As has been our custom for a number of years, our annual diocesan theme will be officially launched at Diocesan Council. These annual themes help us to focus our life together in many ways, and serve as guideposts as we plan our spiritual formation and ministries throughout the year. The theme for 2016 – The joy of the Lord is your strength, Nehemiah 8.10 – provides the opportunity to contemplate and discuss what “real joy” and “real strength” mean to us as disciples of Christ.
The joy of the Lord is something to be celebrated and should be our inspiration as members of God’s family and as followers of Jesus. We are called to be bearers of the “Gospel, the Good News“, and certainly we know the world needs to be encouraged with good news and true joy. In these things, perhaps our patron saint is Barnabas, whose name means “encourager” or “son of encouragement.”
And speaking of names, the name “Nehemiah” translates in Hebrew as “Yahweh has comforted“; and in Latin, “My consoler is the Lord.” To be comforted and consoled helps one to be strengthened in the midst of life. Nehemiah certainly had many, many challenges as he went about leading the renewal of the people Israel after Cyrus allowed the exiles to return to Jerusalem. They set about rebuilding the Temple, and this is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament. There were moments of joy, moments of strife, moments of discouragement, moments of danger. Yet, in the midst of all of these things, we read “the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
There is a difference between “happiness” and “Godly joy.” A person’s “happiness” may be subject to all kinds of factors and events. It can come and go by the day, week, month, or year. But I believe that true “Godly joy” can not only be experienced in all that comes our way in life, but it is also the ultimate source of strength through even the most difficult of days.
I will have more to say about all of this in my address to Diocesan Council in February. I look forward to exploring these things with you in McAllen, and with you throughout the year.
The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge