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Oh, Happy Day!

December 4, 2023

1 Corinthians 15:12-20  |  Psalm 118:14-21  |  John 5:24-27

‘Confirm our minds, O Lord, in the mysteries of the true faith … that we, with him, confessing Jesus to be true God and true Man and singing the praises of the risen Lord may, by the power of the resurrection, attain to eternal joy….’  Collect, John of Damascus

Remember: “Oh, Happy Day!”  With our Four Amigos rocking it out and St. Luke’s 8 and 10 a.m. congregation crowding our middle aisle on November 19th’s Commitment Sunday, we came forth as one—with clapping hands and rhythmic feet and shy-to-beaming smiles all round.  Then, filling to near over-flowing St. Luke’s lovely Community Kitchen, we tasted—in quiche and French toast, maple syrup and sausages, fruit and mimosas—what I strongly suspect is the ‘eternal joy’ that today’s liturgy talks about.

And I remember: “Mom, you’re beaming….,” my kids would occasionally accuse me back when they were kids.  But now I don’t care: I beam!  Whenever I’m privileged to experience sheer joy, I cannot contain it: it’s contagious!

“What must people think?” I used to ask myself when—having imbibed at the altar His body and blood—I go back to my pew on the right front, close my eyes for a moment, and before I know it I’m beaming at so many others in St. Luke’s community as they too come back from the altar and share my smile in the beam of an eye and sometimes a hand reaching out to me. 

To me that’s a tiny taste of contagious eternal joy!  May we revel in its bliss and go forth strengthened to just plain love one another.

Marie Hennedy