“Delight and Joy”
In his book Souvenirs of Solitude (2009:143) Brennan Manning has this interesting statement: “It is important to recapture the element of delight in creation. Imagine the ecstasy, the veritable orgy of joy, wonder, and delight when God makes a person in His own image – when God made you.” This statement is amazing, and not just because in one sentence we have the words “God”, “ecstasy” and “orgy”, but because it is a reminder of how precious each human being is; how important each and every single person is to God, and should be to us. This is the source and ground and basis for all human rights; for the challenge and responsibility to be engaged in society and the world, supporting one another and opposing all those things that threaten to dehumanize and desecrate human life. Many people somehow feel that they can trample on this dignity and honor in the name of a “just” cause; whether it is right-to-life, union-organizing, reining in spending, fighting terror, etc. People demonize those who oppose them and sometimes do it in the name of God. Some Christians are fond of asking “What Would Jesus Do?” in a given situation. That question presupposes that we know what Jesus’ did and what Jesus’ values are. How did Jesus treat the poor and dispossessed? How did Jesus treat women and children? How did Jesus oppose unjust forces? How did Jesus deal with zealous, hypocritical religious people who said one thing but acted in a way that didn’t reflect their pronounced faith? What did Jesus say about possessions? What did Jesus put at the top of his priority list? Only when we have done our homework and understand the heart and mind of Jesus can we ever hope to know what Jesus would do when faced with dictators bombing innocent people; when faced with tens of millions of people who are forced to go without medical insurance and care because they can’t afford it or have been turned down by insurance companies because of “pre-existing conditions”; when the rich get richer and the rest of the people are excluded from the bounty of God’s good earth; and the list goes on. All of this for me comes back to that fundamental, basic truth – we are all made in the image of God and although that image is marred and distorted and sometimes hard to see, we are all people of worth and dignity. And if we understand that, we won’t shout down the other or seek to shame the other or mistreat or belittle or triumph over the other in ways that make us question the other’s value and dignity. To do that is to thumb our noses at God. In his book If Christians Were Really Christian, Rev. John Killinger relates a true story that happened to him one Thanksgiving morning. His church had had a great worship service earlier in the day. After the service he and some others were standing around in the courtyard enjoying their fellowship and talking about the service when a thin, shabbily dressed, unshaven man approached hesitantly from the direction of the park across the street and asked if they had any food. He looked awful. He had dried blood on his face and clothing. He wasn’t wearing any shoes; his feet were wrapped in plastic bags. “I have AIDS,” he announced. He lost his job when he first got sick, and his parents wouldn’t let him come home. He hadn’t had a meal in days. Someone had beaten him up in the park the night before and stolen his shoes. Killinger and the others with him didn’t have any food, but they did have some coffee and gave it to him with plenty of sugar and cream to provide some nourishment. While the coffee was heating, Killinger telephoned an AIDS shelter, where they got a promise of a bed and were told there would be a hot meal waiting for him. While Killinger was on the phone arranging all of this, the young man was with Killinger’s wife. The man noticed that she was wearing a lacquered amulet as a necklace. “That’s beautiful,” he said. “May I touch it?” Emboldened when she said yes, he not only held and admired it but said he hadn’t been hugged or kissed in a long time. Would Killinger’s wife give him a hug? She did, and a kiss as well. He cried, and so did she. Later, when they had put the man in a taxi and sent him to the shelter, Killinger and his wife drove home, thinking how different the day now felt from earlier. It wasn’t the same kind of Thanksgiving Day they had experienced before. As they entered the house the phone was ringing. One of the leading ladies in the congregation spoke to Killinger’s wife. “I saw what you did, hugging that awful man” she announced. “Such behavior was a disgrace to your husband and to our church. I want you to know I intend to call several people and tell them about it.”
Killinger and his wife couldn’t believe it. That poor, lonely man – and this church member’s shrill, self-righteous indignation. Yes, everyone deserves our respect and compassion. And Christians should know that. This IS what Jesus would do. But there is another question – Have I really appreciated the wonderful gift that I am? That might sound arrogant or self-serving to some or something less than humble. But each and every one of us is a gift – a gift which God gives to himself and a gift which God gives to others. Do you realize how special you are? If you did, you would not only be more grateful and caring, you would live in awe.
I want to come back to that word “orgy – “Imagine the ecstasy, the veritable orgy of joy, wonder, and delight when God makes a person in His own image – when God made you.” (Brennan Manning). Yes, while it does have the sexual overtones, “orgy” can also mean “excessive, extreme indulgence in an activity” (The Concise Oxford Dictionary). For me this sounds an awful lot like “grace”. We see it in the actions of the father in Jesus’ parable of the two sons (Luke 15:11-32). We hear it in Paul’s words when he describes the riches of God’s grace that have been “lavished” on us in Christ (Ephesians 1:8). “An orgy of joy”, “an excessive, extreme indulgence.” This is a picture of God intently focused on the creation of each human being as individual, particular, precious. That is God’s view of you and of every other human being. And God’s love is such that
no one receives less love than another. And that, my friends is delight and joy.
