By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Rejoice Always?

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“Rejoice always….”
1 Thessalonians 5:16 English Standard Version

The holidays are over, the skies are overcast and gray, it rains almost every day, and …. I feel dreary.  My spirit feels like the weather; overcast, gray, dark and foreboding.  I have lost some good friends to death over the past months and that brings up old grief and loneliness for me.  I have other friends that are struggling with cancer, and that makes me feel vulnerable and sad.  Indeed, dreariness is my companion today.

In the midst of the dreariness, Paul writes, “Rejoice always.”  I want you to notice what Paul does not say.  He does not say, “Feel better.”  He does not say, “Try to distract yourself with pleasures and numbing agents.”  He does not say, “Grief and sadness are bad.”

God calls us to face life as it is, lives full of grief and sadness and dying and pain.   He doesn’t tell us to escape the reality of sin and death and sorrow.  Instead, the Lord calls us to rejoice in Him, even in the midst of trials and dreariness.  To rejoice in the sacrifice of His Son upon the cross, to rejoice in the companionship of the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us when we are too sad to pray.  To rejoice in the sure hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to rejoice in the promises He has given us in His Word.

Rejoicing is not a feeling or an avoidance of pain.  Rejoicing is an action we engage in because our relationship with God in Jesus Christ transcends our circumstances and our feelings.  Just as love is a deliberate action, not a feeling, so it is with rejoicing.  The command and invitation to rejoice flies in the face of dreariness and loss.  No matter how we may feel, no matter how the circumstances of life may be, we rejoice in a reality in Jesus that lifts us up above all earthly pain, that even gives meaning to suffering and sadness.

Rejoice always! In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado