Advent IV
The Joy of the Enjoyment of God
Bishop Ray Sutton

“Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.”  With these words of St. Paul, Advent comes to a close on this last Sunday before Christmas.  How appropriate that our attentions should be turned to joy today.  Christmas is just around the corner.  Family and fun will converge on each other for a few brief moments.  We talk about joy; we feel joy; indeed we sing about joy in many of our Christmas carols.  It is the predominant theme in one of the most memorable carols at Christmas time: “Joy to the world the Lord is come.”  And so Christmas is for most of us a joyous time of the year.

But consider wherein true joy was found for St. Paul.  It’s not in the external; rather, it’s found in the heart where only God can dwell.  The ancient apostle continues in the same chapter of the lovely verse about rejoicing.  He writes,

I rejoice in the Lord greatly . . . for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have a little, and I know what it is to have plenty.  In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:10-13).

For St. Paul joy is the contentment that comes from the strength of God, not in how much he had.  He had learned contentment whether he had a little or a lot.  And he had known both in the cycle.  He had had much as a famous Rabbi and scholar.  He had had little as a disposed and persecuted Christian.  His life had come full circle in this regard.  I don’t know if the cycle of contentment has been completed in your life, but allow me to share a legend on the power of this cycle being completed.
 
Once upon a time, a stonecutter lived all alone.  Though he had acquired great skills, he was very poor.  He lived in a tiny bamboo hut and wore tattered clothing because that was all that he had.  One day as the stonecutter worked with his hammer and chisel upon a huge stone, he heard a crowd gathering along the streets.  By their shouts he could tell that the king was coming to visit this humble village.  Joining in the procession, the stonecutter gazed in awe as the king, dressed in marvelous silk, was greeted by his subjects.   “Oh, how I wish I had the power and glory of the king,” he thought and then added, “He has soldiers at his command.  There is no one more powerful.”

His cry was heard in the heavens, and immediately the humble stonecutter was transformed into a powerful king.  He found himself riding on a great horse, waving at the crowds of people who had flocked to see him.  “This is power,” he thought as he looked down on the crowds.

As the summer progressed, however, the new king watched the effects of the heat upon his people.  Men and animals became weary, and plants withered under the powerful rays of the sun.  As he looked at the sky, the new king realized that the sun was more powerful than any earthly ruler.  “How I wish I were as powerful as that, he thought.  I wish I were the sun.  Immediately, his wish was granted. 

The stonecutter relished his new role as the sun.  He gloried in the power he felt as he surveyed the kingdoms below.  As he sent his bright rays to earth, he watched kings and princes hide under their parasols; he watched as powerful warriors became weak under his gaze.  Even the crops in the field were under his command.  Then one day a tiny cloud moved over the land, shielding the earth from the sun’s bright rays.  Seeing that here was something more powerful, he thought, “I want very much to be a cloud.”

Again his wish was granted.  Now he blocked the sun’s rays and felt important.  He gathered all his strength, becoming a gigantic cloud, and began to pour down rain on the earth.  Rivers formed where previously there were none, and water flooded the streets of the cities and the farmland.  Everything – trees, animals, people – seemed to be awed by his power.  Only the massive rocks were unswayed.  Again he had discovered something more powerful.  “There is nothing,” he thought, “as powerful as a rock.  How I wish I could be a huge stone.”  Instantly his wish was granted.

As a stone he remained motionless and powerful, unmoved by sun or wind or rain.  He felt exempt from all the forces that shaped the existence of those around him.  Then one day a man approached, carrying a bag.  When he stopped, he pulled out a chisel and hammer and began to chip away at the rock.  Realizing that the man with the tools was more powerful than any rock he cried out, “Oh, I want to be a stonecutter again.”  The heavens then heard his cry a final time; suddenly he became a stonecutter.  And thus he made his living with hammer and chisel the way he was meant to.  To his bamboo hut he returned.  In plenty and in want his life had come full cycle but now he was content.

For our friend, he had traveled the full cycle of contentment. Just like St. Paul, true contentment is not in wishes granted but in the will of God accepted. It is in the heart and ultimately in God. The delightful children’s writer and Oxford Don, C. S. Lewis, once told a friend, “We have learned that joy is more than a sense of the comic, more than earthly pleasure, and to a believer even more than what we call happiness.  Joy is the enjoyment of God and the good things that come from the hand of God.”  St. Paul clarified even further. For the Apostle it is through Christ that we find the joy of contentment. And thus Advent IV brings us to the power of the Christmas story. The coming of Christ brings joy into our lives. A joy greater than all our disappointments. This is the power of the Gospel if we’ll accept it, Him, into our hearts. As one pastor spelled Joy on the letter sign in front of his church, J stands for Jesus, and the Y is for you.  The O is for zero because to have joy there can be nothing between Jesus and You.  Amen.