For Joy

by brian johnson

“And He has shown you what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

It was supposed to be so easy. God told us what we need to do and we decided either to forget or to go above and beyond. We either want to mind our own business or take the place of God and determine what is right, what is wrong, what needs to change and when. I know that I have a tendency to do both depending on the situation.

I believe somewhere between the general self-righteousness and the self-righteous self-sacrifice that typify the right and left extremes of American Christianity (what the heck is American Christianity anyway?) there is a happy medium that balances our need to create justice and to exemplify humility.

Jesus came to turn the world upside down. He called his followers to a radical way of life, but didn’t he also tell us to not worry and to be happy in his own kind of way? Sometimes, when I imagine Jesus I imagine him whistling the hook to Hakuna Matata. Between challenging scribes and healing those cats he met on the street, I can almost see Jesus hanging out on reggae night at the local club with the tax collectors and prostitutes. Even given the state of the world then and now, it’s just not that heavy.

Now, before anyone throws their Bible or anything else at me, I want to be absolutely clear that I think the life best lived is one in service of others. In Matthew 25, Jesus explicitly told us where to find him and what we should do when we see him.

But, how to do both? How to be light-hearted, lightly burdened in the face of everything? In Buddhism, there is a concept called dynamic sunyata which among other things entails a mindfulness of all things spiritual/eternal and earthly/ethereal at once. With regard to service and works, I think we Christians can also try to be mindful of both realms in all that we do. Some other dynamics that we love and cherish: God was, is and is to come; the Kingdom of God is come, is coming and is to come.

This life, our lives mean everything and nothing (taken in full context) all at once. In becoming Christians, we die (Galatians 2:20); we deny ourselves and give up our lives (Mark 8:34-35) all the while remaining 100% human just as Jesus did.

“Neither” Joshua 5:14

This was the response of the angel of the Lord when Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or our enemies?” The angle’s only demand of Joshua and which comes down to us in scripture was to “take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” In the end, the battle is God’s.

This world is beautiful and we should make sure that it stays that way and that everyone in the world has the opportunity to recognize and enjoy it as well. We have a duty to be God’s hands and feet in service of the orphan, widow, slave and stranger. As the body of Christ, we, each and every one of us in the most literal way hurt as when any other is in pain, but we can still have joy. There’s a song that we used to sing in my church back home that continues to encourage me, maybe it will resonate with some of you readers:

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him
Though He slay me, I'll trust in the Lord
Though talked about and misunderstood
Yes, I've been lied on, but still have my joy
Still have joy, still have joy

In spite of everything I’ve been through

I still have joy
Now try to think about it using the first person singular and plural at the same time.