Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Philippians 4.4-9

 

It’s hard to believe

that another year

has gone past.

 

Of course, we join in

the pleasure of our young people

receiving books;

just rewards

for all their hard work

and undoubted loyalty.

 

We also sense their excitement

at the prospect of school holidays,

outdoor activity

and just – freedom.

 

Yet it has to be said

we may not feel

as unencumbered

as they are.

 

Tomorrow may not be

looked to

with the same unalloyed pleasure.

 

For maybe a specific

personal worry

bogs us down

so we can feel less enthusiastic

about the weeks ahead.

 

On the other hand,

we can just feel bound

by a general malaise

caused by time passing.

 

And that is

I suppose

a sign of growing old.  

 

Put directly –

as we look

at the excitement of our youngsters –

we are thinking –

if only I was

that care-free age again.

 

Well, let me

let you

into a wee secret.

 

And that is

no matter how hard we try

we won’t be that age

again.

 

But we can have

what they have again.

 

All we need is

the world wide antidote to gloom –

we need an injection of joy.

 

Now there is a strange

almost outmoded word

for you – joy.

 

Whatever can it mean?

 

Well it seems to suggest

an inner glow

even when we have

no cause for happiness.

 

Indeed joy defines

that exuberance

in living even

when the cards

are heavily stacked against it.

 

That was certainly Paul’s definition

of joy

when he wrote about it

to the believers of Philippi.

 

For, he was writing from jail

in most probably Rome.

 

Yet despite his captivity,

his letter

to one of the first churches

founded in Europe

is full of joy.

 

The joy that he explains

needs to be worked at;

the joy that he advises

we need to be open too

and the joy that he warns

will sometimes creep up on us

and surprise us.

 

There is a Jewish story

that says

the only question

God will ask us

when we reach heaven is –

how did you enjoy my world?  

 

And to genuinely enjoy

then I would suggest

we need to have joy.

 

That means, firstly,

we must follow Paul’s advice

and work at having joy.

 

In other words,

we need to continually pray

in petition and confession

and humility.

 

Because when we do so

we admit to ourselves

that our ultimate contentment

is not an internal quality.

 

It is not a product

of our own self-sufficient goodness

or wealth of possessions.

 

Rather joy is a gift bestowed

from outside.

It is in fact a gift

given by a generous

and forgiving God.  

 

And here in

lies its attraction

for as C S Lewis said;

 

Joy is never in our power and pleasure is.

I doubt that whether anyone

who has tasted joy

would ever exchange it

for all the pleasure in the world.

 

But if we acknowledge joy

comes from with out us

then we give into

an even greater reality.

 

For if joy comes

from God

then it has an infinite source.

 

And that is the very reason

that we find our joy

springing up

in the simplest of places;

in an early morning garden,

in a view of the hills

on a country walk

and the hug of an old friend.

 

Indeed, it is there

in a 1001 encounters and sights

in a day.

 

All we need is to be open to it;

we need to want to feel it

and we must know what it is

in our lives

most often conveys it.  

 

For Francis Gay

tells a story of a business man

who was also

a great art lover.

 

Indeed, over the years

he built

an excellent collection of pictures

and not without significant sacrifice.

 

One of his more worldly friends

visited him one day

and cast his eye

over the art works.

 

He then remarked –

what a lot of money

you would get

if you sold for this lot!

 

The collector was perplexed

and said

pointing to his art works –

but if I had a lot of money,

these are things I would buy!

 

For the friend thought

in terms only of money

whilst the art lover

thought only about

what brought him joy.

 

But there is

an even higher truth

we can learn

if we know joy

originates in God.  

 

And it is the truth

that Paul

gave witness too.

For, albeit chained

in some stinking dungeon,

Paul knew real joy.

 

Not just common or garden joy

but its finest vintage.  

 

The joy that intoxicates

when it has

absolutely no right to.

 

And it was this inexplicable joy

that forced Paul

to write in blessing

to the Philippians –

and the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts

and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

And if you are weighed down

by the future,

then I pray

you will know

this lightening strike type

of God’s joy.

 

That senseless joy

that can transfuse life  

back into those situations

where we would

least expected it,

or look for it

or even hope for it.

 

Because that is

The very the gift

of boundless possibility

that Vernon Scannell

seems to write of

in his poem –

The power of love:

 

Ordinary things Teacup,

spoons and sugar-lumps

Become magical.

 

The locked door opens

Inside are leaves and moonlight

You are welcomed in

Its delicate strength

Can lift the heaviest load

And snap hostile steel.

 

It gives eloquence

To the dumb tongue, makes plain speech

Blaze like poetry

 

 

Now another of C S Lewis quotations

goes like this.

 

"A young man who wishes

to remain a sound Atheist

cannot be too careful of his reading.

 

There are traps everywhere –

'Bibles laid open,

millions of surprises,'

as Herbert says,

'fine nets and stratagems.'

 

God is, if I may say it,

very unscrupulous."

 

 

But so too is he unscrupulous

with his bestowal of joy.

 

In fact, Joy is one

of God’s greatest

and most inescapable traps.

 

For, of course,

we daily

should apply ourselves

to its gain.

 

Also we should look

for its divine appearance

in everything.

 

But, joy will also

come up behind us

in the most trying of circumstances

and say boo.  

 

And it is this unexpected joy

that transcends

all logical prison chains

and brings our hearts

and minds back to Jesus.

 

The Jesus of our summer youth;

the Jesus of our autumn eves

and the Jesus

of our eternal and joyful spring.

 

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

Hymn

 

 

 

Dear Philippians