During our Journey through Advent, we’ve been using the film, “A Christmas Story” to launch messages of hope, peace, and today we’ll focus on joy.

“A Christmas Story”, follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker and his quest to get a Red Ryder 200-shot carbine action air rifle for Christmas. When he expresses this desire he is continually met with the mantra, “you’ll shoot your eye out”.

In today’s clip, we’ll see what happens on Christmas morning, just after the mass chaos of opening the huge pile of presents.

Ralphie receives his Red Ryder! In the clip, I’m not sure who is more excited and joy-filled, Ralphie or his father?

Many of us have experienced the magic of Christmas joy. What was your equivalent of the Red Ryder?

What brings you joy?
Where do you experience joy?
Who brings you joy?

God’s desire is that we would experience joy. When God speaks of joy, it’s not about the giving and receiving of material goods. God’s joy is an indescribable joy that exceeds the momentary joys that come with Red Ryder’s, basketballs, and drum sets. God’s joy reminds us that, no matter how hard things might get in our lives, this is not the end of the story. As the psalmist writes in Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (NRSV) Even in the midst of our biggest trials, we can experience moments of joy…especially when we look to Christ.

God’s desire is that we would embrace joy, experience joy, dwell in joy and then spread joy!

Therefore, we should invest our time and energy in those things, places, and people that bring us joy. If writing, hiking, painting, gardening, fishing, or playing cards brings you joy, do those things! If being in nature or at home or at a coffee shop or church or wherever brings you joy, spend time in those places. If your spouse, family, friends, fellow church folks bring you joy, by all means, spend time with those people. Making time to experience joy doing those things we love, in the places we love, with the people we love is a good and noble thing! We shouldn’t feel guilty for pursuing and experiencing joy!

God’s desire is that we would find joy in our relationships! God wants us to experience joy in our marriages, in our families, in our friendships. If you are not experiencing joy in your relationships, it’s time to start doing some serious work of reconciling those relationships in order that they might bring you joy. Let’s be honest, some relationships have been so intensely damaged that while forgiveness is necessary and possible, reconciliation and moving forward in the relationship may not be healthy. Sometimes, there are relationships that need to end in order for us to experience God’s joy! So, if you have relationships that do not produce joy, do the work of either figuring out how to bring joy into the relationship or move on!

In life we experience joy stealers. You know what I mean? There are people we encounter who seem to have the gift of sucking the joy right out of the room. Joy stealers have an amazing capacity to radically transform the atmosphere and energy of any gathering. Who are your joy stealers? And, if we’re going to be honest, we need to ask ourselves if we have been guilty of being joy stealers? Are we sharing or stealing joy?

Now, if you find joy in things that would go against the word of God, well, you might think twice. For example, if you find joy going to the gentlemen’s club, you should find a new way to experience joy. If you find joy getting together with your girlfriends to gossip, you need to find a new way to experience joy. If you find joy overindulging in food, beverages, or legal or not-so-legal stimulants, you need to find a new way to experience joy. If you find joy being a negative Nancy or a grumpy Gus, you need to find a new way to experience joy. If you find joy in stealing others joy, you need to find a new way to experience joy.

We should experience joy and then we should spread joy! None of this ho-hum, taking ourselves too seriously all the time stuff! That’s worn out, tired, old and void of joy! Let’s demonstrate our gratitude for God through our joy!

Too often, our joy is hijacked by our own negativity. We focus on what we don’t have, what we’ve lost, and what we can’t do. Listen folks, let’s focus on what we have and what we can do! Let’s choose joy!
God brings us joy, peace and hope in order that we might share and spread joy, peace and hope.

John 10:10 reminds us that Jesus came that we might have the full, abundant life. If we are experiencing the abundant life Jesus desires, the result will be joy!

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” In other words, when we experience joy, we are experiencing a taste of heaven here on earth! When we spread joy, we are demonstrating a glimpse of heaven on earth. Joy is the Lord’s Prayer fleshed out! We pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Moments of joy are moments of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Karl Barth wrote, “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” In other words, if we are truly grateful, we should be able to find, express, and experience joy! If we aren’t thankful, if we aren’t grateful, we might not fully understand joy.

When we come to church, it should be a joy-filled experience. When we leave the church, we should be filled with joy…and not just because we’re glad the pastor is finally finished preaching or because we are particularly pleased with today’s lunch options. We should be filled with joy because we have gathered together with the family of God to lift our hearts together in praise! When we gather together for worship, it’s practice for the coming kingdom…it should be a joy-filled time of glorifying and praising God!

