"A Joy in Two Parts"

A sermon preached by
Nathan Ballentine, Tallahasse, FL
and Patricia Massey, Davidson, NC
Co-Moderators, Presbyterian Youth Connection (2003)
July 2, 2004
216th General Assembly
Richmond, Virginia

Listen again for the word of the Lord. John chapter 16 verse 20

"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn into joy."

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

It's beautiful, isn't it? "Your grief will turn into joy." Beautiful words, but they don't make any sense. I don't have much experience with grief. But I know this much is true: grief and joy are opposites. It's like saying light will become dark or sea will become sky. It's just not that easy.

In Bill Waterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin, a six year old, looses his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. He runs to his mother,

MOM! MOM! A big dog knocked me down and stole Hobbes. I tried to catch him, but I couldn't, and now I've lost my best friend!

She bends down and says,

Well Calvin, if you didn't drag that tiger everywhere, things like this wouldn't happen.

Calvin walks away crying; far from consoled, he says,

There's no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt and make it even worse.

Calvin's story of grief reminds me of my own.

Two years ago, at the beginning of my eleventh grade year, I wanted to change the world. So I volunteered anywhere and any way I could. I even wrote letters to the National Parks, lobbying them to upgrade their recycling programs.

And then came the second semester. Second semester, junior year, was busy. Soccer, swimming, gardening, school, dually enrollment college courses, church, and the beginning of the college search. I stopped volunteering.

To tell you the truth, it wasn't my schedule that dictated whether or not I would volunteer.I simply didn't put forth the effort. While I was volunteering, everything had been just right. In the words of Thoreau, I was "living the life I had imagined." When I stopped volunteering, all that changed. I always felt as though things were wrong. I was not doing something right, though I didn't know what. Something was missing, and it was my fault.

Have you ever felt like this? That no matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, you second-guess yourself. You ask yourself, "What's wrong with me?" Have you ever felt really down, like the whole world was against you- and then you thought? "It's my own fault."

In early June, I got knocked off my feet by a bacterial infection. Literally, I spent the week in bed. The first day, I used a whole box of tissues. The second, I was congested so badly it was difficult to eat. I went to bed that night, and woke up around two am, plodded down-stairs, and went outside to get some fresh air. I was seriously nauseous. And then, after a little while, I- wasn't- nauseous-any-more. My body was grieved.

Later in the week, I took an antibiotic named cephalexin. The next morning, I awoke renewed. I wanted to get up. For the first time in a week, I wanted to run.

Antibiotics are indeed miracle drugs. But, unlike bacterial infections, there are no miracle drugs for gut-wrenching grief. People die- and they are gone. Friendships shatter, and there is no reuniting. The elderly are sent away, left to be lonely. Children of God are rejected, condemned by the church- and they are not welcomed back. There is little hope, it seems.

"Your grief will turn into joy." The scripture says, but it doesn't make sense. That's impossible! No way! When somebody dies, you don't just wait two weeks and suddenly you're all smiles. Nonsense! That doesn't make sense.

The scripture doesn't make sense unless, unless it is viewed in the light of the resurrection. In Luke chapter 24, Mary and another woman went to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body for burial. They were greeted by two angels on the way, who ask the women in verse 5 and 6, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen!" Jesus did the impossible! Somehow, Jesus made opposites meet- and transform. In the resurrection of Christ, Death became Life . In the resurrection of Christ, Death became Life .

In the same way, through grace, our grief will become joy.

Grace brought Jesus to us! It brought Jesus back to us! Grace. Grace will turn our grief into joy! Rejoice because our God wants everybody to have life in fullness. Our God wants us to be joyful!

Hallelujah.

My friends, listen again for God's Word from the Gospel of John:

Jesus is speaking: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

When I hear this Scripture, I find myself wondering just what type of joy Jesus promises us. I mean, I have heard the clichés of a baby being referred to as a parent's "pride and joy" and "jumping for joy" when we are excited about something. I just have trouble understanding that sort of joy as the same joy that Jesus promises us. These phrases are speaking of happiness, but Jesus isn't promising happiness when saying "so that your joy may be complete." The joy that Jesus Christ promises us is in a personal recognition of God's love, while happiness comes from things that we

believe in some way make our lives better. Frederick Buechner finds the difference in this way: "Happiness shows us more or less where you'd expect it to-a good marriage, a rewarding job, a pleasant vacation. Joy on the other hand, is as notoriously unpredictable as the one who bequeaths it."

The joy that Jesus promises the disciples is a gift. It had nothing to do with anything that the disciples had done, in fact Jesus promised joy to the disciples because of things they had not done. Thus, the joy that we have in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with anything that we have or anything that we do, but it has everything to do with the fact that we are , that we exist. Just as Jesus Christ knew the questions that the disciples wanted to ask, God in Jesus Christ knows the questions that we want to ask. God knows us just as we are, for who we are, without the accessories of our lives that we employ to make ourselves appear to be someone other than who we were created to be.

Alright, we are going to try something. I want each of you to sit back in your chairs and relax. Now close your eyes. Think of different titles, responsibilities, or things that may in some way define who you are. Now know this, you are a BELOVED CHILD OF GOD. You are a BELOVED CHILD OF GOD. You may open your eyes. You-each and every one of you-are BELOVED CHILDREN OF GOD. Did you hear that-beloved children of GOD!

When I flew to Louisville in March to begin preparing for today's sermon with Nathan, I carried a particular definition of myself. I saw myself as a driven college student, the Co-Moderator of the Presbyterian Youth Connection, a friend, a family member, a female, and a tired, busy person. The sermon preparations that I had done up to that point came out of being that person. Before I could do the work that brought me to this place, I had to recognize that beyond all of these definitions of myself, I am a beloved child of God . God knew, accepted, and loved me before I took on any responsibilities, before I went off to college, before I even existed. God knows, accepts, and loves you-the "you" that you are stripped of definitions and responsibilities. You are beloved. We are beloved. We are God's children. Remembering our baptisms, I say to you see what love the Creator has for us that we may be called children of God, for that is what we are. It is simple really-we are children of God. That's it. But, man! It is incredible that we are beloved children of GOD! There is so much joy in that!

Brothers and sisters, this recognition is what youth ministry, and indeed all ministry of the church is about-being joyful because of God's love for us and spreading that joy to others. The mission statement of the Presbyterian Youth Connection reads: "As youth and adults, we respond to God's call through the Holy Spirit to be connected to each other, the church, and the world so that our lives may proclaim with joy that Jesus Christ is Lord!" Youth ministry is an integral part of the life of the church because we, the youth, are empowered to be connected to the church and to the world now so that we might grow in God's love and remain connected as our lives continue.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, know-no, not only know, believe-that we are not simply ministers and commissioners, or advisory delegates and staff members, but we are children of a God who knows, accepts, and loves us just as we are. Because of this awesome gift of God's love, we may all have life in fullness, in abundance. Because of this awesome gift of God's love, our joy may be complete. Because of this awesome gift of God's love, we are called to leave this place "responding to God's call through the Holy Spirit to remain connected to each other, to remain connected to the church, and to remain connected to the world so that our lives might continue to proclaim WITH JOY-WITH GREAT JOY-that Jesus Christ is Lord!"

Alleluia!