The power of joy-sharing
“If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If God had a wallet, your photo would be in it. God sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning... Face it, friend. God’s crazy about you! ”
When you are loved like this by God, you are freed to share this love. Already centered in God’s great love, we join in the lives of others- the pain, the joy, and everything in between. Jesus joined in people’s lives- bearing and healing pain, listening and forgiving, and celebrating life’s joys at weddings and dinners. Consider the wedding at Cana, I imagine Jesus was having such a good time that his mother had to come get him to do something when the wine ran out. What? Perform a miracle turning water into wine and keep the party going.
Sometimes Jesus’ presence with us in our pain has been overemphasized so that we miss God’s equal presence with us in our joy. God loves to share in our joy. And God calls us to do the same with others. We read it in the words of St. Paul: “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” (Romans 12:15a)
As people of faith, we are called by God to share in one another’s joy. I often hear you, Midvale, making a practice of this in the gathering space over coffee and snacks! The German word, Freudenfreude, expresses what it means to share in another’s joy-literally “joy sharing”. It describes finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune. It describes the bliss we feel when somebody else succeeds, even if it doesn’t directly involve us. One researcher says freudenfreude is like social glue, it makes relationships more mutually enjoyable. You can read the article describing freudenfreude here.
The article describes ways to strengthen your “joy sharing muscles” such as; showing active interest in someone else’s happiness, viewing individual success as a communal effort, share credit for your successes with others, and turning into a joy spectator. All of these ideas embody St. Paul’s words, “Rejoice with those who rejoice!” See you at Midvale, joy spectators!
