Joy is at the core of who we are as followers of Christ. In fact, “joy” “joyful” and “rejoice” are used hundreds of times in the Bible. But something became very clear to me this week. There is a lot of confusion around what joy is. The advertisers tell us that we are in the “season of joy”, and that giving and receiving their products will result in joy. Many of the authors I read in preparation for this sermon had differences in their view of joy. I asked my staff several times this week “What is joy?” and received faces of thought and pondering. Then I wondered if I even had it settled. We all seem to have a sense of what it is, but struggle to explaining it.
