Sitting at the Table of Joy

I've already mentioned (if you can call that long post, "mentioning") the Emmaus walk. Another member of my reunion group, MH, is also going to be an assistant table leader on this walk. Her table name is "Table of Encouragement." In preparation for the walk, she looked up the Bible verses that use the word encouragement, wrote them down, and read them.

I thought that was a really cool idea, and since my prep for this walk has been a little bit, uh, small, I thought I would follow suit. My table name is "joy." In case you need to know, the word "joy" in in the NIV version of the bible 242 times. I decided that writing all of those verse references down and then reading them, might take all of the joy out of joy. Instead, I chose one reference to read instead. Paradoxically, there is more joy in one Psalm than in 242 references:

Psalm 96

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples.

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.

Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!

The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.

He will judge the peoples with equity.’

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it.

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming,

for he is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.