A Spirituality of Joy

The ultimate purpose of Christian spirituality is to fall deeply in love with God. What good is an ever-increasing sophistication in the principles and practice of the faith unless there is an accompanying passion

The goal of a healthy spirituality should not be merely our own personal development. Such a focus would preoccupy us with our self and our perceived progress or lack thereof. But if our goal is to love God, we preoccupy ourselves with him and the things that are the passions of his heart

When the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well and caught a glimpse of who he was and the passion of his heart to bring living water to desperately thirsty people, she ran back to town and excitedly communicated: "Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" (John 4:29.

When we encounter Jesus we cannot help but echo her excitement as we run joyfully alongside her. We too have been found by One who knows us--who knows everything we have ever done--and yet, in mercy, kindness and love gives us the Holy Spirit who helps us become who we are; beloved sons and daughters of God

David reflected on God's strong hand of protection over him, and he responded by praying: "I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love" (Psalm 31:7). To exult is to be overwhelmed with more joy than our bodies can contain. When we experience this exulting type of joy, we simply must leap to our feet and scream, "Alleluia!"--or something like that.

We talk about this love of God in worship all the time, but we don't always see a lot of exulting. Time and again we encounter the Word of God offering a sacred "I love you." How can anyone hear these amazing words and think, "I know God loves me. Why does the pastor keep saying that?"

In India, the fable is told of a tiger cub that lost his mother and was adopted by a family of goats (See Frederich Buechner's "The Magnificent Defeat"). The goats raised the tiger to speak their language, adopt their ways, and eat their food. Soon the tiger believed he was just a funny-looking goat. One day a king tiger appeared, and all the goats scattered in fear. The young tiger was left alone, feeling afraid, yet somehow unafraid. The king tiger asked him what was meant by this masquerade? All the young tiger could do was bleat nervously and eat grass. So the king carried him to a pool and forced the young tiger to look their reflected images. Side by side, the truth was made clear in what they saw mirrored in the water. Lashing his tail and digging his claws in the ground, the young beast raised his head high, and the jungle trembled at the sound of his exultant roar.

Jesus restores our dignity by forgiving us for all those ways we have settled for being the goat, so that we can spend the rest of life expressing gratitude and roaring with delight!

Thanks for our joyful journey together to God's heart!

Duff Gorle