Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)
A Paraphrase of John 2:1-12 by Meredith Miller
“God is Joyful”
Preached Sunday, August 23, 2026
God is Joyful!
I won’t lie - the last two weeks of this sermon series were doozies for me. We are doing a “God is…” sermon series based off the book “Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kid Doesn’t Need to Heal From” by Meredith Miller, where we talk about key attributes of God that children, and people of any age, need to know about God in order to trust God and have a lifelong, fruitful and abundant relationship with God. We’ve done God is Good, God is Powerful, and God is Just. Talking about God’s power in a world that abuses power and God’s justice in a world that is so unjust are very important topics - and, they are doozies. And so, I was, and I am, very excited this week to talk about: God. Is. Joyful!
And - just as we struggle with God being Good, God being Powerful, and God being Just - we also can struggle with God being Joyful.
Christianity is a serious religion. The topics of faith; of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; of life and eternal life; of how to live and follow Jesus - they are really important. And somewhere along the way, and a church historian could pinpoint this for us but we aren’t getting too much into the weeds today - serious and important became synonymous with somber. Church became a place that was not well lit, the air heavy with incense, and self-flaggelation - both verbally and physically - became intertwined with our understanding of God. And joy, laughter, and mirth - became besides the point. Or even frowned upon. Think of the church and attitude in the town in the classic Footloose - we became the church of no dancing! Despite David dancing before God in joy and ecstasy. We began to think that if we were having fun, we must not be doing the Christian thing or following God.
And yet. We worship a God who is Joyful.
Now, “joy” is one of those words that can have multiple definitions so I am going to define what I mean by Joy.
First - for us as humans to be joyful:
Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians, and is evidence that the Holy Spirit is present in our lives. This joy can be expressed in two different paths:
One - Through laughter, mirth, humor - that is, taking delight in this life, and being able to appreciate the quirks of our existence and relationships
And Two - joy that is a deep well of hope. That is, even when happiness and laughter seem far away, trusting that God is Good and God is With You, and that allows us to have an inner joy, even when it isn’t bubbling forth, because we know that God holds us and all of creation in God’s hands
Now - what does it mean for God to be joyful? By this I mean that God delights in creation. God takes delight in you. In me. In each and every one of us. God’s joy is like when a child says “Again! Again! Again!” as they are being spun around the room! Or being made a silly face at. Or doing a crazy dance. The child takes a lot longer than the adult involved to grow tired of the delight. They could be spun around in a circle over and over and over and over again and laugh and laugh and laugh - the experience is completely novel, their delight is obvious, their joy is overflowing. God’s joy when it comes to us as God’s creation - is like that child. God never ceases to delight in us - to say to us as we go through life, and love one another, and experience joy - God says to us, “Again! Again! Again!” God is never jaded at the delights of God’s creation. God isn’t blase about human laughter. God doesn’t get bored of our existence. God isn’t lacking a sense of humor or fun. God created fun! God created humor! God created us - you and me and all of humanity - with the ability to laugh, to delight, to rejoice. Because our God is a Joyful God.
Now - a disclaimer. Following a God who is Joyful and practicing the Spiritual Discipline of Joy is not the same thing as always being happy or a religion that promises happiness. There are certain streams of thought in Christianity that can lead us to believe that if everything is going our way, if all is well, if we are well-off and healthy, if we are happy - it is because we are following God correctly. I often call this the heresy of the prosperity Gospel and it falls into trying to control God, treating God as a magic genie, as I talked about in the sermon on God is Powerful.
It is not - if we obey God, we will be happy and taken care of. It is - there is joy inherent in being created as beloved children of God, trusting a God who is joyful, and serving that God through loving our neighbors as ourselves - even when it’s hard. We can find joy in serving one another. We can find joy in working towards that day when God re-makes the world and all things are made right. We can find joy in trusting in God’s vision of the world, a world filled with Joy and Love. We can find joy, even when we are in the midst of sadness, grief, or pain. In the book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are At the Heart of the Spiritual Life, author James Martin says, ““[Joy] does not ignore pain in the world, in another's life or in one's own life. Rather, it goes deeper, seeing confidence in God…in Jesus Christ—as the reason for joy and a constant source of joy.”
Because Joy is an inherent part of who God is - God created us with an immense resilience and capacity for joy. Sometimes joy bubbles out through laughter, smiles, and happiness. And sometimes joy is a deep well, beneath the surface, but still present within us.
So let’s talk more about how Jesus shows us that Joy is an inherent part of who God is.
Which brings us to the wedding at Cana - the paraphrase of which I read today. In the Gospel of John, this is the first miracle attributed to Jesus, turning water into wine. When we talked about God’s power we said that Jesus didn’t walk on water, and Jesus didn’t multiply the loaves and the fishes so that people would obey him. Jesus performed these miracles so that people would know exactly what kind of God the God revealed in Jesus is. Whenever Jesus performs a miracle we should ask what this miracle is revealing to us about God’s character. Every miracle is an invitation to better know God and enter into a relationship with Jesus.
