The Glue of Joy

We had a wonderful talk last night with one of the ladies at the Twelvetribes Community in Chattanooga last evening. We talked a little about their history and when we knew them back in the seventies. We talked about their return to the area in the last four years and what they are doing now. She shared with us their plans to open a new deli right next to UT near downtown and their current project of fixing up an old frat house next to it. She also talked about their developing network of trucking organic products between communities and we discussed a little the potential that could have for a large Coop opportunity that could produce some income for them.

During our whole conversation and underlying it was the sweet, Christian spirit we sensed as we talked. There must have been many unspoken messages we received that maybe I am not even aware of yet. As I read over their web site about their history, their culture and their beliefs, I could sense that these are communities very much based on joy and deeper bonding than what we have experienced. And each time we talk with them that perception is reinforced.

I woke up this morning very abruptly about 5:30 with no chance of returning to sleep even though I went to bed late. I was thinking about our conversation last night and a few things began to emerge in my thinking. I am beginning to realize how it is that a person deeply entrenched in a set of doctrines that they are absolutely convinced they will never give up could suddenly let them go and switch to another life quite suddenly and almost unexpectedly. From their first position that possibility appears impossible. They are certain that because their beliefs can be validated and proved by solid Biblical exegesis and they know all the arguments to vehemently defend their positions, that they are safe in “the truth” and nothing can move them. If anything appears to threaten their security in their beliefs, the solution is always to dig in deeper with stubborn insistence on their correctness of position and rehearse even more emphatically the verses and quotations that they have assembled to defend their views. Typically they take a harsh attitude toward anyone questioning any of their assumptions or interpretations and often they feel a strong need to base their beliefs on a particular version of the Bible, usually the old King James Version.

From this person's settled position, only people of like minds are safe to freely associate with and open up to safely. Everyone else, particularly on a spiritual level, is viewed with either suspicion or as a target of “witnessing”, which usually means some type of coercive attempts to convince that person to “convert” to believing “our” set of doctrines just the way we believe them. This condition of settled stubborn, determination to cling to a set of doctrines come “hell or high water” so to speak, is believed to be as close to a saved condition as one dares to hope. Great emphasis is put on rehearsing over and over the reasons why we believe these doctrines which involves memorizing and rehearsing the supporting texts and quotations put together over the years by others, and repeating the well-honed arguments that favor our position. This is believed to be our only safety to prepare us for the coming crisis that will try to pry us loose from our firm foundation of Scripture.

It is believed that those who are successful in clinging tightly to their beliefs in doctrine without being swayed by outside pressure to deviate on any point, will at last be rewarded by being taken to heaven by Jesus at His Second Coming. At this point we will experience what is called Salvation.

I'm sure many who may read this may not completely relate to this perspective like I am so familiar with. But to some extent I see this type of thinking and these assumptions, not only in most all Christian denominations but also in every belief system in the world. Generally it is called prejudice when it is in someone else who differs with our beliefs, or it is honored as being “settled in the truth” if it is someone with whom we agree.

As I contemplated our conversation last night and thought over other experiences in life and the things I have been learning the past few years about how our minds really work, I realized how very unstable and shaky the foundation is under most people who sincerely believe they have little to worry about. Jim Wilder talks about the real reason that so many pastors, even very high-profile ones, are so susceptible to catastrophic moral failures seemingly unexpectedly. Many people openly wonder how a person so knowledgeable and skilled in counseling others on the very same issue can succumb to moral failure so easily and quickly. Based on typical religious thinking they have to assume that there must have been some hidden doctrinal flaw in their belief system that undermined their ability to resist temptation. I have heard these situations discussed on radio and that very reason was put forth, with people quoting the pastor making public statements that this person believed was the “heresy” that brought him down.

