Joy to THIS World: The Field of Faith

The season of “Joy to the World” is over till next year, but LWR is far from done harmonizing with its partners around the world. Together, we weed out those thorns that infest the ground, as the song says. Thorns of poverty yet plague this planet. Undesirable undergrowths of injustice choke people of the joy God wants to plant in their lives.

During one transatlantic flight on the way home from LWR business, long after my mind had blurred from too much reading of my PhD material, I turned to the in-flight feature, Bucket List. The lead characters are facing an imminent death. These roles incidentally are played dazzlingly by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. So, they compose and then execute their list of things to do prior to “kicking the bucket.” They drive fast cars. They skydive. They travel worldwide.

Upon arriving at the pyramids, the character played by Morgan Freeman muses on how the ancients believed there would be two questions posed at the end of life: (1) “Have you found joy in your life?” and, (2) “Has your life brought joy to others?” These queries frame a self-critical filter that has remained with me for months now. How would I answer these questions? I’d say I have discovered joy, or better, I’ve been discovered by joy through my faith in Jesus. But the second question implies an action. Joy isn’t for hording. We are nudged to consider how we use our resources to extend joy to others.

We who sing carols lustily, with even more vigor we must bring joy to the world, bring peace on earth year-round, bring goodwill to all we serve. That’s what the Gospel calls to do: “The same gospel which demands intense inwardness as the theater of faith points to the world as a field of faith” (Joseph Sittler, The Structure of Christian Ethics, 69).