Drumbeat of Joy, Part 1

This post, and several following, are from a sermon I preached the third week of Advent.

Year ago, friends of ours who attend our church were overjoyed to hear the news that their daughter was expecting a baby.  Their daughter, Megan, was young, married, living in North Carolina, and was starting a new family. 

Her pregnancy proceeded as normal, and ended with the birth of a new little girl, Diana.  Everyone was happy.  Until Megan noticed health problems.  She went back to the doctor, and after some work to diagnose the issue, it was determined that Megan had cancer.

She fought very hard, traveled for treatment in Washington State, and suffered through the disease and what was meant to cure it.  In the midst of all of this, when she and her family were starting to come to grips with the idea that this was a battle they might not win, she said to her mother, “Mom, it’s OK.  I will be OK.  No matter what happens – whether I live or whether I die, I will be OK.”

Megan did die, and even though her parents – our friends from church – grieved (of course they did), they still have a strength and optimistic nature around them that has lasted through all of it. They are amazing. 

This is the third week of advent, and traditionally, the theme of the third week is joy.  The title of this sermon is The Drumbeat of Joy.  So, why would I tell you a story about a new, young mother who lost her life at a very young age to cancer? Because, while it is not a happy story, it is a story of joy. 

If I right click the word happy in Word on my computer, the synonyms include the word joyful, but I don’t think that is correct. I don’t think happy and joy mean the same thing.  Happiness is based on circumstances.  A movie can have a happy ending if everything works out for the best - no one important dies, and the villain meets his just end.  Happy.  Joy is something else.  I think Megan had joy, even in the middle of dying, because of her relationship with God.  I think her parents are joyful – and you can look at them and see that they are – not because of a happy ending, but because of the presence of God in their lives. 

Think about those times in your life when the distance between you and God was small.  Sometimes we call those mountaintop experiences, or we call them a “thin place” – when the distance between us and God is so small that we can sense God’s presence.  There is joy in that. That can happen during times of happiness, but I’m sure you know that it can happen even in grief, or pain, or suffering.  God is there. 

Do you think that is part of what advent is about? If advent is about preparing for the return of Christ, then isn’t part of it preparing the way for God to reach us?

I consulted my music expert – our son, Josh – and asked him what a drum does in music.  He said it sets the tempo – the steady speed of the music.  And in some cases, drums can set the style of the music.  Today we’re going to read two scriptures from the lectionary, and I hope as you listen to them, you will hear, underneath the words, a drumbeat of joy – a steady rhythm of the presence of God underneath it all – that reaches out to you.