But I believe that Wilder has put his finger on the real flaw that lies at the root of catastrophic failure, not only morally but in all major spiritual collapses. The primary hidden root that creates the weakness that undermines the whole structure of religious profession is the starvation of our hearts from the lack of genuine joy. This joy, apparently, is not an optional nicety in the Christian life – it is absolutely critical to the strength of the mind and heart. It is as crucial to have joy mingled all through our experience as it is important to have correct quality cement mixed into the gravel and sand composing a highrise steel and concrete skyscraper. People are understandably outraged when it is discovered that builders cut corners to make a profit by using poor quality concrete or improper mixes to build a large public building that later collapses. But we think nothing of building “Christian character” while using very scant amounts of real joy and very large proportions of stern instruction and harsh discipline. We may be able to assemble a large and imposing-looking structure that appears very healthy and religious for a time. But when the stresses arrive and the storms began to “beat on that house”, Jesus says it will fall with a very great crash.

I know some will rush to correct me and say that Jesus' point in that story was that we should build on the solid rock foundation. They also correctly point out that the foundation is Jesus Christ Himself. But maybe they forget to remember that the “joy of the Lord is your strength”, and that the very meaning behind the analogy that Jesus gave involved establishing a solid, deep connection to Him as close and dependent on Him as a large house is dependent on and connected to its foundation. And the healthy adhesive that keeps anyone connected to another is the ingredient of joy.

Of course, there is a counterfeit adhesive that Satan's style of relationship is based on. Unfortunately most of religion today has adopted this approach believing that it was designed by God; another one of the most common and pervasive lies about God circulating around. The counterfeit adhesive is fear. When we live in a joy-starved environment based on fear and rules and force, we are ripe for a catastrophic failure, whether it is a moral failure or a doctrinal collapse or a complete rejection of God and religion altogether. The lack of joy strength and joy capacity is our very greatest liability and most often the liability most ignored and over-looked.

At this point it would be good to review just what joy is and is not. Joy is not necessarily happiness and good feelings as such. Joy, as the brain was originally wired to know it and as the Bible describes it as well, is the experience of being valued and cherished by someone no matter what emotion or condition you find yourself in at the moment. When you know that someone wants to be with you, alongside you, willing to share your experiences with you as an intimate friend who cares deeply about you and loves you, then your mind and emotions begin to understand the sensation and reality of real joy.

When you understand joy from this perspective it is easy to see how one can experience joy even when going through great pain, sorrow, fear – even when feeling shame, disgust, despair or even anger. When there is nothing you can do or feel to make that person not want to be with you or cause them to care less about you, then you can experience joy in its reality.

So what does this have to do with my conversation last and waking up early this morning? And what does it have to do with catastrophic and unexpected failures? Because in a joy-deprived life that is based more on fear bonds than joy bonds with those around us, when something that looks like joy comes along, even if it is not the real thing, our hearts will jump into the opportunity, abandoning all our previous claims and positions and responsibilities. This can happen not only to the amazement of all around us but most of all to our own surprise. Because we were created as creatures designed to thrive on joy, our hearts will override our minds and cause us to leap for it in a desperate attempt to experience a deeper sense of fulfillment, even if we already know the consequences will be disastrous. Pastors who live in an austere, joy-deprived religious atmosphere are very susceptible to another person who offers them affirmation, smiles, kind words and displays a caring attitude for their hearts. Likewise, people of any persuasion who are confronted with a person or group who enjoy and display a spirit of joy will inexorably be drawn toward them to bond with them. This will result in great internal pressure to accept that person or group's “doctrinal” belief system even if it greatly deviates from what they presently believe. Because, contrary to what we often believe ever so strongly, our strength of endurance does not lie primarily in knowledge of correct facts and ideas but in the strength of our relational bonds. This cannot be over-emphasized. If we place our confidence in our intellectual grasp of “truth” and our ability to articulate arguments and recite texts in defense of our position and beliefs, we are guaranteed a spectacular failure in our future.

I am not recommending that we neglect a thorough study of Scripture to discover what is true and what is reality. It is vitally important. Sand and gravel is very important for concrete and the building would surely have just as catastrophic collapse without those as it would without cement. But that is not usually the problem, at least within the culture that I have come and circulate in, although it too is becoming a much bigger problem. Satan will try to push us to any extreme to cause us internal weakness so he can destroy our live. But we can never experience too much joy.

