Embedded Files
Nov 7-13, 2021
by Dr. "Joey" Alan Le
⬆️ Sermon begins at 40:57 ⬆️
Introduction
Introduction
What does beauty have to do with joy? A lot.
The things that bring us joy are oftentimes beautiful in our eyes. Beautiful things and beautiful people attract our attention, and joy is desirable. The encounter with the beautiful is also the experience of joy, one and the same. One could say that beauty evokes joy. When one enters into joy, one simultaneously steps into the presence of the beautiful. And, ultimately, for the Christian, beauty and joy flow from the same font: God.
If one pays attention to God’s beautiful gifts, then one might be better able to savor the joy of the Lord.
But the first task is to define what beauty might be and then see how it relates to or contribute to joy and delight.
Day 1: The Wonder of Fortuity
Day 1: The Wonder of Fortuity
Have you ever tried to define beauty? What makes a beautiful thing "beautiful”? Why do you call it “full of beauty”?
Try calling to mind something that you regard as beautiful. It could be natural, like the clouds, a sunset, a mountain range, a garden of flowers, a starry night. It could be the way a wild animal moves or the way a household pet behaves with you. It could be made by humans, like a piece of art or architecture. It could be a person, in how they appear, or in how they perform. It could also be in what they do.
The word “beautiful” is applied to every thing imaginable. If it exists at all, someone in the world, someone in history, has considered it beautiful, lovely, wonderful, glorious, brilliant, or any other synonym human language can express.
Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion David Bentley Hart asks a fundamental question:
When we encounter the beautiful, after all, what is it that compels us? What draws us in, and awakens us to a splendor, beyond our particular interests and desires and predilections, in a canvas by Titian or Corot, a Bach violin partita, or simply a particularly well-tended garden?[1]
The question needs a little unpacking. First, with the beautiful, we are speaking of an “encounter.” Something unexpected happens when an object of beauty confronts us. The object, the entity, enters our consciousness and shocks us.
Second, notice that beauty "compels” us. It moves us. If it didn’t move us, we wouldn’t regard it as beautiful. Most of the time, beauty moves what we call our “hearts.” We’re touched. We weep. We feel a particular ache in our chest. We find it hard to repress a smile. A laugh or an exclamation usually breaks out. See how beauty is beginning to unite with joy?
Third, “the beautiful” is a formal term that refers to the essence of what is considered beautiful.
What property makes it deserve the label “beautiful”?
Let’s try a thought experiment. Bring to mind something that you consider beautiful. Now ask yourself, can its opposite be considered beautiful? Can you contradict your own evaluation?
For example, if one says that a lush rainforest is beautiful, another person could say that a desert landscape has a certain beauty to it as well. If one says vivid colors are beautiful, another will make the case that black and white images are just as beautiful. With athleticism or artistry, both skillful and clumsy performances are beautiful (especially from a beloved person with a disability or a child).
This experiment could continue forever. I suggest that it is because nearly everything that exists can be beautiful from a certain point of view. And that is because everything that exists is a gift from God.[2] If God didn’t create it, it wouldn’t exist. Without God, it would not have being. And everything God gives is a good gift, from a certain light. And if it is good, it will be beautiful.
But, again, what makes a thing "beautiful”? What is beauty itself?
Hart claims that it is "sheer fortuity”:
[Beauty] is not simply this or that aspect of its composition, not simply its neurological effect, not simply its clarity or vividness or suggestive associations, and so on; it is not even just the virtuosity of its execution or the mastery exhibited in its composition. Rather, it is all of these things experienced as sheer fortuity.[3]
Stated alternatively, sometimes, a thing is beautiful because of the way that it is composed. Other times, it is lovely because of how it makes us feel or think. Or, it might be beautiful because of the way it looks or sounds. Whatever the case, when we encounter something beautiful, it almost always surprises us with its chance occurrence.
Reflection
Think of something you would call “beautiful.” In your own words, what makes it beautiful? What property grants the quality of “beauty“?
What other conclusions did you arrive at after doing the thought experiment?
Would you agree with Hart that there is something about beauty that is fortuitous?
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[1] David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 282.
[2] This would fall under ontology, the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
[3] Emphasis mine. Hart, The Experience of God, 282.
Day 2: Gifts of Glory
Day 2: Gifts of Glory
Have you ever tried to notice the movement of your heart or soul as you enjoy an experience of the beautiful? Hart describes the experience this way:
[T]he special delight experienced in the encounter with beauty is an immediate sense of the utterly unnecessary thereness, so to speak, of a thing, the simple gratuity with which it shows itself, or (better) gives itself. [1]
Let me offer an illustration. When I hold my baby in my arms, sometimes I stare at her in awe. I whisper to myself: “I can’t believe you’re real. I can’t believe you are my daughter. What did I do to deserve something so precious?” I think this is the "utterly unnecessary thereness” that Hart speaks of.
My child did not have to be. She was unnecessary. Her birth was not something inevitable. Her life cannot be reduced down to utility or purposiveness. She does not exist to benefit me or anyone else. My beautiful baby girl presents herself to me as “an entirely unwarranted, unnecessary, and yet marvelously fitting gift.”[2]
But a gift from who, and a gift for what?
For Hart, and for every Christian, beauty “is the movement of a gracious disclosure of something otherwise hidden, which need not reveal itself or give itself.”[3] This is to say that when we encounter the beautiful, we are, in a sense, entering into the presence of God the Beautiful One. God is the Source of all that is beautiful. God is Beauty Itself (if you want to use a Platonic phrase). God reveals himself through beauty. That answers the question: a gift from who?
What about “a gift for what”? What does beauty do for us or in us? The beautiful evokes in us an “existential wonder.” Why does this thing of beauty exist at all? What did I do to deserve it? God’s gifts of beauty “stirs us from our habitual forgetfulness of the wonder of being.”[4] Every experience of beauty wakes us up from our forgetfulness and reminds us of the richness of being. Earthly experiences of beauty momentarily restores us to childlike faith, giving us a glimpse of God who is the inexhaustible source of being.[5] Put simply, when one is in awe of one beautiful object’s being, one steps onto the infinite scale of wonder at the being of all things.
In short, every time we perceive beauty, God gives is giving us a taste of his glory. If we let it, the event of beauty evokes wonder. Why does anything exist at all? It exists because God gifts it with being. As the Apostle Paul quoted the philosophers of his day: “For ‘in [God] we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:28).
What, then, is the proper response to God’s gift of being? What emotion do we feel when the beautiful shines its glorious light on us? Joy.
When we allow beauty to penetrate our eyes, minds, and hearts, we experience “grace” (another word for “gift”). The beautiful is God breaking into the dreariness of worldly life. It is “the unplanned and uncontrolled incursion into our self-preoccupied lives of God’s joy in himself.”[6] The beautiful is God revealing his own joy to us.
Reflection
What evokes wonder, awe, amazement, fascination, praise out of you?
Can you recount a personal encounter with beauty that stirred up spontaneous praise and worship of God? Why does beauty make you think of God?
Is it true that God’s gift of beauty is unnecessary, not inevitable, not about utility or purposiveness? Why or why not?
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[1] Hart, The Experience of God, 282-83.
[2] Hart, The Experience of God, 283.
[3] Hart, The Experience of God, 283.
[4] Hart, The Experience of God, 283.
[5] Hart, The Experience of God, 284.
[6] Rowan Williams, The Lion's World: A Journey into the Heart of Narnia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 142.
Day 3: Perfect Beauty, Goodness, Truth, Being
Day 3: Perfect Beauty, Goodness, Truth, Being
In a way, joy could be understood as the elation one feels when one comes into contact with perfection.[1]
We all strive for the perfect. Think about it. Are we truly satisfied with what is subpar? Are we content with mediocrity? If we knew there was something better, wouldn't we want it? The perfect will always be more desirable. That which is excellent will always be preferable to the imperfect.
