By Rev. John Kennedy
Do you have joy in your life? By joy, I don’t mean fleeting happiness or a merely upbeat temperament. What I mean is a deep, stable, and sustaining sense of well-being that isn’t dependent on external circumstances.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks about this kind of joy during his “farewell discourse” to his disciples at the Last Supper, saying, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). This joy stems from being connected to our divine source and has little to do with life being easy. Life is often difficult for all of us, and it certainly was not easy for the disciples of Jesus who wrote the New Testament. Despite facing great hardship and persecution, they wrote and spoke with remarkable clarity and conviction about the joy they experienced.
This is worth our consideration because, in general, Americans are not very happy or joyful. Despite an entire industry focused on attaining happiness—with books, articles, blogs, shows, and podcasts—American happiness is on the decline. According to the 2024 World Happiness Report, American happiness has dropped out of the top 20 among the nations of the world. We might, therefore, do well to pay attention to what a wisdom teacher like Jesus has to say about joy.
Earlier in John 15, Jesus uses the image of a vine and its branches to illustrate the relationship between himself and his disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). This metaphor emphasizes the importance of staying connected to Jesus, abiding in him as he abides in us. Abiding in Jesus means sharing his spiritual life, which is defined by an unbroken communion with the divine. Jesus invites us to connect to the divine life he shares with God. This, to me, sounds like a good basis for joy.
Jesus builds on the vine allegory with some key words and concepts: love, commandments, joy, and friendship. Jesus pairs “love” and “commandments” in an interesting way. While “Love” is one of the most popular words in our culture, “commandment” is decidedly less so. If The Beatles had written “All You Need Are the Ten Commandments” instead of “All You Need Is Love,” I suspect they wouldn’t have had a hit. Yet Jesus tells us that, in order to abide in him and in his love, we must keep his commandments, specifically to love one another as he has loved us.
Commandments — even commandments about love — can sound mechanical, like compliance due to external force. However, Jesus’s use of the vine metaphor followed by the commandment to love shows that he is speaking about an interior transformation. Abiding in the vine and loving one another are inseparable.
Joy and happiness escape many of us because we expect it to result from the arrangement the external circumstances of our lives. “If I could just have this over there and move that here, then I’ll be happy,” we seem to think. But it never works that way, does it? Jesus teaches that true joy only comes from within; from an inward connection to our divine source. When rooted in this connection, we can trust in the power of love over fear, pride, selfishness, and the broken ways of the world.
In my life, one of the great witnesses to this truth is the community I serve as a priest: St. Mark’s. This church community has changed my life. Our Rector, the Rev. Peter Walsh, describes it as a “new commandment community” defined by Jesus’s commandment to love one another. St. Mark’s is remarkably free of the sort of competitiveness, exclusivity, and status-seeking that steals our joy, and is defined instead by love, kindness, friendship, warmth, and generosity. Lives are changed here. I probably wouldn’t be a priest if it weren’t for St. Mark’s and the transformative love I received over the years from its people, and I know my story is just one among many.
The spirit of St. Mark’s was powerfully on display last month when we held our 75th May Fair, one of the signature events of New Canaan. May Fair is a result of the people of St. Mark’s and of our town (we are blessed with many volunteers beyond the St. Mark’s community!) moved and mobilized by love to come together and create something that blesses not only our St. Mark’s community but also New Canaan and the surrounding regions. It’s inspiring. I hope your faith community provides you with this kind of inspiration, love and connection. If you’re hungry for this in your life, I invite you to join us on a Sunday or reach out to us (stmarksnewcanaan.org) — we would love to welcome you!
In any case, I hope that you, in your own way, may find, reconnect, or deepen your connection to the true vine and find the transformation and joy you seek. Everything else good that we desire flows from this connection. St. Augustine wrote, “Love and do what you will.” When we get that right, everything else falls into place.
The Rev. John Kennedy serves Associate Rector at St. Mark’s in New Canaan and is married to Emma Kennedy. In addition to the life of the spirit and of the church, John loves to play guitar, read, work out, and enjoy the natural beauty of New Canaan and the surrounding areas.
