Advent: Rethinking Joy
There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:8-12
One of the classic themes of Advent is joy. So I’ve been thinking about it lately, but unfortunately my thoughts have been a bit mixed up. And I’m realizing it’s because what I’ve been told about joy has been all over the place.
While there are probably dozens of different variations of these messages, let’s just simplify down to two (mostly contradictory) theories about joy that are prevalent: it’s a mystical gift far more meaningful than happiness, and it’s a thing you can choose in the midst of any circumstance. What do we make of these very different versions of joy?
Joy: The Supernatural Gift
I heard about this idea of joy many, many times. And it’s usually introduced by contrasting (wonderful, spiritual, eternal) joy and (meager, temporal, forgettable) happiness.
This sort of thinking has been around for a while. If you use Google to try to figure out what joy is from a Christian perspective, you will soon come to a 1966 article from Christianity Today. Its second paragraph says:
“Happiness and joy are at times similar, but they can also be very different. Happiness is usually associated with material things or with experiences, but true joy stems from a right relationship with God… [Happiness and joy] may be as profoundly different as heaven and hell.”
And this is the way joy is often framed, as something different from and better than happiness. Happiness is described as something that changes along with your circumstances, while joy remains no matter what is happening in your life.
Get a great job? You’re happy and joyful. Get fired unfairly? You’re angry and joyful.
Loved one is sick? You’re sad and joyful. The person is healed? You’re grateful and joyful.
Get a great massage? You’re relaxed and joyful. Get hit by a car? You’re in pain and joyful.
I’m sure you get the point. The idea is that joy is a natural byproduct of your relationship with God, a gift that is always present. And I get that there is something attractive about this—no matter what happens, I have this deep-down good vibe! Nothing can stop it!
If that works for you, I’m not going to try to steal it away. But for the rest of us, this kind of thinking can be harmful at times, as it ventures into the territory of toxic positivity. If someone is in the throes of grief and lament, the last thing they need is a joy-monger wondering why they’re not feeling that sweet, sweet joy from the Holy Spirit.
This distinction—insisting that joy is something totally different from plain old happiness—also just doesn’t really hold up linguistically (or “biblically”). But as evangelical author Randy Alcorn has discovered, pointing this out sends people into a blind rage:
“The idea that the two words are synonyms can be radical to many readers. To some, the difference between the two words is as central as believing in the deity of Christ or the resurrection!”
Well, here on the Harbor blog, where we embrace the radical and where no belief is central, we will come out and say it: joy and happiness are synonyms. They mean the same thing in English, and they meant the same thing in ancient Greek. They just don’t mean the same thing in American-Christianese.
So while there may be something to joy-as-gift (more on that below), we should probably stop talking about it as some mysterious thing that’s different from happiness.
Joy: The Choice You Must Make
The other teaching on joy you have surely heard is that it’s a choice. A choice that is always available to you, in any circumstance. This is almost always linked to a passage in the New Testament letter attributed to James, which says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
This does seem to fit the mold of joy-as-choice. You’re experiencing hardships, but you can choose to consider the hardships as “pure joy,” knowing that as you persevere through them, they will help build you into a more mature and complete person.
You can find similar support for this definition in plenty of other New Testament verses that tell people to rejoice. Rejoicing is something you do—something you choose to do—and the New Testament instructs people to do it in all circumstances, good and bad.
So, is it that simple? Just choose joy. Case closed.
Again, if this works for you, don’t let me rain on your Choosing Joy Parade. But for what it’s worth, I think it’s wisest to accept these instructions as just one part of a much larger, more complex, and more painful reality of moving through suffering. Here’s what I mean. When we suffer, one of the things that can help us move forward is to choose joy—and that joy we choose is, in my view, a gift from God. This is because all good things, all sources of joy, are gifts from God. In this way, both of these teachings about joy are part of the puzzle.
But even taken together, they’re just one part of that puzzle. We also need to voice our lament. We need to process with others. We need to seek wisdom from scripture, mentors, and siblings. We need time.
During that time, joy mingles with grief and anger and surprise and contentment and love and sorrow and hope. We choose to include joy in that mix, and as we do, God graciously supplies sources of joy.
Some of those sources, this time of year, might be the themes of Christmas: themes like angels and salvation and God-with-us.
May you be joyful this Christmas season. But if you’re not feeling it, that’s okay too.
If you’d like to experience the joy of new friends, sign up here to check out one of our Wednesday or Thursday Zoom gatherings.
