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"Can Joy Be Sustained?” Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – December 11, 2011 Centenary United Psalm
126; Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Most of us have had peak moments when joy has lifted our
spirits. Maybe as a young football player, you were at the right
place at the right time. Your teammate moved the ball directly in
front of you and you kicked it into the net for the winning score
with only seconds left in the game. Everyone screamed in ecstasy and
your teammates surrounded you with hugs!
Mom and Dad sat in the stands beaming with pride, announcing
to everyone, “That’s our daughter out there!” We routinely
watch professional athletes experience this outburst of energy.
Last week when Tiger Woods sank his putt to win his own
tournament, he used his familiar body language to communicate, “The
ice is finally thawing around my game!”
In the religious
sector, we can tune in as one of the television pastors is
preaching. Cameras focus our attention on some members of his
congregation standing up, raising their hands and appearing to be
experiencing a form of ecstasy.
Originally
Quakers received their name, not because they produced oatmeal
cereal, but from their body movements during worship. There were
also Shaker colonies that became known for the same reason.
Both of these sects shook and
would often fall down and roll around on the floor as they
experienced a form of spiritual ecstasy.
The problem with
this kind of joy is that it is unsustainable.
When our joy is connected to something in the external world,
even the birth of Jesus, it fades when the stimulus causing our joy
gives way to current and future demands on our lives.
We move on and sometimes that movement can be swift. A woman was once
struggling with the demands of her work that she had no time to get
a single Christmas card into the mail.
Christmas was two days away. She went to a number of stores
and found very few cards left on the shelves.
In desperation she decided to try one more store.
To her absolute delight, there was only one pack of 50 cards
left. That was about the number of cards she needed.
The front of the card had a
perfect picture. She arrived
home, hurriedly signed all of them and took them to the post office.
She got home, brewed a cup of strong black coffee and
collapsed in a chair to
relax. She was so happy that her
Christmas card
chore was behind her. As
she was relaxing, she saw the box on the end table and pulled one of
the few remaining cards to read what it said. Immediately she
understood why the box of cards was still on the shelf.
Her peak moment of joy
vanished as she read the words inside the card. The card read, “A
late Christmas greeting is better than none, and I’m sorry it has
arrived after your fun.
To you and yours I will simply say that a little gift is on the
way.” As my mother
used to say, “Haste makes waste.” We can multiply the seesaw effect of joy and back to normal
over and over again.
When our joy is connected to an event in our external world, it can
leave us as fast as it has arrived when our world suddenly changes.
There is, however, the kind of joy
that is sustainable, but it is far more challenging to master.
This joy comes not because
something absolutely wonderful has happened to us but rather it
comes when we are doing wonderful things for others. In our lesson
today Isaiah wrote these words, “The Sovereign Lord has filled me
with his Spirit. He has
chosen me and sent me to bring good news to the poor and
to heal the broken-hearted.
He has sent me to proclaim that the time has come when
the Lord will save his people.”
(Isaiah 61:1f)
His joy came from what he was being sent to do.
His spirit and energy would not be receiving anything.
His sustained joy would come from giving himself away. There was an
episode in my life where I had the opportunity to see sustained joy
coming from another person.
Such people are in our lives to help us remember what is
possible for us. This
one particular incident made me acutely aware of the distance I had
yet to grow. The evening was
dark because daylight savings had ended.
I was standing in the line of our local post office.
The line was not moving.
There was one window open and several postal workers in the
back saw the long line and could have easily opened up another
window. That never
happened. The hold up was
caused by an elderly woman who was sending a good number of
Christmas cards to different countries.
She had a change purse and was laying the exact change on the
counter for the required postage of each card.
Once people saw what was happening, many of them left their
place in line and walked out of the post office.
When such delays
happen that are beyond my control, I have trained myself to detach
from my emotions and watch events unfolding without making any
judgments. This has
served me well, but not on this particular evening.
My own thoughts
would not allow me to be at peace.
Irritation of being inconvenienced evoked questions like:
“Why doesn’t this postal clerk ask for help from some of his
colleagues? Why are the
other postal workers so unresponsive to an obvious need?
Is this a union thing?
Why don’t they have a special line for people who just want
to buy stamps?” All of
us know how our minds work sometimes when we are being
inconvenienced. We know that
our thoughts never change anything but our mood. Out of nowhere,
a mother and her three children came into the post office.
In an excited voice she said, “Oh, look children!
