A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: WHAT IS THERE TO BE JOYFUL ABOUT?
Grace and peace to you,
Pastor and author Rick Warren defines joy as: “the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” In other words, having joy, being joyful is a choice we make. It isn’t a state of fleeting happiness. It is quiet, it is determined, it is making a choice to praise God in all situations – from the good to the challenging. Joy is about our relationship with God, I think.
Which makes being joyful really hard doesn’t it? 
How settled is our assurance that God is working in the world when all around us the world feels very chaotic, scary, out of control. At least I feel that way sometimes.
Where is God? Why isn’t God doing something to counteract the illegal detention of legal immigrants, the slide back to Jim Crow ways of operating, the fact that growing numbers of people are going without health insurance and food? Where is God? How can I be joyful in a time of lament?
Certainly the people to whom Isaiah writes in Chapter 35 are feeling that way (read Chapter 34). They have been exiled to Babylonia, Jerusalem and the Temple have been destroyed, they hang up their instruments on the willows rather than play them for their captors. What is there to be joyful about?
But Chapter 35 is a reminder that renewal is not just possible but promised. The dry lands will burst into bloom – water will flow once more. Those who are fearful will receive strength. Those who have been intentionally harmed will be made whole. And the Holy Way – the road we travel with God – will appear. God has not and will not abandon us – God is still working in the world.
If this is so, can we see it? Can we see it in the work our fellow travelers are doing to reject the cruelty of our government? Can we join in? Can we be the hope to those who are still standing amidst dire circumstances? What desert oases are bursting forth in our current time? Can we find joy in knowing that? Can we be the joyful, hopeful people God has created us to be?
How do we still stand and still be hopeful and joyful in the midst of chaos and cruelty? What is God asking of us? This Sunday, come and see, come and explore these questions. Let’s do this together.
Blessings,
Pastor Karen