‘True joy’ the recipe for happiness

We all desire joy in our lives, but this is not always reflected in the faces I see as I travel across Sussex.

No wonder considering how much there is to fill us with fear and foreboding in our world today.

Christianity is all about finding the elusive, deep joy of knowing how much

God loves us, and the events of Holy week show this so vividly.

It doesn’t mean that things will always be easy, St Paul wrote these words to the Christians at Philippi: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again rejoice."

To get the full impact of these words you have to remember that at the time of writing Paul was in prison, condemned to death, awaiting execution.

Paul is only following the example of Jesus who, on the night that he was betrayed, when everything was going wrong, said: “these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy may be full” (John 15:20).

You see Christian joy is independent of circumstances, and can be ours always, whatever life throws at us

The word ‘Gospel’ means ‘Good News’.

The events of Holy Week are a blinding assault on all our senses.

Witnessing the foot washing; the last supper, the watch, the betrayal, scourging, crucifixion, and death of our Lord, all for love of us.

These events that Holy Week bear witness to may not feel like good news, and yet they are.

At dawn on Easter Day we celebrate Christ’s destruction of death, the triumph of joy.

Live joyfully, Christ is risen, reigns and has conquered death, sin and evil.

Live joyfully in God, remember the Easter story isn’t just an account of something that happened a very long time ago; it is a living reality into which all can enter.

With joyful Easter Blessings.