They have the post office decorated.
Look at the Christmas ornaments on their tree. Aren’t they
beautiful? Look at the
wreaths! Look at the
picture of the new Christmas stamps!”
I had come into
the post office to buy stamps and to get out of there before dinner.
All of the things she pointed
out to her children had escaped my attention. However, everyone in
line became captivated by the joy of this woman who never let up in
her enthusiasm. Her
contagious spirit transformed all of us. Soon the lady
with the change purse completed her transactions and the line was
moving again. When I
left the building, I knew that beautiful mother had given me a
sermon illustration about what happens when someone’s joy confronts
our own impatience. Isaiah had a
mission, one that required using his talents and abilities to change
the lives of other people with a new expectation.
He was going to bring good news to heal broken hearts and to
proclaim the coming of the There is a book
by Steve Lundin simply called,
Fish. Some years ago this book made a tremendous impact on the
business community. The
story described the transformation of a common fish market into one
that developed long lines of people eager to buy its products. When
the employees learned how to radiate a contagious spirit to their
customers rather than expecting something wonderful to happen simply
by showing up for work, the transformation happened.
Steve outlined
his findings with seven observable principles active every day in
that business. The principles that transformed
Pike Place Market into a
thriving six days a week world class fish-market could be applied to
any organization, even to a church family.
His book demonstrated that people can be trained how to
sustain their enthusiasm for life when they learn that joy is a
choice. The first
principle was to learn how
to play.
Everyday the employees displayed a playful attitude about every
aspect of their work. For
example, one guy would pick up a heavy, slippery salmon and throw it
8 feet to a co-worker who had the ability to make spectacular
one-handed catches. This is the way fish were transferred from
their bed of chipped ice to the guys who are preparing and packing
them for customers. Those buying
fish stood enthralled by the sideshow unfolding in front of them.
The result from such playfulness was productivity. Everyone was
having a good time. Laughter was constant. The employees
were constantly smiling and radiating a captivating spirit.
The second
principle was to
involve your customers.
An employee would grab an unsuspecting person, put an apron on her
and have her get involved. Once, one of the guys began tossing
salmon to a woman who could not catch any of them. It was
entertaining to watch this. One of the workers yelled out,
“She’s out of here!” Everyone laughed. The crowd loved it. The third
principle was for employees to show up to work wholeheartedly.
In
other words, when they were doing their work they were engaging
someone in conversation. They let customers know that they are
interested only in them. Focused-energy is powerful. When
people feel valued, they come back. They want to be around highly
energized people. We can
understand how these principles can easily be adapted to a
congregation. The fourth
principle was to learn that employees can choose their attitude.
All the workers in the market discovered how exhilarating it was to
take responsibility for how they felt about life. No one could
make that choice for them. If they are irritable, hurt or angry,
that was a choice that showed in their personalities and was
reflected in their faces. Such a blank, absent presence will not
sell many fish. All the employees knew that.
The fifth
principle was commitment.
All the workers were committed to the mission and vision of the fish
market. They expressed this orientation in their own unique style.
Steve wrote, “When a group of people has this level of commitment,
powerful things happen. Employees trust each other and thus
collectively they move forward in the achievement of their common
goals.” The sixth principle was the key to
the market’s success --
be the message. They did not expect anyone to apologize to
them, give them a warm fuzzy,
hold their hand or make their day. It is up to every employee to
determine the quality of the message they wished to send. Steve
wrote, “Every moment that employees are awake is an opportunity to
‘be the message,’ i.e., to be what they want to communicate to the
rest of the world.” Finally, the seventh observable
principle was to become
a coach of the others in the work place. Everyone in the
fish market coaches all the others every day; even the owner can be
coached by one of the newest employees. Everyone recognizes
that they are a student who has much more to learn in order to
sustain their enthusiasm for life.
When joy becomes an
intentional choice, being the
message is no longer a chore. This is what
kept Isaiah’s enthusiasm pouring forth from his spirit. Isaiah was
in the business of healing broken hearts.
He began teaching people to reverse their energy flow from
life is about me to
life is about us.
Isaiah was sent to preach the
good news that God was coming in a form that people would
understand. We have lighted
the Candle of Joy this morning as we anticipate the arrival of
Jesus’ birth. The only
way our joy can be sustained is by our choice
to be the message and we
practice that choice everyday. That
is what Isaiah did and that is exactly what Jesus did.
Now, it is our turn.
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