Regenerating Joy: The Gifts God Gives That Move Us Forward
Written by Paul Detterman, PFR Executive Director   
Friday, 11 December 2009 13:21
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p_detterman.jpgWe are at the mid-point of Advent, about to celebrate Christmas and then begin the first year of the second decade of the “new” century!  Just like every year, most church folks are deeply involved in the rituals and traditions of Advent and Christmas, ensuring that our families and our congregations do the things we must do in order to remember things we dare not forget; who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we’re going. 

Rituals and traditions give us a point of reference.  They help us remember.  Because of that, they are important.  Like a child watching for her smiling parents to wave every time the carousel goes around, part of us lives for the assurance we get from doing the same things in the same way again and again; assurance that no matter what has happened since we lit the Advent candles last year, or no matter how much our world has changed since we last sang “Silent Night”, there is something in our life that is dependably transcendent. 

But rituals change and traditions can fade.  The new pastor may want to use blue candles in the Advent wreath this year instead of three purple and one pink (as we know God himself prefers!).  The kids may have announced that they are going to be with the in-laws on Christmas morning this year instead of coming over for brunch like we “always” do.  These seem like little things because, in reality, they are.  This is why it takes more than rituals and even traditions to be a Christian...But they mean some part of our tradition has changed, and if we are looking for stability and identity by maintaining our rituals and traditions, the smallest change means some part of our world will never be the same again.

This is why it takes more than rituals and even traditions to be a Christian.  For people following Jesus, rituals and traditions, good and valuable as they are, pale in comparison to hope, vision, and joy – the gifts God gives that move us forward.  Scripture has embedded valuable ritual in our lives (“Do this in remembrance of me…”), but Scripture also tells us that when older folks stop dreaming dreams and when younger folks no longer see visions, people perish.  This year, despite our rituals and traditions, many people are perishing. 

Are you one of them?

God has planted a dream in each of our hearts.  It is as unique as each individual he created.  At some point in your life, God’s dream awakened in you an awareness of the special gifts you have, stirring in you a desire to be someone only you can be or to accomplish something only you can do.  How strong is that vision now?  How vibrant is that dream?  Are you still passionate, or at some level are you perishing? 

It is so easy for us to be seduced into the normal patterns of living, or to be overwhelmed by the circumstances surrounding any given moment or season of life.  When that happens, something inside us begins to die.  We loosen our grasp on God’s dream.  We can even lose sight of God’s vision altogether.  The same thing can happen to our families or to our congregations despite our best efforts to keep the re-enforcing rituals and traditions.

But faded visions and elusive dreams need not define us.  In fact, we dare not let God’s vision fade nor allow any present (and temporary) circumstance to obliterate the dream God has planted in our hearts.  Important as it is to remember where we have come from, for Jesus’ followers it is far more vital to know where we are going.  God’s greatest gift is redemption: pressing on, no matter where we are or where we have been, to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us. (Philippians 3:12)
“Don’t you guys get it?  This God is REAL, and he wants to go with you into his world so that your life can be different!”
For as surely as Jesus was born in a Bethlehem manger, a story we remember in our tradition, God’s desire, his passion, is for his dream to be reborn in our hearts.  And as surely as Jesus was crucified, died, and was raised to redeem a rebellious and recalcitrant world, a story we remember each time ritual brings us to the Table, the loving Spirit of our living God has promised to be tenacious in regenerating joy in our lives.

A remarkably insightful high school junior recently gave God’s charge at the end of worship.  Responding to the Holy Spirit’s leading, she put down her notes and said, “Don’t you guys get it?  This God is REAL, and he wants to go with you into his world so that your life can be different!”

Over and over again God nurtures in each of us his reality that our life really can be different.  He sent his Son to save us from blind repetition and visionless death. 

Anything can happen in your life this coming year.  Anything can happen in your family or the congregation of which you are a part.  God is with us as we go into 2010.  He has called you and gifted you to live for him.  Do whatever you must to guard that reality and recapture his dream this Christmas.  Then, let it change you for him this coming year.

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I write this article with deep appreciation to Dr. George Strunk, whose sermon on Isaiah 2 reminded me of what God’s dream means to my life and ministry.  Some of his thoughts have helped guide this meditation.  I offer this to you as a gift of encouragement at the beginning of another challenging year within the life of our congregations and of the PC(USA). Soli deo gloria!


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