As a result, we should be leaving this place as bearers of joy…as agents of joy! Our community should be a more joy-filled place because of our witness. People should be able to know that we are with Team Jesus because of our joy. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the people of Centerville knew the people of the United Methodist church as those folks who are overflowing with joy?

How will you experience, dwell in, and share joy today and in the days to come?

This morning, at the gym, I was watching Fox News. Just to be clear, I only watch Fox News if I happen to be at the gym or if I need a good laugh. Plus, through an act of divine intervention, we have a cable package that does not include any of the 24-hour news channels (you probably didn’t know that was possible).

Anyway, Fox News ran a story in reference to the New York Daily News cover. They referred to the cover as “prayer shaming.”

The Fox News reporters were attempting to get their Christian conservative fan base worked up. The only problem is, the Daily News cover has a point. If our prayers are not accompanied by action, we just might be missing the point of prayer.

Politicians, pastors, and Christian leaders have a tendency to say, “Let’s keep these folks (or the situation) in our thoughts and prayers.” And, that sounds great! Prayers do provide a sense of peace and comfort. However, too often, we stop short. We simply pray and then do nothing.

We forget that, more often than not, the answer to our prayers lies within our actions. We pray and wait for God to miraculously intervene when, all along, God is calling those who are praying to be the ones who miraculously intervene. Maybe, rather than falling on our knees in prayer, we need to get off our knees and do something??? Now, that would be a miracle!

Pope Francis said, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”

Now, I’m not really writing this to stir up a debate on gun control. As a “flaming liberal pacifist” (as I have been labeled before), most of you are aware of my stance on guns.

My point is to remind us that we can do more than offer up our thoughts and prayers. We can allow these tragedies to be a call to action.

Politicians can do more than keep people in their thoughts and prayers. Politicians can begin offering legislation and voting in ways that actually help protect citizens, rather than the interests of strong lobbying groups.

Pastors and Christian leaders and lay persons can begin encouraging their local, state, and national representatives to better represent and protect the average Joe.

As individuals, we can help one another. We can look out for one another. We can follow the example of Jesus and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide shelter for the homeless, care for the orphan and the widow, visit the sick and imprisoned, and help meet the needs of the least and last among us.

This morning, I listened to Carey Nieuwhof podcast with Jon Acuff.  One quote really struck a chord and has been resonating over and over in my mind.

Acuff said, “Everything changes. It either grows or it dies.”

In the church, we often hear the tired mantra of how people are resistant to change. Sure, it is true. People are often uncomfortable with change. Acuff’s quote implies that making the choice not to change will still result in change…growth or death. If something isn’t growing, it is dying. And, whether it’s growing or dying, it’s changing.

Of course, I’m not convinced that we don’t have a desire to change. Often, church leaders understand the need to change. In fact, church leaders often have a desire to change.

However, what trips us up at the stage of desire is fear.

When we have the desire to change, we have two basic choices: a) we embrace the vision of change; b) we allow fear of the unknown to rule the day.

When we embrace the vision, it leads to experimentation. Experimentation does not always lead to success, it does not always cause growth, but it does allow for the clarification and refinement of the vision.

When we embrace fear, it leads to stagnation. In stagnation, we revert back into the routine of “how we’ve always done things.” And, I think we can all agree that “the ways we’ve always done things” often just leads to the continuation of the status quo. And, the status quo often leads to a slow and painful death.

What will rule the day? Vision or fear? A compelling vision should be able to overcome fear. However, that’s not always the case.

If “the way we’ve always done it” was working, churches would be growing and reaching the unconnected. However, that just doesn’t seem to be the case for, let’s say 80% of churches.

If the church is serious about reaching unconnected people, we can’t continually cater to the past or allow the past to define our present and determine our future.

In 2013, I challenged my family, friends, and blog readers to take a day off from their technology. This year, I’m re-sharing the post to once again challenge those who read this post to put away their technology on Thanksgiving Day and simply enjoy the moment.

Can you imagine a day where you set all your technology aside and embrace the presence of those around you?

That’s my challenge for Thanksgiving…put your phones and tablets down…consider turning them off…leave them in the car and simply “be” with those you gather with tomorrow.

