And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.”  
(Acts 5:27-28 ESV)

I bet you consider yourself a ‘law & order’ kinda person. I don’t mean the TV show, but the inclination. You pay your taxes. You vote. You obey the laws, except maybe the speed limits. You support the police. You might even turn to a passage like Romans 13 to support and encourage that view. That’s important and I’d even say biblical. We are called to be supportive, submissive, prayerful citizens of the nations in which we live. 

To recall our memories is to often times rehearse our regrets and shame. We see our failures with greater clarity than our successes. Sometimes we hear from others that in order to be truly free we need to abandon shame and move forward. But is that the best? Is there something between wallowing in our shame and forgetting about our mistakes and sin? Could there be something redemptive in shame?

(Psalm 22:1-2 ESV)

What does the ‘normal’ Christian life feel like? This summer, we have tried to address this question by exploring the Psalms. Seeing the joys, fears, pains, and hopes of the psalmists rewires our perspectives through faith. And it shows us that Christians don’t avoid the bad and amplify the good feelings, but places them in a context of the gospel.

“Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt me” This old rhyme is true on a physical level but completely false on an emotional one. The words have the ability to rip our souls apart. Words of hatred. Words of gossip. Words of anger. Words of contempt. They can all do damage that is deep and life altering. We can all think of things that have been said to us, hopefully both in the positive and negative, that have directed our lives and thoughts.

Darkness, sadness, hopelessness, or depression - these heavy-hearted feelings go by several names. They have varying levels of severity and length. They can have discernible causes or no cause at all. Everyone has felt it at some level. How do we respond? Does the scripture ever express such a feeling? Does it provide any guidance or hope?

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30:11-12 ESV) 

It is easy to let our emotions overwhelm us especially the negative emotions. Fear. Worry. Shame. We can be paralyzed by them. And when we talk about emotions at all, we tend to focus on trying to avoid these negative emotions. But this Sunday we want to look at joy. How do we foster joy? Where does it come from? Or even more basic: what is joy? And is it different then just happiness?