(I've noticed I am being inconsistent and sometimes having "week in advent" and sometimes "week of advent" but I'm not going to go back and edit all the posts)

Week three and our lens is 'joy'.  As I regularly remind people, joy is not 'glee' nor yet 'happiness', it is a deeper, inner resilient positivity that will not be crushed despite circumstance, without morphing into twee, Pollyanna 'I'm so glad this bad thing happened to me' codswallop.

Anyway, today the Northumbria community offer us these:

Psalm 38:8

Jonah 1:17 - 2:1

Matthew 6:6

I'd have to say, at first sight, joy is in very short supply here.  A bit of hilarity at the ridiculous tale of Jonah being swallowed by a large fish.  A bit of advice on private prayer, oh and a psalm verse that says this:

I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. (Psalm 38:8)

Not much evidence of joy there!  Psalm 38 is a lament psalm, a psalm in which the writer tells it to God as it is.  There is no pretence in this psalm.  No nice pious language to clean it up for public consumption, these are are the private outpourings of a broken hearted man (the psalm is attributed to David).

Perhaps what is important here, is the honesty.  Perhaps we need to be reminded that joy, even as a attitude, cannot simply be manufactured.  Perhaps for joy to flourish, we need permission to be honest about the *expletive deleted* experiences we have; that suppressing our anger, pain, bewilderment, whatever, actually kills our joy?

If I'm honest, I wanted a nice upbeat set of readings for today - I had such a lovely weekend that I am feeling quite bouncy today.  But others are not.  Maybe for you the groans of the psalmist ring more true?

"Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart"

So we sang as children and adolescents:

Did the actions,

Wore the cheesy grins,

And didn't really have a clue what we meant.

"Joy is Jesus, Others, Yourself"

So the preacher told us (and some still do):

Heard the challenge

Tried to get it right

(But didn't really have a clue what that meant)

Joyful God,

Sometimes we have no idea what this concept really means:

We're told it's more than a feeling

We're told it's a spiritual fruit

We're told it survives the trials of life

And yet

Hunger and poverty

Violence and war

Sickness and death

Anger and abuse

Relationship breakdown

Unemployment

Homelessness

Loss of certainty

Crowd in and crush us

Or those we love

Or those we read about

How then does joy prevail?

I will raise a tattered flag above the crumbling tower of my heart

I will choose acknowledge Christ as King

I will continue to care about others

I will believe myself to be loved and precious

JOY shall, after all, be the ensign

God of joy

Hear my cry

Amen.