So why would this be the first miracle in the Gospel of John? And what is this miracle of water into wine telling us about our God?
This is the second chapter of John! All that John has told us about Jesus so far is that Jesus is the Word who took on Flesh, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it - that John prepared his coming, calling him the Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World, and that four disciples started to follow him - to come and see what Jesus was about - that he was the Annointed One, the Messiah.
That’s all in John Chapter 1. It’s not more than 9 paragraphs - And then - and then - the very next scene we have is the wedding scene! John is setting the stage for who Jesus is! The scene after the wedding is when Jesus flips table in the temple - we talked about that last week - showing us that our God is a Just God who gets angry over injustice. But before we even get to that we get…Jesus at a party.
The Rev. Sarah Speed was inspired by John 2 to write a poem entitled “Start With a Wedding.” It goes like this:
When it comes time to write my obituary for the local paper, please do not start with my résumé. Do not start with my career or my worldly accomplishments (however small they may be). Do not take up space writing about my alma mater or outlining the entire family tree (we know who we are). Instead, spend your precious little word count on how beautiful it all was. Write about the dinner parties and the fireside chats. Write about the evenings we spent on the front stoop counting fireflies. Write about summers in the mountains and the garden that we grew. Write about the seasons we cried out to God, and the prayers that God answered. Write about the nights we danced, and the days we laughed. When it comes time to tell the story of my life, please take a lesson from the Gospel of John, and start with a wedding. Start with a miracle. Start with the fact that all of it held joy.
End quote.
Because starting with Joy is exactly what John wants to convey to us about Jesus - and thus, about who God is. This wedding is not an interlude, as it is so often treated as, just a break before Jesus gets back to the real work of ministry, the real holy stuff . This miracle is the whole point. None of the other stuff that Jesus is about to do would matter if there wasn’t joy in it. God wanted to take on flesh, and enter into this world in the form of Jesus, because God loves us. Because God delights in us. Because God takes Joy in us. And wants Goodness, Love, and Joy for us. The angels at the birth of Jesus proclaimed Good News of Great Joy! Taking on flesh, becoming incarnate, Jesus coming to us was not some cosmic chore. God didn’t give a deep sigh and say, “I guess you’re making me come down there.” God sent Jesus because we needed help, yes. God sent Jesus because we couldn’t save ourselves, yes. God sent Jesus because we kept on missing the point of who God was and is, yes. AND. God wanted to be among us. Jesus came because God wanted to be seen by humanity. To be among God’s good creation. To delight and find joy in this earth and in each other alongside of us. Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Joy is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, because God never wants to be far away from us. God delights in us SO MUCH, that God finds it an absolute JOY, to be with us.
And so - we start in the Gospel of John with a wedding, a miracle that kept the celebration going, and a revelation of a joyful God.
Meredith Miller offers this commentary on the miracle at the wedding at Cana: “Joy is an end in itself, because it is a marker of God’s presence. We often look for God’s presence to do something, change something, fix something. Sometimes that's the case. However, sometimes God’s presence is simply meant to be enjoyed. Perhaps our hesitancy about joy reveals that we don’t think God actually delights in us, so we can’t imagine a God who is fine with our just plain having a good time. But that seems to be the case in this story. Jesus is there to help his community have a good time.”
End quote.
So let’s talk now about how we can practice spiritual disciplines to help us being in relationship with the God who is Joyful.
First - have fun! Whatever that may look like for you. Playing with kids or grandkids. Painting, drawing, crocheting, dancing, running, singing, making music, doing puzzles, reading, going on dates - with friends or partners or spouses, play a boardgame - just have fun! Enjoy this life. Enjoy your life. Share your life and have fun with those you love. And yes, this is a Spiritual Discipline. When we live lives where there is room of joy, laughter, and fun - we are living as people who know that our God is joyful and delights in us. We cannot limit what we count as a Spiritual Discipline to only “churchy stuff” like prayer and Bible study - those are good! And it leads to a very narrow definition of what areas of our lives are touched by God’s Grace. God transforms all of our lives - so have fun - and knowing that joyful living is holy living.
Second - Lift one another up. Use your words, every single chance you get, to tell those you love that they are loved and delighted in - by you and by God. In reference to a parent practicing this spiritual discipline with their kids, Miller says “There is simply no such thing as delighting too much in our children on God’s behalf.” That’s true for all of our relationships. This will help the knowledge of a joyful God take root not just in your heart, but the heart of those you love.
And thirdly - and lastly for me to talk about today - is practice generosity.
Woah! Don’t worry, I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you and change a sermon about joy into a sermon about giving…and, when we come to understand our God as a joyful God, we are also convicted to share our more than enoughness with others so that all would have enough. The original commandment for the tithe in Deuteronomy to give ten percent, was so that the temple could throw a giant feast where all could come and eat and celebrate - especially the widow, the orphan, the last, the lost, and the least. We give because we believe that the whole community deserves to experience God’s abundance. Being generous also helps us avoid the pitfall of viewing money as the source of joy and fun, rather than a God who is abundant and joyful. Live generously, because there is always more of God’s joy - and God’s care - to go around.
God is Joyful! God delights IN YOU! God wants you to experience joy in this life. A life filled with joy, rooted in the God who turned water into wine, who kept the celebration going, who is Joyful, is a holy life. May all our lives be full of holy joy.
Amen.
Joy is a Fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Galatians, and is evidence that the Holy Spirit is present in our lives. This joy can be expressed in two different paths:
One - Through laughter, mirth, humor - that is, taking delight in this life, and being able to appreciate the quirks of our existence and relationships
And Two - joy that is a deep well of hope. That is, even when happiness and laughter seem far away, trusting that God is Good and God is With You, and that allows us to have an inner joy, even when it isn’t bubbling forth, because we know that God holds us and all of creation in God’s hands
Now - what does it mean for God to be joyful? By this I mean that God delights in creation. God takes delight in you. In me. In each and every one of us. God’s joy is like when a child says “Again! Again! Again!” as they are being spun around the room! Or being made a silly face at. Or doing a crazy dance. The child takes a lot longer than the adult involved to grow tired of the delight. They could be spun around in a circle over and over and over and over again and laugh and laugh and laugh - the experience is completely novel, their delight is obvious, their joy is overflowing. God’s joy when it comes to us as God’s creation - is like that child. God never ceases to delight in us - to say to us as we go through life, and love one another, and experience joy - God says to us, “Again! Again! Again!” God is never jaded at the delights of God’s creation. God isn’t blase about human laughter. God doesn’t get bored of our existence. God isn’t lacking a sense of humor or fun. God created fun! God created humor! God created us - you and me and all of humanity - with the ability to laugh, to delight, to rejoice. Because our God is a Joyful God.
Now - a disclaimer. Following a God who is Joyful and practicing the Spiritual Discipline of Joy is not the same thing as always being happy or a religion that promises happiness. There are certain streams of thought in Christianity that can lead us to believe that if everything is going our way, if all is well, if we are well-off and healthy, if we are happy - it is because we are following God correctly. I often call this the heresy of the prosperity Gospel and it falls into trying to control God, treating God as a magic genie, as I talked about in the sermon on God is Powerful.
It is not - if we obey God, we will be happy and taken care of. It is - there is joy inherent in being created as beloved children of God, trusting a God who is joyful, and serving that God through loving our neighbors as ourselves - even when it’s hard. We can find joy in serving one another. We can find joy in working towards that day when God re-makes the world and all things are made right. We can find joy in trusting in God’s vision of the world, a world filled with Joy and Love. We can find joy, even when we are in the midst of sadness, grief, or pain. In the book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are At the Heart of the Spiritual Life, author James Martin says, ““[Joy] does not ignore pain in the world, in another's life or in one's own life. Rather, it goes deeper, seeing confidence in God…in Jesus Christ—as the reason for joy and a constant source of joy.”
Because Joy is an inherent part of who God is - God created us with an immense resilience and capacity for joy. Sometimes joy bubbles out through laughter, smiles, and happiness. And sometimes joy is a deep well, beneath the surface, but still present within us.
So let’s talk more about how Jesus shows us that Joy is an inherent part of who God is.
Which brings us to the wedding at Cana - the paraphrase of which I read today. In the Gospel of John, this is the first miracle attributed to Jesus, turning water into wine. When we talked about God’s power we said that Jesus didn’t walk on water, and Jesus didn’t multiply the loaves and the fishes so that people would obey him. Jesus performed these miracles so that people would know exactly what kind of God the God revealed in Jesus is. Whenever Jesus performs a miracle we should ask what this miracle is revealing to us about God’s character. Every miracle is an invitation to better know God and enter into a relationship with Jesus.
So why would this be the first miracle in the Gospel of John? And what is this miracle of water into wine telling us about our God?
This is the second chapter of John! All that John has told us about Jesus so far is that Jesus is the Word who took on Flesh, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it - that John prepared his coming, calling him the Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World, and that four disciples started to follow him - to come and see what Jesus was about - that he was the Annointed One, the Messiah.
That’s all in John Chapter 1. It’s not more than 9 paragraphs - And then - and then - the very next scene we have is the wedding scene! John is setting the stage for who Jesus is! The scene after the wedding is when Jesus flips table in the temple - we talked about that last week - showing us that our God is a Just God who gets angry over injustice. But before we even get to that we get…Jesus at a party.
