“On any given day, your joy might be quiet and peace-filled, tucked way down in your belly. Your joy might be extroverted and raucous, making you dance, sing, and shout. Do you with your joy, be you with your joy, feel it your own way… It’s inside you, waiting to resource you. To build your resistance and resilience… Joy powers kindness; joy begets joy.”

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

            Here’s a short list of some things that bring me joy: butterflies, pictures of my family hanging up around my house, snuggling my dog, fall candles, sparkly rocks, fuzzy blankets, bubble baths, things that are shaped like cactuses, thrift stores, coffee shops, hiking in the woods, finding the perfect sticker, and that little noise that my cat makes when I wake her up from a nap. All of us have a list of these little things that bring us joy, and if your list looks nothing like my list, that’s totally okay. We all like different things, that’s what makes humanity interesting. What we have in common is that we all need joy. It’s not optional for human beings. It’s part of what makes us human.

            I want to be careful talking about joy, because I know not everyone here is feeling joyful today. We’re just not all joyful all the time, stuff is always happening in our lives, and we are frequently heartbroken for ourselves and for other people. That is totally normal. Some of us are right in the middle of processing some heavy stuff, and I think those dark nights of the soul are sacred too. All your emotions are valid. Sadness is part of being human, and I do not recommend trying to ignore those feelings. This is not a “don’t be sad, be happy” sermon. However, after enough time without joy, our souls grow weary, and we lose heart.

            Just like our bodies require sustenance, our souls need it too. Joy is that fuel, it re-energizes us, it sustains us, and that’s what this chapter in Fierce Love is all about: Finding Joy. Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, author of Fierce Love, is a minister who has spent a significant amount of her career working for racial justice. She has been on the receiving end of racism in her life, and she has been on the front lines with those who are fighting for change. She knows how much endurance it takes. The wisdom she has learned from that time, which she shares with us, is that “Joy is the Water of Life.” Water is necessary for every living thing; without it we would shrivel up and die. Joy is the necessary water of life. “Joy is fuel for fierce love,” she says. Joy fuels our persistence and our courage. Joy is like daily bread, it is sustenance. When you’re running on empty, you will absolutely feel it.

            Rev. Lewis finds a lot of joy in her community of justice-oriented clergy. She says, they work hard, but also play hard making laughter and music a frequent part of what they do. She calls it their superpowers. Infusing joy into their work connects them and helps them to keep up the fight. Joy is their fuel, but in order for it to be fuel, you have to do more than just be around it. Occasionally I find myself in the middle of something that should be really joyful, but in my mind, I’m ruminating on something else. Something joyful can be right there, without me paying any attention to it at all, which means I don’t walk away joy filled. For joy to fuel us, we must focus on it. This is a small but transformative shift in our mindset, to practice mindfulness with our joy. To give joy our full attention, noticing how it feels, and savoring our joyful moments like the precious morsels they are.

            That is how we refuel using joy, and these can be big joys, like vacations, or weddings, or concerts, or whatever your favorite stuff is. But they can also be small joys, like biting into a peach, or being silly with your family, or reading a book while you listen to the rain. Those small joy-filled moments are the fuel I think we’re most likely to miss out on. If we’re on auto pilot or in zombie mode, we can miss out on the joy these small things bring. Even ordinary things like the sunset and sunrise, can refuel you if you are present enough to claim the joy they have to offer. Noticing and cherishing what brings you joy is how you can be fueled by it.

            Now, let’s talk about these verses from Hebrews for a minute. Hebrews is an anonymous epistle; no author or audience is named in it. Scribes called it Hebrews because it refers so much to the Hebrew scriptures. In the Greek this epistle is poetic and sophisticated. It is notable for using rhythm and alliteration to explain to us how Jesus is the Christos, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word, Messiah. Its purpose is to persuade the reader to see Jesus as the fulfillment of all the Jewish tradition that came before him. It’s connecting the dots between the ancient tradition and this new religion.

            Judaism and Christianity both changed drastically during the first century. When Rome destroyed the temple, Jewish religion had to change, because the Temple was literally no longer an option. Meanwhile Christians were developing new practices and felt hostility from their neighbors as they drew away from one community and joined another. These two groups were growing apart, and I think it took a toll on all of them. Maybe you can imagine what it would be like to live in a time so divided; to watch two societal groups grow further and further apart from each other. Maybe you can imagine the pressure that they felt to choose sides, and the pain of having massive ideological differences with the people you love.

            In those kinds of circumstances, the words we read from Hebrews can be encouraging to us. Look at the cloud of witnesses that surround us, we are not alone. How about you lay aside that weight that feels like it’s clinging to you? You don’t have to carry it around. Look to Jesus and you’ll see that even Christ endured hostility from other human beings. Pain and grief happened to him too, but it is joy that brought him through it. The author of Hebrews says that Jesus endured that hostility because of the joy that was ahead of him. I wonder if some of his endurance came from the joy that was behind him too. There was definitely joy at the tables he and his friends gathered around.

            Rev. Lewis writes, “Joy powers kindness. Joy begets joy.” Joy helps us grow in fierce love. It is the life-giving water we draw up through our roots. We need joy to do the work of loving our neighbor and living justly in this world. Joy is what we are fighting for. The joys every person on this Earth should be able to feel. The joy of clean air and water. The joy of loving who you love and knowing that they are safe. The joy of living deeply and not just working. The joy of being yourself without being afraid. Joy, for all people. Joy is a combination of freedom, contentment, and wonder; joy is so much more powerful than fear; joy laughs in the ridiculous face of hatred; and being joyful is an act of resistance against all the forces of misery.

            Most things in this world are beyond our control, but in our lives, we can cultivate joy by finding it purposefully, we can nurture joy by making room for it, and we can amplify joy by focusing on it and letting it fill us up. Savor your God-given joy and it will give you strength, whatever it is for you. No one else can find it for you. Don’t be ashamed to be joyful in your own unique way even if it’s cringy or weird to someone else. Being cool is overrated, being yourself is where the joy is at. Where I come from, we like to say that those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. Even in painful times, joy is present and possible to find. So, dance like nobody’s watching, love your people deeply, and squeeze every last drop of joy you can out of this life. It will stay with you to sustain you when you need it. Joy will nourish and support your growth, whatever is in front of you that you will have to go through.

            Back at the beginning of the summer, I started this series talking about water, so it’s nice that now we’ve come full circle. Joy is the water of life, the good stuff we draw up through our roots, and the energy that fuels our love. I wonder as we draw close to the end of this summer: Did you grow? Please, let me know, I’d love to hear how this series or this book has impacted you. If you did grow, make sure you get plenty of water and sunshine, cause that’s what all growing plants need. I’ll leave you today with one more quote from Rev. Lewis that I hope will give you the joy it gave me, as we think about the cloud of witnesses who surround us, and the strength of all our joy combined:

            “The river moving for love and justice has many tributaries… I think of all who are activating the love revolution—my friends and yours—as drops that adhere to one another, that join together and move, like a river, like a waterfall. These drops become a mighty stream of love and justice powerful enough to wear away the jagged stone of broken systems. They are persistent enough to transform the parched places where injustice chokes the life out of the vulnerable into an oasis of peace.”

            May you all find plentiful water for your souls, and joy in the smallest of moments, and join the waterfall of love that is running toward more joy for all the people in this world. Amen.