God has created us to seek perfect beauty, perfect goodness, perfect truth, and perfect being. Wherever these four are missing, human life diminishes. These four are known as the transcendentals.[2]
There is an ancient Christian tradition — dating back to Plato and continuing through Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas[3] — of correlating the transcendentals with the divine. Roman Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft explains the connection poetically:
There are three things that will never die: truth, goodness and beauty. These are the three things we all need, and need absolutely, and know we need, and know we need absolutely. Our minds want not only some truth and some falsehood, but all truth, without limit. Our wills want not only some good and some evil, but all good, without limit. Our desires, imaginations, feelings or hearts want not just some beauty and some ugliness, but all beauty, without limit. For these are the only three things that we never get bored with, and never will, for all eternity, because they are three attributes of God.[4]
Have you ever noticed that whenever you experience a bit of beauty, or a bit of goodness, or a bit of truth, or a bit of being … you feel excitement, happiness, and even, joy?
This is because the experience brings us in touch with the source of all those things: God. Through the transcendentals, “[t]he mystery of Being makes itself felt in a concrete appearance.”[5] God makes his glorious presence available to all creatures through the transcendentals (beauty, goodness, truth, and being).
Roman Catholic priest and theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar frames God’s revelation this way:
With beauty, God shows himself.
With goodness, God gives himself.
With truth, God expresses himself.[6]
Whereas God is the fullness of the attributes of the One, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, limited creatures will only share or participate in the transcendentals in a fragmented way.[7]
Still, every small encounter with our Creator is meaningful. The joy that accompanies such experiences prepares us to come face to face with God. God is the Beautiful One (Ps 27:4), the only One who is Good (Mk 10:18), the Truth (Jn 14:6), and the one from whom all creatures live and move and have their being (Acts 17:28).
Our earthly experiences of the beautiful move us to worship and adore God. God is beautiful because God is lovely, that is, God is worthy of love. God radiates joy, and that makes God beautiful and glorious.[8]
Reflection
What attracted you to God in Christ in the first place? Or, what about God makes God beautiful in your eyes?
Whether it is in your work, sports, the arts, or some other sphere of life, do you find yourself pursuing perfection? Can that pursuit of the perfect be a pursuit of the divine?
Do you agree or disagree with Kreeft’s claim that we all need limitless truth, goodness, and beauty? (Hint: How you would react if you found out that you were given a half-truth, or something gross or wrong, or something ugly?)
Has God ever spoken or touched you through beauty, goodness, or truth? Does it bring you joy?
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[1] This is my own modification of Miroslav Volf’s definition: “Joy is the substance of life feeling as it should.” Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun, For the Life of the World: Theology that Makes a Difference (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress; Baker Publishing Group, 2019), 99.
[2] The transcendentals are terms or concepts that apply to all things, transcending all categories. Scott MacDonald, "Transcendentals," in Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (3rd, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015 2015).
[3] Brian L. Hebblethwaite, "The Transcendentals," in Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. Ian McFarland, S. Fergusson, and Karen Kilby (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
[4] Peter Kreeft, "Lewis's Philosophy of Truth, Goodness and Beauty," in C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness and Beauty, ed. David J. Baggett, Gary R. Habermas, and Jerry L. Walls (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008), 23.
[5] Bede McGregor and Thomas Norris, The Beauty of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994), 162.
[6] McGregor and Norris, The Beauty of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, 229.
[7] McGregor and Norris, The Beauty of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, 228.
[8] Karl Barth’s claims about the beauty of God, cited in Jürgen Moltmann, Theology and Joy (London: SCM Press, 1973), 58.
Day 4: Joy Anticipates Union with God
Day 4: Joy Anticipates Union with God
What does it mean to be human?
