ADVENT BRUNCH “SERMON” BY ART THE AUDACITY OF JOY

(Disclaimer: I was asked whether I could reconstruct the remarks I made at the Sunday brunch. I’m going to try but with this disclaimer: this message works only within the context of the whole service. The message came out of the spirit of the group and the music – especially the music – as well as my thoughts. Paul and I have worked hard over the past 38 years of our association to put services together where music and sermon are on the same track. The sermon without the music is incomplete. With that disclaimer I’ll try to capture some of my thoughts from Sunday.)

Before I begin we’re going to sing a little unlisted song that sort of fits in with my thoughts that will follow. It goes with an article in Thursday’s GT called “Good Cheer May Spread Itself” For instance, did you know -     Happiness is Contagious – You can catch it and pass it on. “Transferred happiness may be good for         up to a year!” So watch out!     Networks are Important – Friends and family nearby can help keep you up-beat.     Happy Spouses help – but not as much as “friends of the same gender.” (It didn’t say anything about         the effect of unhappy spouses or friends of the opposite gender!)     Each happy Friend boosts our chances of happiness by 9% - and each unhappy friend reduces our         happiness by 7%.

This is not news to those who remember my booklet printed 25 or 30 years ago – in several editions no less – called “10 Things To Do Before You See the Counselor” One “thing to do” that fits the subject is:         “Socialize – Isolation breeds desperation – You can’t be human alone.”

So to set the idea in place – let’s join in this song:     “The more we get together…the happier we’ll be…”

We’re talking today about CHRISTMAS joy.     When the angels told the shepherds about good news of a great joy, they weren’t talking about the kind of joy you get when your team wins the state high school football championship. It’s not the kind of joy you might have if you win the lottery. The joy of the Christmas story is a transcendent joy. It is a mystical kind of joy that you can’t describe. It is the GREAT joy that rises above everything. It rises above              Sadness…hunger…homelessness…poverty…unemployment…health problems…war…gloom…depression.

This joy is not something we can bring about on our own. Its coming is unexpected…as unexpected as it would be for shepherds to hear angels on a dark night. This joy always surprises us.

Let me give you an example. In this last blue sheet I mentioned an idea from Marcus Borg where he talks about “thin places.” The idea is that there are times when the separations between ourselves and the universe or world or nature or God virtually disappear. One reader of the blue sheet who has stage 4 throat cancer is a kayaker. He goes out alone and in that alone time on the water knows the feeling of the “thin places,” when out of nowhere a warm feeling of joy rises in him.

I have seen how this kind of joy can show up at gravesides. After prayers are said and there is only silence left and sobs and people gradually turn away to leave, there are hugs and whispers. Then maybe even a chuckle as some memory is reported. Then little conversations begin and before long people are standing around talking and even laughing. By the time they gather for the party after, there is this surprising feeling of a rising joy bubbling among the people. I can’t explain it. I only know that there is a kind of joy in the world that nothing can take away. It fills us and overflows in surprising times and places.

So pay attention to what the angels are saying. They are telling truth to the surprised shepherds. “I bring you good news of a GREAT JOY…” If it can happen in a manger it can happen anywhere.

So, watch out for it. It’s contagious. It spreads by contact. You can catch it in crowds of friendly people. You can probably catch it right here. You can catch it when you are alone. And if you catch it, it can spread.

“I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”         “This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me, the world didn’t give it to me           the world didn’t give it to me.          This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me, and the world can’t take it away.” ─ Art Morgan, December, 2008