In my sermon, I read “Ode to Joy”, written by the St. Helena Star’s editor, Jesse Duarte. Published last December 31st, Jesse wrote about his lifelong depression, and the depressing state of the nation, and finding joy. “Joy is not the same as happiness. It’s an attitude, not an emotion. It’s acknowledging the world’s problems and recognizing how difficult or impossible it’s going to be to solve them, but resolving to try anyway because why else were we put here? Joy is an openness to the world in all its glorious imperfection… an accounting of everything that’s wrong with our world that leaves us ever more determined to protect everything that’s right with it. Please join me in welcoming 2025 – a year that might at times seem unbearable – with joy. None of you are in this alone, and if you ever feel like you are, call me.” I’ve had Jesse’s column about joy on the wall in my office since last December.
I learned at church camp that “joy” stands for Jesus (J) others (O) and you (Y). I wasn’t crazy about being last on the list, and I’m still not sure there’s a secret to joy. Mary saw herself as part of (partners in) God’s story, and I wonder if that’s why she’s associated with joy? We Protestants keep Mary in a box in the attic until the Christmas decorations come down, but in other traditions she is honored in statues and icons and is considered a powerful spiritual presence. Mary invites us to reimagine joy as something mysterious, bubbling up inside, aligning us with the holy… part of and partners in the continuing unfolding of God’s story of hope, peace, joy, and love, for all the world. Each week in Advent we hear and sing the stories of God coming to be with us. I invite us in this last week of Advent to practice, with Mary, joy.
In faith, Marylee