Week 03: Joy & Celebration
In a world of fear, Joy has dawned in the Person of Jesus and continues through our practice of joy. This week we looked at three movements of practicing joy: 1. Ponder - Joy Inward, 2. Proclaim - Joy Outward, and 3. Praise - Joy Upward.
As a Discipleship group this week, discuss and plan for how you’ll integrate these three practices of gratitude in the remainder of the Advent season.
ponder - joy inward
Gratitude Moments, from Jim Wilder & Michel Hendricks
1. Think of a memory in your life for which you are grateful. It can be big (the birth of a child) or small (a beautiful sunset). I can be ordinary (meal) or spiritual (proclamation moment, freedom from addiction or sin). It doesn’t matter, as long as you feel gratitude when you think about it.
2. Give it a two- to three-word title (for example, “Arlo Hugs,” “Topanga Retreat”, “Tears on Rugs”)
3. In a quiet place, go back into this memory and relive it for a minute, like you are back in it.
4. Ask: What did you feel in your body? Maybe “peace” or “lightness” (it doesn’t matter what you feel as long as you feel something in your body)
5. Ask: What might God be communicating to you through the memory and the peace you feel? View of Nature: God is with me and likes to share His beauty with me.
Treasure up all these things, meditate on them, return to them. Journal or Note App.
1. Start compiling a list of grateful memories as described above. Each memory has two characteristics: 1) you feel gratitude in your body, and 2) you feel a connection with God in the memory. Eventually, you want a list of at least ten grateful memories.
2. Once a day, spend five minutes residing in gratitude using your list of grateful memories. It is mostly nonverbal. You are feeling a connection with God in your body as you relive memories of gratitude.
proclaim - joy outward
With plenty of feasts and parties in coming weeks, how can you intentionally share with other followers of Jesus in the amazement, in gratitude for who God is and what he’s up to in your life. What Pastor and Author Joy Tyson, calls “Redemption Celebrations”
“A crew of us from the city were gathered around a table, reveling in all that God had done. Person by person, we opened our hearts and shared God’s goodness. We laughed till it hurt, wept tears of gratitude, and at until we were content. People shared freedom from sexual addition, deliverance from a judgmental spirit, reconciled relationships with family, promotions at work, and fresh hope in a strained marriage. At the end of the meal, we all raised our glasses and yelled, “To the King and to the kingdom.” The whole restaurant turned around for a second, drawn into the spirit of the moment. Later the server who caught snippets of our stories, said to me, “That was the most hopeful thing I have encountered in years, and I don’t even believe in God.”
Also, in coming weeks and year, who and how is Spirit inviting you to multiply joy by sharing with others who haven’t yet received this joy?
Neighbors, coworker, family member, your children? How can you report what you’ve found?
praise - joy upward
Prioritize Sunday Worship Gathering
Compile a playlist of Christmas hymns and songs, and blast it! Sing, dance party!