There are, of course, many ways to speak of this, but one line of Christian thought would hold that it is to be united with God.
The early Church Fathers call this union: “theosis” or “deification.” Some Fathers held that humanity is made in the image of God and called to strive towards the likeness of God. The difference is that God implanted the divine image in us as a gift and vocation, while the divine likeness is something we strive for.
The point of the Son’s incarnation was to enable humanity to grow into the likeness of God through love.
“[The Word of God] became human so that we could become divine.” (St. Athanasius)
This union with God is not ours by right. It is a gift of God’s grace. Even so, oneness with God fulfills our nature. God’s image signifies potentiality, and God’s likeness is the actualization of that potentiality. We were made to be with God.[1] We were made to enter the joy of our Master. And if we let God, we can become perfect and holy like God. This actualization of our potentiality is the pinnacle of human flourishing.
This perpetual joyful union with God is the reason why God created humanity. As such, Christian life and worship ought to begin with joy rather than depravity. Our discipleship starts with the “marvelous possibility of enjoying God,” as opposed to starting from how we have fallen and have disobeyed God’s will. The central concern is the glory of God, and humanity’s sin is marginal.[2]
It’s so easy to focus on the bad, ugly parts of the human story. Our minds easily go first to the places where we have failed, how we have disobeyed God’s law, how we have fallen short of the glory of God. But the beauty of the Lord reminds us that human depravity takes a back seat to divine majesty. Even our fall is but an interlude in God’s drama, an episode in God’s eternity.
The good news of Jesus Christ is not only that he died to save us. It is also that the divine glory has come to be with humanity and has welcomed humanity into the life of the Trinity. God has come to renew the original beauty of humankind so that it can once more reflect the radiant glory of God.
Since every person is fashioned to immerse themselves in the beauty and glory of God, that opens up every earthly experience of beauty. In C. S. Lewis’ thought, “the profoundest physical enjoyment is one of the best and clearest images of what it is to meet God.”[3] When we savor the moments of joy in the here and now, we get a preview of what it will be like to finally be in God’s arms. And according to Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, the feeling of enjoyment, of full satisfaction, “is one of the most powerful glimpses we can have of what union with God is like.”[4]
In sum, joy is the highest positive expression because it anticipates our eschatological union with God. The partial, momentary satisfaction we get now will be succeeded by total, everlasting satisfaction. When we finally act and look like Christ, we will be one with him, and we can rejoice evermore.
Reflection
What does it mean to become Christlike? What does coming into the likeness of God look like?
What would happen to your everyday walk with Jesus if you focused on God’s beauty, glory, and joy rather than your sins and failures?
Do you have a personal story of experiencing a profound physical/earthly enjoyment that gave you an image of what it would be like to meet God?
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[1] Mary B. Cunningham and Elizabeth Theokritoff, The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology, Reprint ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 104.
[2] Moltmann, Theology and Joy, 16.
[3] Williams, The Lion's World: A Journey into the Heart of Narnia, 56.
[4] Williams, The Lion's World: A Journey into the Heart of Narnia, 56.
Day 5: Delight in the Other
Day 5: Delight in the Other
Everyone everywhere at all times enjoys pleasurable things and pleasure itself. Even so, Christians throughout history have held a deep suspicion and suppression of pleasure: bodily, sexual, entertaining, playful, etc. But is it wrong to enjoy pleasure per se?
What is the difference between pleasure and joy?
Presbyterian minister and theologian Edward Farley offers an intriguing explanation:
Eating tasty cuisine, having a massage and solving a puzzle are pleasures. Similarly, religious fantasies about life in heaven marked by sounds of harps and freedom from the pains and anxieties of organic life are mostly about pleasures. We may sometimes speak of these things as enjoyments: we rarely think of them as providing joy.
Joy arises only when there is a transcending of egocentric pleasure into the life of the other. Joy, in other words, is a phenomenon of ethical self-transcendence. A unique ‘pleasurable’ quality or tone of experience marks ethical self-transcendence. Drawn to the strange, self-transcending beauty of the other and oriented to its need and welfare, the human being experiences joy.[1]
Let’s pause to analyze Farley’s point. Pleasure, in the ordinary sense of the word, is the enjoyment of something that benefits oneself or satisfies one’s interest. But the Christian kind of joy is not about pleasing the self but about finding pleasure in the other. Something enjoyable happens when a person transcends himself or herself in seeking the good of another person. We experience joy when we delight in the beauty and being of others.
Returning once more to Farley’s description of joy:
Joy, then, is the experiential quality of the orientation of ethical self-transcendence. Its primary dynamic is not ‘something I need has been given to me’. It is, rather, ‘this beautiful, vulnerable other is coming to be as itself’.[2]
Farley agrees with Hart, here, that the essence of beauty is that it is unnecessary. It does not have to exist. Its existence, its presence, is entirely an unwarranted gift.[3] We experience joy when we finally take pleasure in someone or something else coming to be as itself. This kind of pleasure (which is permitted for the Christian) is disinterested in the self and interested in the other.
For example, there is something wondrous about watching a hummingbird fly and feed on flowers. There is something spectacular at watching an athlete or an artist perform the best feat of their lives. There is something heart-warming about watching children play in a field. There is something incredible about watching someone work on their passion. Something is captivating in watching your loved one find themselves and living their best self.
Finally, Farley brings his account home:
[Joy] is therefore a state of participation in the ‘world’ of the other, a residing mood (not just a passing emotion) that comes with empathetic caring. Here, too, the primordial instance of joy is God’s loving and creative participation in what is other than itself.[4]
Farley proposes something profound: God’s love for the other is what brings God joy. Without forgetting the mystery of God, Christian theology believes that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit delights in the being of the Divine Other. We get a glimpse of the Trinitarian delight when the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17).
And beyond the Trinity, creation itself is a result of God opening up the divine life so that the created other may have being. For some mysterious reason, God cares about us and wants to participate in our lives (even though our lives are utterly dependent on God’s gift of life). God desires the best for his children. And when God sees his children enjoying life to the fullest, that brings God joy, too.
Reflection
What does worldly pleasure share in common with Christian joy? What are the differences?
Do you have a personal example of a moment when you felt the kind of joy that delights in the well-being of another person or another thing (what Farley calls “ethical self-transcendence”)?
Thinking of the people in and just outside your social circle, how could you imitate God’s joy, that is, lovingly and creatively participating in someone else’s world?
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[1] Edward Farley, Faith and Beauty: A Theological Aesthetic (Aldershot: Ashgate, August 1, 2001).
[2] Farley, Faith and Beauty.
[3] Hart, The Experience of God, 283.
[4] Farley, Faith and Beauty.
Day 6: Flourishing for All
Day 6: Flourishing for All
The Meaning of Flourishing
The Meaning of Flourishing
Like joy, human flourishing is a thing of beauty. The English word “flourish” is derived from the Latin root flor- ‘a flower’. So to flourish means to grow or develop in a healthy, vigorous way; to thrive; to be in one’s prime; to be successful; to prosper; to grow luxuriantly.
The flourishing life can be called a variety of things: the ‘fulfilled life’, the ‘good life’, the ‘successful life,’ or the ‘meaningful life’. But as professor Moltmann says, all these terms boil down to the same meaning: “the potential of human life is supposed to be fulfilled in such a way that life can be completely affirmed, and that the person can feel satisfied.”[1] This means that a person’s potential is realized. Indeed, it means that our community arises to the potential just and loving family God has in mind for it. Everyone’s life is affirmed. Each person has the necessities for life and can go about living in a meaningful and satisfying way.
Flourishing for All
Flourishing for All
The Christian faith imagines not just the flourishing of one group of people, but of all.[2] The entire creation rejoices at the coming of the Lord (Psa 96). When the kingdom of God comes on earth, there will finally be peace (Rev 21:1-4).
As Christian ethicist David Gill reflected on Romans 14:17, joy is arrived at only after there is peace. Peace is established first with justice, that is, when the broken world is set right, when the relationship between God and humanity is restored to love, and when individuals can treat each other rightly, justly, with dignity. The good and beautiful world with every creature living in peace and harmony with one another shall be a gift from God.[3]
If I want joy for myself, I need to have a life that feels good, a life that goes well, and to live well (or some balance of those three components). When I flourish, I feel joy.
My working definition of joy is twofold. The first is the delight in the “beautiful, vulnerable other coming to be itself.”[4] The second is that joy is the feeling we feel when life is as it should be.[5] If these two working definitions of joy are persuasive, then that suggests that one’s peace and well-being is inextricably tied with one’s neighbor’s well-being. The good things in life are best enjoyed together.
I propose that joy is most Christlike when one rejoices in one’s neighbor’s flourishing. For then, one joins in God’s joyous song over all creation and over all his people. And that desire for the other’s best is what it would mean for one to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Mk 12:31). Thus, I would want my neighbor to have the good life, just as I would want the good life for myself. For when we all thrive, that is the shape of a just and peaceful world.
This is what I think Jesus felt when he bore the cross for the sins of the world. When Hebrews 12:2 says: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross….” I think Jesus saw his beloved restored. He knew that his work and life and death would bring about the renewal of humanity. That picture of flourishing — of every human being flowering in health and vitality, basking in the life-giving lights of God — is what gave Jesus the resolve to endure the shame, the rejection, the cross, and death itself. Jesus knew without a shadow of a doubt that his selfless sacrifice would bring about indestructible life.
This same vision of flourishing can ignite our passion for peace and resolve to struggle for justice. God summons us to commit to cultivating communities that foster human flourishing. Everyone should thrive, and everyone should have the opportunity to feel joy.
Followers of Jesus Christ ought to imitate their Lord and act to advance everyone’s flourishing in whatever dimension needed, whether bodily, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. This, of course, entails overturning any religious, cultural, economic, or political barriers that destroy the good, and the goods of human life. Additionally, it involves demonstrating love, respect, and inclusion towards all people.[6]
People generally pursue a meaningful life in two ways: either helping themselves or helping others.
Yet, Moltmann offers this counsel: self-fulfillment and responsibility for the world belong together. Why? “Because the human self belongs within the world, and the world belongs to the human self.”[7] If I take care of the world, which is my home, I take care of myself. When I flourish, and when my neighbor flourishes, the world which we share flourishes. In this way, we are our brother’s and our sister’s keeper (Gen 4:9). For when we love our neighbors as ourselves, we wind up loving ourselves by being loving persons. Paradoxically, the best way to find fulfillment is by taking care of others. The best life for all is my best life.
Reflection
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = least fulfilled, 10 = most fulfilled), how would you rate yourself on the three components of a flourishing life?
A life that feels good = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A life that goes well = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A life that is lived well = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Can you think of a real-like example of the absence of justice and peace blocking joy? Or vice versa, can you think of an instance when there was justice, which produced peace, which evoked joy?
Imagine you’re conversing with a person outside the Christian church. How would you explain the idea self-fulfillment is found by selflessly seeking the flourishing of all others?
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[1] Jürgen Moltmann, Ethics of Hope (Fortress Press, May 1, 2012), 63.
[2] God says to Abram, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3b). Also see Ezekiel 47:1-12; Zec 9:16-17.
[3] Volf and Croasmun, For the Life of the World, 112.
[4] Farley, Faith and Beauty.
[5] ”Joy is the substance of life feeling as it should.” Volf and Croasmun, For the Life of the World, 99.
[6] David P. Gushee and Glen H. Stassen, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, 2nd / Kindle ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2016), 154.
[7] Moltmann, Ethics of Hope, 63.
Day 7: Conclusion to Joy & Human Flourishing
Day 7: Conclusion to Joy & Human Flourishing
We all want to flourish, and we all want to feel joy. However you define ‘joy’ and ‘flourishing,’ God has implanted the desire in our hearts so that we would seek ultimate fulfillment in God.
But in this lifetime, in this age, we will not get the fullness of joy or flourishing. We can only experience joy momentarily and partially. We often thrive only in certain areas of our lives, but not in every area or every level. Does this mean we shouldn’t try to pursue the good life? Do we succumb to despair?
On the contrary, as St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches, even if we can not attain everything, by attaining it even partially, we could gain a great deal.[1] Even a modicum of joy and good is something to celebrate.[2]
So, we must cultivate the shalom of God in our communities as best as we can, buoyed up by joy that only the Lord can provide. This is how God will renew the world.
As Alexander Schmemann declares: “It is the joy of recovered childhood, that free, unconditioned and disinterested joy which alone is capable of transforming the world.”[3] In other words, instead of being driven by fears or anxieties, the joy of the Lord carries God’s people along. God frees us from sin, evil, and death. God offers us unconditional love and grace. And God enables us to be selfless, disinterested in the self. Such joy can help mend the world, bringing about flourishing for all.
One may experience the good life in the present, or one can maintain hope for it in the future. Either way, the state of or the hope of flourishing moves our hearts to respond with the feeling of joy. As Miroslav Volf exhorts: “The flourishing life is something we look forward to in the eschaton, and which we can live into here and now in anticipation.”[4] In other words, while we live in this painful, tragic world, the Christian can maintain hope for all creation rejoicing in God’s ultimate shalom. Meanwhile, where peace and justice are unevenly distributed, God calls Christians to be loving, to be peacemakers, to be healers, to pray for everyone’s welfare, to promote the good, to protect the weak and vulnerable.
We eagerly look forward to the day when all creation flourishes under God’s glory. It will be beautiful. It will be joyful.
Reflection
How has your understanding of joy changed since the beginning of this series?
How has your vision of human flourishing evolved?
What will you do differently now that you have meditated on God’s joy and humanity’s flourishing?
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[1] Gregory was speaking of attaining virtuous perfection, but the principle is still valid for pursuing joy and flourishing.
[2] Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, trans. Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 6.
[3] Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998), 30.
[4] Volf and Croasmun, For the Life of the World, 99.
Works Cited
Works Cited
Cunningham, Mary B., and Elizabeth Theokritoff. The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology. Reprint ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Farley, Edward. Faith and Beauty: A Theological Aesthetic. Aldershot: Ashgate, August 1, 2001.
Gushee, David P., and Glen H. Stassen. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. 2nd / Kindle ed. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2016.
Hart, David Bentley. The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Hebblethwaite, Brian L. "The Transcendentals." In Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, edited by Ian McFarland, S. Fergusson and Karen Kilby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Kreeft, Peter. "Lewis's Philosophy of Truth, Goodness and Beauty." In C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness and Beauty, edited by David J. Baggett, Gary R. Habermas and Jerry L. Walls, 23-36. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008.
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
McGregor, Bede, and Thomas Norris. The Beauty of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Hans Urs Von Balthasar. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1994.
Moltmann, Jürgen. Ethics of Hope. Fortress Press, May 1, 2012.
———. Theology and Joy. London: SCM Press, 1973.
Nyssa, Gregory of. The Life of Moses. Translated by Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.
Schmemann, Alexander. For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy. Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998.
Volf, Miroslav, and Matthew Croasmun. For the Life of the World: Theology That Makes a Difference. Grand Rapids: BrazosPress; Baker Publishing Group, 2019.
Williams, Rowan. The Lion's World: A Journey into the Heart of Narnia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
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