14 Dec Sharing Our Joy With Others

Dear Friends,

I pray this note finds you all doing well during this holiday season. Throughout Advent the Loft community has been wrestling with the question, how does a weary world rejoice. And so, even as I write words of hope and wellness, I recognize that many of us are not doing as well as we’d like to be. Whether it is the war in Palestine and the innocent lives that have been lost, or perhaps your December calendar that feels overwhelming, or maybe the holidays are difficult for you because they remind you of those loved ones who have gone on to glory.

These are weary times, and yet, what we read in the story of Jesus’ birth is that even in the midst of our weariness God is at work doing a new thing, and thus even in our weariness we can find joy. The world needs our joy – your joy. Our joy is better when it is shared and collectively joy can be an act of resistance.

Joy can also be found in connecting with others and helping those in need. Having been on the receiving end of this generosity I can tell you that the joy of receiving a gift – what, for me felt like a miracle(s) – is as profound as giving a gift and helping someone in need. During the winter of 1995 my mother was hospitalized for the first of a handful of occasions due to her being sick, she has Lupus, an auto-immunue disease that impacts her ability to fight off infection. This came as a surprise to all of us and it left us in financial precariousness. We didn’t have enough money to completely pay off any of our bills, so we would alternate between paying water, gas, electric, telephone, etc. on a monthly basis.

Unfortunately we had fallen so far behind on our gas bill that the company came to our house and turned it off. No gas, no heat, despite the fact that it was winter. It was a Friday afternoon, and we all huddled in the living room and slept by the fireplace that weekend so that we could stay warm. I don’t recall feeling as though this was fair or unfair, however I do remember feeling as though our experience is just what it is like to be poor. I believed the lie that it was our fault that we were poor, and I have been working to heal from this internalized self-hate ever since.

We didn’t talk about not having heat that weekend. Instead we tried to make the best of it. We pretended like we were camping and cooked marshmallows in the fireplace and made smores. We tried to distract ourselves with games. Intuitively we tried to find joy because we knew that without it we would sink into despair. One of my family’s favorite scriptures is Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Despite our weariness, despite our struggles, there will be joy, joy will come in the morning.

Our community, both within the church and beyond, stepped in to help us during this time and our gas was turned back on Monday afternoon. Thinking back on this winter I am reminded of the power of joy and the reality that joy is found in community. And while I am no longer in the position of needing financial assistance, I am in a position of being able to give to help others in need. My own experience of poverty, of not knowing how we are going to pay the bills, of not knowing how we are going to keep our utilities from being turned off, makes me sensitive to those who are struggling to make ends meet.

Over the next few weeks as you consider your year end giving, I invite you to consider that joy is better when it is shared. May you find ways to share this joy with others. And in so doing, may we resist the lure of perpetual weariness with the confidence that while weeping may endure through the night, joy comes in the morning.

Love & Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter