encourage the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:4-7).   

If unhappiness comes from not having or doing what you want or what others think of you, then joy comes from remembering God’s goodness and grace and giving thanks for what is already ours. God loves us with an everlasting, unconditional love, and “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. We have a relationship with our Triune God that will never end. This is nothing we could have earned or achieved or acquired on our own. It’s all grace, all gift (Ephesians 2:8-9).   

Though Jesus tells us we will see trouble in this world, we have his assurance that he is always with us. We are not left alone in this world. The Holy Spirit, the Advocate or Helper, is with us filling, transforming, equipping, and empowering us for our real life in this world. The abundant life of love, joy, and peace is already ours because of all Jesus did for us. We experience that life as we rely on the Holy Spirit.   

These are mind-boggling truths but reflecting on them and expressing gratitude for them can change our perspective as we turn our eyes from ourselves and our circumstances to the larger panoramic view of God and his love, grace, and power. Taking time to remember, reflect, and give thanks expands our heart to see and appreciate other joys that come to us each day. We experience joy as we hear beautiful music of this season or see a stunning sunset, are encouraged by the kindness of a stranger or the sacrificial act of a friend, helped by the miracle of modern medicine, and carried by the prayers of brothers and sister in Christ.    

You and I may not have the kind of epiphany that Scrooge had, but we too can be transformed so that we experience and share deep joy. Because joy is not a feeling, it’s a choice. With the help of the Spirit, we can choose to let go of the unhappiness of “not being able to do something I want to do, have something I want to have, or concern about what others will think of me.”  

Instead, we choose joy and gratitude: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). When we choose to let go of trying to make our life what we think it should be, we open our hands and hearts to receive and enjoy the abundant life of love, joy, and peace that only God can give. We become the kind of people who not only experience joy ourselves but share that joy with others.   

I pray we may choose more and more to live and share the joy God freely gives—not only this joyful Advent and Christmas season but also into the new year.