The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Canon Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, March 30, 2008.
My great-aunt Gladys went through a superstitious phase in mid-life where
she was always looking for signs to predict how things would turn out. She
decided that her happiness depended on assurances that things would go her
way. She convinced herself that she could only be happy if her children
developed the sort of character that she found honorable.
So, Aunt Gladys decided to test my older cousin one day. She went in my
cousin’s bedroom, and on his desk she placed a rosary, a silver dollar, a
bottle of Crown Royal, and some naughty post-cards of nearly nude men on the
beach. Aunt Gladys hid in my cousin’s closet waiting for him to come home from
school.
Aunt Gladys peered through the crack in the closet door to see which item
my cousin would first notice and pick up. If he grabbled the rosary, he’d
become a priest, and that would please my great-aunt. If he grabbed the silver
dollar, he’d become a successful businessman, and that would be pretty great
too. If he grabbed the bottle of booze, he’d grow up to have a drinking
problem, and that would make my great-aunt sad. And if he grabbed the risqué
beefcake postcards, he’d be gay.
My cousin finally came home from school, went to his room and threw his
books on the bed and then noticed the assortment of items on his desk. He
walked over, put the rosary on like a necklace, dropped the silver dollar in
his pocket, took a big swig out of the whiskey bottle, and started ogling the
naughty post-cards. Stunned, my great-aunt Gladys shouted out loud from the
closet, “Mother of God he’s going to be a congressman!”
In the New Testament book of Ephesians (2.5-6), the writer says that God
“raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Christ in the heavens…” Now
there is plenty in the book of Ephesians with which I take issue, but that one
statement is very intriguing to me. It says something profound about
resurrection and what it means for us.
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavens.
To this writer, resurrection isn’t a one-time event that happened to one
person. On the contrary, the resurrection of Christ symbolizes our shared
resurrection; and it isn’t a resurrection that will happen for us one day, but
one that has happened for us, already! God has ALREADY raised us up. We have
ALREADY been uplifted.
If this writer is correct, and I believe that he has stumbled onto
something that is profoundly true, then the fullness of life is available to
us in this sacred moment. The fullness of life doesn’t depend on the future,
or on things going a certain way. The fullness of life isn’t something that is
conditional; it is our present reality. It is available to us now. It is part
of who we are; it is part of the divine plan for us. We have been raised up
with Christ and we are seated with Christ in a heavenly state… right now!
So when we think that our happiness is in the future waiting for certain
conditions, we are mistaken. As resurrection people, we have been lifted up to
the presence and power of joy already. It’s ours in the now; we are happy
already, even though we may not know it. The key is discovering our innate,
inner happiness and embracing it fully.
We are offered this same lesson in today’s epistle reading. “Blessed be
God… by whose great mercy we have been given a new birth into a living hope…”
We have been given. The hope is ours; it’s available to us
right here and right now. These words are written to people who have struggles
and fears and disappointments, but the difficulties don’t define them nor can
they rob them of their right to experience joy in life. The writer of 1 Peter
says that our divine inheritance is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading…”
The writer even gives a wonderful example… he says, “Although you have not
seen Jesus, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe
in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy!”
The people to whom those words are written had been expecting Jesus’
return, as had the generation before them. It didn’t happen. But this writer
says that being wrong about Jesus’ triumphal return is no reason to give up on
joy. Even though you don’t see him, still you love him and you experience an
indescribable and glorious joy.
The gospel reading says that the apostles experienced Jesus beyond his
execution. The breath of Christ invigorated them, and their hope and joy were
renewed.
If we had read a few verses more, we would have seen that Thomas was out
and missed the experience, but he did say that if he could have that
experience he would believe… he placed conditions on his happiness, and it was
therefore delayed. However, eventually the experience is repeated and this
time Thomas gets in on it. And Jesus says to him, “Thomas, you believe because
you see me? Happy are those who have not seen and yet still believe.” This,
again, is a great word of encouragement to people who had hoped that Jesus
would return and set things right. Their expectations were not met, but they
have a choice. They are free to believe in possibilities even when things
aren’t going their way. They are free to embrace happiness long before they
see any of their conditions met.
If happiness depends on things going according to plan or us getting our
way, then happiness may be elusive. But the biblical witness is that we can be
happy without waiting for conditions to be met.
Sure, we can have goals. Of course we want a healthy relationship, a better
job, to go back and finish that degree, to lose a few pounds… whatever the
desire may be. But we don’t have to wait for those things to experience
happiness. We can choose to believe in the Source of joy right here. The
source of joy is part of us; we are made in its image. We are filled with its
spirit. Getting our way isn’t necessary to experience joy; all we have to do
is remember who we really are and then joy becomes our natural state.
We have been raised up with Christ.
We have been given new birth to a living hope.
We are lifted up to our natural state of joy when we remember who we are
and choose to live in the power of that truth.
We can be happy now… in fact, in God’s reality, we already are. It’s the
truth of our being… we have been raised up with Christ and we are seated in
the joyous and heavenly places with Christ.
As you read Robert Holden’s book, Happiness Now!… you will learn
about the Unconditioned Self… the real you that is made in the divine image of
perfection, wholeness and joy. The real you is whole, perfect and complete,
and therefore must be joyous and abundantly blessed. As we learn to embrace
and celebrate the real us, we will discover that we have been raised to
heavenly places with Christ. Your heaven, your joy, is part of you already. By
embracing it, nothing can rob you of the divine happiness that you already
are.
Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the holy breath, the holy spirit,
the spirit of wholeness, the spirit of abundant life and perfect joy.” Receive
it! It’s already yours… no matter what is going on around you, this perfect
spirit is already yours. This is the good news. Amen.
First of a series based on the topics covered in Robert
Holden’s book, Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good FAST
(Hay House, 1998; 2007)