Here’s the deal…The world won’t end if you miss posting your uber-cheesy 30 days of thanks entry. No one will miss the pictures of your turkey or pie or that amazing bottle of hard-to-find craft beer. Let’s be honest…none of us are so important that others will suffer if we take a break from technology for a day.

For some of us, we’re so consumed by technology that we miss what’s going on right in front of us. Put it down and embrace, be, and live in the moment.

Surely we can all wait to post our adorable pictures, witty comments (trust me, most of us aren’t nearly as funny as we think we are), political posts that reveal how gullible and ill-informed we are, and “Jesus will cry if you don’t post this on your wall” crap.

You’ve been challenged. On Friday, I’ll check Facebook and Twitter and self-righteously judge all of you who don’t take the challenge.

The other day, someone pulled me aside and said, “Pastor, I think I’ve figured out what your problem is!”

Now, with that being the opening line of our conversation, you can imagine the thoughts running through my mind. However, rather than saying, “What the…,” I opted for the more polite, “Oh, and what’s that?”

“Well, pastor, I think you are just a little too honest.”  The person went on to explain that some church folk want to believe that their pastor has it all together.

But, for me, that’s one of the biggest problems in the church today…a lack of honesty, a lack of transparency, and a lack of authenticity.

When pastors present themselves as having it all together, of having it all figured out, they aren’t really fooling anyone. Following Jesus is messy. And, if we can’t be open and honest about who we are and what we struggle with, what’s the point?

In high school, I actively participated in Young Life. To be honest, my main motivation in attending YL was that there were some really cute girls who also participated in Young Life.  No matter the motivation, God used YL to instill some lifelong lessons and values. Some of the friendships that came out of my participation in YL have been the richest, longest, and most valuable friendships of my life. But, one of the best lessons I learned was the value of authenticity.

I always looked up to my various YL leaders. Many of them helped shape and mold my faith and Christian values. Most of the YL leaders were totally honest, transparent and authentic. For the most part, it truly was a “what you see is what you get” experience. Some of my leaders, you knew if they spoke something, they believed it and did their best to live it out.

My freshman year at Ball State, I stumbled into a party and saw one of my old YL leaders. My first thought was, “Oh crap! I don’t want to run into one of my Christian friends in the midst of this mess.” You see, this particular leader had been one who tried to instill the “don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, don’t go with girls who do” values into our crew. So, in a way, I felt like my presence and participation in that party scene would be a great disappointment to this leader.

Then, in a moment of great awakening I realized, “Hey, he’s here too!” So, I walked over and said, “Hey, dude.” He yelled, “Morris” and gave me a big hug. Then, he proceeded to offer me a beer and a hit off the joint he was sharing with a small group of folks I recognized from the one time I attended Campus Crusade. At first I thought, “Sweet!” But, then, in a brief moment of clarity, my thoughts changed.

Here I was, worried about disappointing someone who had been a fairly important part of my faith, a person I looked up to, and I walked away being the one feeling disappointed. You see, I really wanted to believe that those who “talked the talk” also “walked the walk.”  I found myself doubting and questioning the whole Christian shebang. I had always seen this guy as one who had it all together. And, to be honest, he had always presented himself that way.

That experience helped shape and mold my ministry.

Later, when I somewhat distanced myself from the intense party scene and started following Jesus, I made a decision that if I spoke something, I was going to do my best to live it. If I challenge others to do something, I’m going to do it too. If I challenge others not to do something, I’m going to do my best to avoid that as well. I’ll be open and honest about my struggles. I’m not going to be one of those Christian leaders who only focuses on my triumphs. I’ll be authentic and transparent…maybe to the point where people are made uncomfortable by my honesty!

Now, I’ve always extended grace to myself. I’ve struggled to extend grace to others. I was disappointed in that leader. I wanted to believe that he practiced what he preached. Yet, he was just like me…someone who so desperately wanted to believe, wanted to live in a way that honors God, but struggles. A few years later, I ran into him and we talked about that night. We discovered that we had a lot more in common than we originally believed. We were both in some pretty dark places at that point in our lives. We were struggling to figure out if we were going to be part of “Team Jesus”. He was still actively participating within the Christian community while he figured things out. I had been placed on the “inactive” list.

But, we were both on the journey together. We both were trying to figure things out. Heck, I’m still trying to figure things out. Maybe that makes some people uncomfortable. Maybe that’s a good thing.

I’m thankful for the ministry of Young Life. I’m thankful for the imperfect people that God uses to help transform our lives. I’m thankful that God still uses imperfect people.