always connect, never divide. Second, justice and joy in congregational life off er
hope in the search for wholeness and purpose. Justice and joy is hearing a high school student reveal to the congregation on Youth Sunday, “Th ank you for nurtur- ing me all the way through my life, especially when I went on the mission trip to Appalachia. I think maybe God is calling me to be a pastor.” Justice and joy is meeting with a church member who says, “I want you to know how grateful I am to be part of a church that has encouraged me to wrestle with issues of sexual identity and who we are as children of God.” Justice and joy is bringing confl icted parties to the table in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. Justice and joy is walking with people whose spiritual lives deepen as they engage in ministries that stir the heart and change the world.
Finally, justice and joy in congregational life of-
fer courage in the face of darkness. How many times have you heard people say, “I couldn’t have made it without my church family.” “Th e employment support group at church was my anchor.” “Worship has been a place of refuge and comfort as I recover from a major illness.” “Volunteering to tutor at our partner school in the inner city changed my life.” “How can it be that in the midst of so much pain there is joy?”
It’s all about believing Simultaneously holding on to justice and joy
is no easy task for laity and clergy, let alone in our congregations and the world. Yet justice and joy are about believing in the goodness of a God who is so preoccupied with loving you and me and every per- son in our world that all we can do is shake our heads, smile, and roll up our sleeves. Without justice and joy, that ability to connect with and share the good news of the God of community, hope, and courage, we are left , in the words of James Wall, “with only the hollow certainty of the world’s measured reality.” Who will teach the world about justice and joy?
If not us, who? If not now, when? In the end, it’s never numbers, size, or success that refl ects the impact of justice and joy in pastoral ministry. Th e joy and jus- tice is in the call. Th e vocation of ministry profession- als as well as laity is to create congregations of justice and joy who shape and empower followers of Jesus Christ to claim, hold on to, and witness to their own joy and commitment to justice in the midst of a seem- ingly dark and disconnected world. “I just don’t know how you can have such sadness ... and such joy.”
Fellowship member LAURIE HALLER is Bishop of the Iowa Conference of The United Methodist Church and a former member of the WorshipArts Editorial Committee.
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January-February 2018 • WorshipArts •
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