A Prerequisite for Joy

 A Prerequisite for Joy         

Psalm 30:1-5; Luke 1:26-45

A meditation delivered electronically by Rev. Randy K. Hammer, Dec. 20, 2020

Today I want to share with you a warm and fuzzy story, a true story, to illustrate the theme of the day.  For several years I had a dream of driving the entire length of historic US Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica Pier, California.  I dreamed of driving the same roadbed that the dust-bowlers of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath characters drove.  I dreamed of eating at the historic diners and sleeping in the historic motels and seeing all the natural wonders along the way and buying souvenirs at the Route 66 trading posts.  I held this dream close in my heart and thoughts for some years, and I shared it with Mary Lou and a few others close to me.

Well, Mary Lou has never had enough vacation days to spare to spend that many days on the road.   And she doesn’t have the same level of passion that I do for just driving the highways of America.

So, some five years ago, I seriously considered setting out to drive Route 66 alone, all by myself.  I was sharing this possibility with Mary Lou one day, and she said, “Why don’t you ask Josiah (one of our grandsons) to go along with you?”  Well, Josiah was only 9 years old at the time, but he and I had always been close.  So I first broached the subject with our daughter and son-in-law before I mentioned it to him, to see how they felt about the idea of just the two of us setting out in my Jeep to drive across the US on the old, two-lane, Route 66.  They thought it was a great idea.  And Josiah was eager to jump onboard. 

So, in the summer of 2016, we set forth and completed what would become the first leg of a five-leg journey across old Route 66.  It proved to be a wonderful week, far exceeding what I could have imagined.  A number of times that week, Josiah said to me, “Thank you, Grandy, for bringing me on this trip with you.”

Well, over the next three years, we completed three more legs of Route 66.  And at the end of our 2019 trip, we had traveled over 1800 Route 66 miles together, from Chicago to well into California.  We had planned to complete the trip this past summer with a big celebration at the “End of Route 66” sign at Santa Monica Pier.  But COVID-19 cancelled those plans.  We hope that things will be such next summer so that we can finish our adventure together.

But here is the point: Asking Josiah to accompany me on the journey across Route 66 has proved to be one best decisions I have ever made and one of the greatest joys of my life.  Had I foolishly (and it would have been foolish) set out alone, there would have been no joy – no joy in visiting those diners or motels; no joy in experiencing the natural wonders of the world, like Meramec Caverns and the Grand Canyon; no joy in spending the day at Six Flags St. Louis (not once, but twice).  No joy in visiting all those Route 66 museums and trading posts.  A great lesson made evident in our experience is this: a prerequisite for joy is companionship; joy is made possible in the company of others.  Joy is the result of a shared experience, shared blessing.  I cannot imagine standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon alone, with no one to share the joy with me.  It would have left me feeling empty, lost, and alone.  To repeat it, joy comes in the company and fellowship of others.

Well, at the end of our gospel reading today, we read of how Mary and her cousin Elizabeth experienced joy in the company of each other.  As Luke tells the story, when Mary learned that she was pregnant, she traveled to the hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  And for about three months, perhaps until Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zachariah where they shared their experience and joy.

Let me repeat it: Joy is the result of a shared experience in beloved community, in the company and fellowship of others.  Joy is the product of a shared blessing.  And oddly enough, joy can even come in sharing with another a pain or sorrow.  As an example, I have known joy in being able to assist and support people in planning and leading funerals and memorial services.  It was joy, not because of the death of a loved one, but joy in being able to make it easier for others to journey through one of life’s most difficult rites of passage.

Now, an obvious consideration and ramification of what I’ve said thus far is that the insidious COVID-19 virus has taken from us so many opportunities to be in the company and fellowship of others; and thus, has limited the joyful encounters we would have liked to have had.  All of us have been robbed of much joy these past months; and some more than others.  We mourn the loss.

Perhaps early on we could have offered a few outdoor opportunities to get together.  Early on, I had members on both sides of the fence voicing an opinion – some on the side of having no gatherings at all, and others on the side of having gatherings within reason.  Generally speaking, we chose to err on the side of extreme caution in order to try to keep everyone safe, not realizing how long this pandemic was going to last.  But at the same time, we have done what we could to try to keep everyone connected.

But the good news is a better day is ahead; a day when we can again gather in person in beloved community to share fellowship and the joy that comes in the company of those we love.  So let us be encouraged as we hold onto that thought.

But in the meantime, I encourage us to believe that we can still find joy in staying connected with one another through our online services, Zoom fellowships, telephone calls, cards in the mail, and other creative ways.

Yes, joy comes in the company of others, to be sure.  But joy can also come through relationships, and staying connected, and a shared conversation, or thinking of you note in the mail. My experience has been that the greatest joys I have known were not in solitude.  Rather, the greatest joys I have known resulted from relationships, connections, shared experiences.  And we can make it so.  Amen.