Warren Fisher, Staff-Parish Relations Chair, Genesis Sunday School Co-Leader, Member since 1988
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (New Revised Standard Version)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

Reflection:
Here at St. Luke’s, we began 2020 with Forty Days of Joy, a series of sermons and devotionals centered on joy. As I recall, the idea was not that we would be joyful for forty days and then return to our usual morose ways, but rather that we would develop habits of joyfulness to carry on throughout the year and beyond. A couple of times in his sermons on joy, Dr. Pace mentioned The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, a collaboration between the Dalai Lama of Tibet (living in exile in India) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa—two Nobel Peace Prize winners who became good friends. These two men have suffered much throughout their lives, but have also achieved much, becoming global icons of peace and reconciliation. This so intrigued me that I bought and read the book, and then taught a series of Sunday School lessons from it. The Dalai Lama and the Archbishop discuss overcoming joy’s obstacles and developing “pillars” of joy. One recurring theme of the book is that we can find joy in any circumstance by looking beyond ourselves—empathizing with others, helping where we can, and always remembering that we are connected to almost 8 billion other humans who are more like us than they are different.

Paul’s admonition to “rejoice always” has been hard for us to act on in 2020, as it no doubt was for the Thessalonians in the first century. We have needed those habits or pillars of joyfulness, and I have found myself returning to The Book of Joy again and again. The global pandemic has taken away some of our familiar connections and ways of serving others, but this year has also challenged us to find new ways to serve and connect. We can rejoice and give thanks for all the ways St. Luke’s has adapted to allow us to worship, connect and serve this year. More fundamentally, however, Paul calls us to be joyful and thankful in all circumstances, resting on the assurance that our God of Peace is faithful and that our Lord Jesus Christ will indeed come again.

Prayer:
Dear God of Peace, we rejoice and give thanks even in 2020. Fan the flame of the Spirit within us to continue to find new ways to worship, serve and connect with others. Just as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, we pray that you will sanctify us entirely; that our spirits and souls and bodies may be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, trusting that you are indeed our faithful God. Amen.