So I still have not answered what this has to do with our conversation last night with one of the members of the Twelvetribes community. I believe it is easy for most people to sense the spirit of joy that can be felt among the members of these communities, not just from talking with them but even from just reading their self-description on their web site. At least that is what I sensed as I read through it. I remember back 28 years when we used to visit their deli in the early days and when they were so gracious to help us deliver our first baby at home. I did not understand most of this then. But now I realize that the magnetism that we felt then, even though it seemed quite strange to us, is the same magnetism that I felt when we talked with them last night on the phone. That strong magnetism emanates from the very strong bonds of joy that the people in these communities share with each other in their openness and love and devotion, not only to each other but to the God they worship. It is so obvious and so attractive that it draws in people from all directions to take a closer look at what they are all about.

The struggle that ensued within me made me take a look at several things going on in my mind and heart. I realized that some of their theological ideas were not Biblical as I believe the Bible. But their lives and lifestyle is undeniably much closer to the spirit and style of the early New Testament believers than anything I have ever observed; certainly much more than what I am living. This confronts me with a feeling of conviction of my need for lifestyle changes and attitude adjustments. But these two things then found themselves in conflict and I felt confused for a while. It created a tension in my mind between keeping doctrinal beliefs that I truly believe are more in line with Scripture but accepting the need for challenging my lack of real community and experiencing joy.

As I thought about this, I realized how very easy it could be to go either of two directions. If I was not settled in my understanding of what I believe because of personal study and listening to the guidance of the Spirit, it would be quite easy to accept their belief system in exchange for immersion into a community where I felt fulfilled and could thrive in an experience of real joy. At the same time I can see how it would be easy to be critical of that option because of my insistence that my beliefs are more “correct” than theirs and thus determine that the attraction they exhibit must be of a very deceptive nature and must be avoided at all costs. This option I have seen exercised all too often with the results being an even more joy-starved environment setting one up for one of the above scenarios.

What I choose to believe is this: my church and culture has many valuable understandings of “truth”, and those understandings do not have to be tossed aside to find God's true purpose for my life. However, my church and culture and “people” also have some very great deficits, some gaping holes in our philosophy and thinking that may be even more important than the doctrinal “truths” we possess. That does not necessitate giving up some truths to receive others. God does not work that way. When Jesus dialogged with the woman at Samaria, He did not discount her while bragging about the truth of the Jewish religion. He emphasized that the Father is looking for those who are willing to worship Him in both spirit and truth. I believes this points out our desperate need to integrate very carefully and solidly both intellectual truth, continually reexamined with an open mind, and entering into a spirit, a lifestyle, of intimate bonding and community with His other children in a highly charged atmosphere of joy. I have to admit that me and the people around me are pretty heavy on the first part and very faint on the second.

How do I get there from here? I really don't know. But I do know that I do not want to harbor a spirit of prejudice against those who are experimenting successfully with the second part while maybe misunderstanding some things on the first half. I trust God to lead and convict all those who are honest at heart and I believe at the time He knows best they will embrace more knowledge of His “doctrines”. The real issue for me is my willingness to be just as open to change the things in my life that I am resistant to changing, to be more open and transparent and vulnerable with other believers, to put away selfishness and independence and an attitude of clinging to material possessions at the expense of others. I think I am eager for God to began assembling real community where I am, but I wonder how much I am really ready to participate in it if it were to appear. I don't think I really know.

I do know that my love for those around me is all too very shallow. I am very ashamed at how little genuine love I see in my own heart. Much of the affection I do display may be based on selfish desires to receive affection back instead of selfless love. And my level of joy is not much more than I experienced growing up, which was not far above non-existent. I know my heart is starved for joy, which of course makes me a prime target for some pretty spectacular failure which could expose me at any time. It makes me afraid even to reveal this openly. But I do so in the spirit of honesty and vulnerability in the belief that God is working in my life and has plans to do a lot of repairs in this area.

I would very much like to travel down to Tennessee for at least a weekend and spend a few days with these people to just experience what its like to live in joy for awhile. I have no idea how that would affect me, but I am very sure that it would and that my hunger for living in joyful community would be greatly intensified by the experience. But I still would like to see it first hand and observe how it has shaped the lives of those in the community, both those who have been in it for many years and those who have recently arrived. I believe God would have a lot of things to say to my heart through the experience and I pray that it might happen sooner than later.