The Rev. Sarah Speed was inspired by John 2 to write a poem entitled “Start With a Wedding.” It goes like this:
When it comes time to write my obituary for the local paper, please do not start with my résumé. Do not start with my career or my worldly accomplishments (however small they may be). Do not take up space writing about my alma mater or outlining the entire family tree (we know who we are). Instead, spend your precious little word count on how beautiful it all was. Write about the dinner parties and the fireside chats. Write about the evenings we spent on the front stoop counting fireflies. Write about summers in the mountains and the garden that we grew. Write about the seasons we cried out to God, and the prayers that God answered. Write about the nights we danced, and the days we laughed. When it comes time to tell the story of my life, please take a lesson from the Gospel of John, and start with a wedding. Start with a miracle. Start with the fact that all of it held joy.
End quote.
Because starting with Joy is exactly what John wants to convey to us about Jesus - and thus, about who God is. This wedding is not an interlude, as it is so often treated as, just a break before Jesus gets back to the real work of ministry, the real holy stuff . This miracle is the whole point. None of the other stuff that Jesus is about to do would matter if there wasn’t joy in it. God wanted to take on flesh, and enter into this world in the form of Jesus, because God loves us. Because God delights in us. Because God takes Joy in us. And wants Goodness, Love, and Joy for us. The angels at the birth of Jesus proclaimed Good News of Great Joy! Taking on flesh, becoming incarnate, Jesus coming to us was not some cosmic chore. God didn’t give a deep sigh and say, “I guess you’re making me come down there.” God sent Jesus because we needed help, yes. God sent Jesus because we couldn’t save ourselves, yes. God sent Jesus because we kept on missing the point of who God was and is, yes. AND. God wanted to be among us. Jesus came because God wanted to be seen by humanity. To be among God’s good creation. To delight and find joy in this earth and in each other alongside of us. Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Joy is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, because God never wants to be far away from us. God delights in us SO MUCH, that God finds it an absolute JOY, to be with us.
And so - we start in the Gospel of John with a wedding, a miracle that kept the celebration going, and a revelation of a joyful God.
Meredith Miller offers this commentary on the miracle at the wedding at Cana: “Joy is an end in itself, because it is a marker of God’s presence. We often look for God’s presence to do something, change something, fix something. Sometimes that's the case. However, sometimes God’s presence is simply meant to be enjoyed. Perhaps our hesitancy about joy reveals that we don’t think God actually delights in us, so we can’t imagine a God who is fine with our just plain having a good time. But that seems to be the case in this story. Jesus is there to help his community have a good time.”
End quote.
So let’s talk now about how we can practice spiritual disciplines to help us being in relationship with the God who is Joyful.
First - have fun! Whatever that may look like for you. Playing with kids or grandkids. Painting, drawing, crocheting, dancing, running, singing, making music, doing puzzles, reading, going on dates - with friends or partners or spouses, play a boardgame - just have fun! Enjoy this life. Enjoy your life. Share your life and have fun with those you love. And yes, this is a Spiritual Discipline. When we live lives where there is room of joy, laughter, and fun - we are living as people who know that our God is joyful and delights in us. We cannot limit what we count as a Spiritual Discipline to only “churchy stuff” like prayer and Bible study - those are good! And it leads to a very narrow definition of what areas of our lives are touched by God’s Grace. God transforms all of our lives - so have fun - and knowing that joyful living is holy living.
Second - Lift one another up. Use your words, every single chance you get, to tell those you love that they are loved and delighted in - by you and by God. In reference to a parent practicing this spiritual discipline with their kids, Miller says “There is simply no such thing as delighting too much in our children on God’s behalf.” That’s true for all of our relationships. This will help the knowledge of a joyful God take root not just in your heart, but the heart of those you love.
And thirdly - and lastly for me to talk about today - is practice generosity.
Woah! Don’t worry, I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you and change a sermon about joy into a sermon about giving…and, when we come to understand our God as a joyful God, we are also convicted to share our more than enoughness with others so that all would have enough. The original commandment for the tithe in Deuteronomy to give ten percent, was so that the temple could throw a giant feast where all could come and eat and celebrate - especially the widow, the orphan, the last, the lost, and the least. We give because we believe that the whole community deserves to experience God’s abundance. Being generous also helps us avoid the pitfall of viewing money as the source of joy and fun, rather than a God who is abundant and joyful. Live generously, because there is always more of God’s joy - and God’s care - to go around.
God is Joyful! God delights IN YOU! God wants you to experience joy in this life. A life filled with joy, rooted in the God who turned water into wine, who kept the celebration going, who is Joyful, is a holy life. May all our lives be full of holy joy.
Amen.
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