Ingredients for a Community of Joy

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Hi, as we continue to celebrate Easter together, we're going to work through the first letter of John. It's a letter that the Apostle John wrote to the early church. Today what I want to talk to you about are the three key ingredients of creating a community of joy. I don't know about you, but I could always use a little more joy in my life, and to combine that with a community, that sounds amazing.

And so in the beginning of the letter, John highlights three ingredients that are necessary to create this kind of joyful community that the church is supposed to be. And so whether it's at home, or at work, or in the church, you want to look for these three things. And the three things are divine connection, pleasant light, and an ability to keep it real.

Let me tell you about each of them. So this first one, divine connection, John in his letter writes that he is telling them about things that he has seen, that he has heard, that he has touched. And it's the good news that Jesus has come, that the God of the universe has come in the person of Jesus, and that in Jesus life, death, and resurrection, God has been revealed, the light of the world, The life of the world has been revealed in the person of Christ, and that isn't a metaphor. It's not a myth. It's something that really happened, that it was a real person in real history and that Jesus' life, death and resurrection allows for and restores connection. Connection to God and connection to one another and even connection to ourselves. And so John's very excited about this. He says, Hey, and this will allow you to build this community of joy because you're connected to God.

When we think about our life, disconnection can set in pretty easily. But if we're feeling disconnected from God, it gives us this reality in which we can see Jesus and there's no God hiding behind Jesus. And so if we want to reconnect with God, we can connect through Jesus. Any community needs the ability to forgive one another. And so Jesus offers that as well, taking disconnection and returning it to connection.

And then lastly, there's a disconnection that happens within us as we have worry and anxiety. Is it all going to work out? What we see in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus is that it's like a theological, everything's going to be all right.

You can hear Bob Marley singing it, and Jesus is that reality. That death and brokenness do not get the final word, but that Jesus overcomes it. And so if you and I want to build joyful community, we need that divine connection with God, with one another, and even ourselves.

Secondly, as John writes, we need to be able to be a people who walk in the light. This is what I mean by pleasant light. In the scriptures, light and darkness are contrasted. So darkness are things like evil, death, thievery. And life is humility and kindness and goodness. As Paul sketches it out in Ephesians, he talks about removing all bitterness, anger, and wrangling. But instead leaning in to being kind and tender hearted and offering forgiveness.

And so if we want to create a healthy community, a community of joy, that's what we need to lean into. We need to lean into kindness and tender heartedness and forgiveness opposed to bitterness, anger, and wrangling.

You know, I don't know about you, but I notice that sometimes there is bitterness in me, or there, I'm overly prone to anger, or I'm wrangling, I'm trying to make things a certain way. I'm trying to get them to be what I want them to be.

And of course, those kinds of things destroy community. They're not helpful. It's not light. It's not life. But instead, when we think about people who are kind, those who have empathy, they're tenderhearted, they're quick to forgive, that those kind of people, they're who we want to be around.

And so if we want to create a community of joy, then we have to grow in that virtuous life. We have to lean into the virtues, opposed to giving into things like anger and wrangling. And so what's it look like for you when you review your week? Do you see bitterness, anger, and wrangling? Or do you see kindness and tenderheartedness and forgiveness?

And challenge yourself. Say, you know what? In this environment, I need to grow. I need to gain a little bit more patience. I'm going to choose kind words opposed to words that are cutting. And I'm going to offer up forgiveness. I'm going to let go of bitterness and anger and wrangling. Because I want to experience a community of joy.

And I know that divine connection is important for it, but two, this pleasant light, this walking in the light as Jesus is light, that's where we want to go. Not because we have to, not because God won't love us if we don't, but because that's where true joy and life are found.

The last ingredient is this ingredient to keep it real. So if we want to create a community of joy, we have to have divine connection. We have to be a people that walk in the light. We want to choose pleasant light. And lastly, we want to keep it real. And this is about authenticity. And John is writing and he challenges people. He says, hey, listen, if you aren't willing to confess sin, if you aren't willing to admit to your brokenness, then that is being inauthentic.

And you're being a liar and you're making a liar of God. Now, for you and I, I think about it this way. There's these moments in your life in which someone has challenged you with something. Some thing you spoke, some behavior you chose or some action that you didn't follow through on. And inside you, there's this part that just bucks against it.

You don't want to admit any wrongdoing and you don't want to admit wrongdoing because you're afraid that if you do, it will be held against you. But the challenge with that is it's not honest. If we're honest, it's honest. We don't always love like we want to love. We don't always forgive like we want to forgive.

We aren't always as kind as we would like to be. And what John is saying is that we have to be honest about that. We have to be authentic because inauthenticity always compromises community. And so the grace that God has offered us in the person of Christ is a grace that frees us to be honest. We don't have to pretend. We don't have to pretend that we have it all together. We don't have to pretend that we never do anything wrong. We don't have to pretend that we don't need one another. Instead, we get to be people who confess, confess need, confess brokenness, and that authentic life allows us to connect to one another. Because if we can't keep it real, then what are we really connecting to?

And so my challenge to you is this. When you consider your past week, and you consider the week going forward, how many versions of yourself exist? Are you the same person at work, in the community, at home, when you're by yourself? I challenge you to bring those things more and more together. Because the more you are one person wherever you go, The more able you are able to live into community and help us build this community of joy.

The Easter message is a joyful message. It's a message about life and light and hope and community. So let's be builders of joyful community here at church, in our homes, and at work.

Leaning into these three ingredients. Divine connection. Pleasant light. And keeping it real. I hope you have a great week. I'll see you soon.