Welcome to the ninth edition of the Double the Joy newsletter (the name borrowed liberally from this Swedish proverb: “Shared joy is double joy; Shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”). This is about seeking joy in the midst of our sorrows.
Some weeks I feel like I have time and energy to work on this newsletter a little at a time and then wrap up on Thursday evenings. More recently, I’ve been writing these on Friday mornings. Fridays are the day that I take away from ministry responsibilities, as much as possible. That keeps me sane and energized for pouring myself out for the sake of others and in communicating the truth of God’s Word each week.
Today, I decided to go for a hike, instead of writing this morning. While the clouds hid the sun more than I would have preferred, it was still a beautiful late Winter day. The kind that holds assurances that Spring is just around the corner. Maybe I needed those assurances as we marked a year, more or less, of dealing with the Covid pandemic during this week. The reality is that I always need to lift my eyes a bit. To see a little more clearly the promises of the Lord that are embedded in our every day joys. I’m prone to wanting the miraculous, when the Lord often works through the mundane. So, I am looking, waiting, and hoping - as I see joys in the everyday - or at least training myself to do so.
If you haven’t done so, already, I’d love to have you subscribe:
Keep reading to see what I mean:
Reading Joy
Book number 15 for me in 2021 is Ben Aaronovitch’s Midnight Riot (Rivers of London in the UK), which is the first book in a series set in London and that introduces us to Police Constable Peter Grant. He also becomes an apprentice Wizard. It’s an interesting take on the police procedural with a lot of “Harry Potter” (Urban Fantasy, as this book is categorized, is not a genre I tend to read in). This book was laugh out loud funny throughout and was enjoyable, overall. It was very irreverent, but not in a way that I found offensive, but more in the sense of providing a character who does not take himself too seriously. Unlike so many fictional detectives or similar characters. I am likely to continue reading this series. Including two novellas, there are ten books in this series at this point.
Book number 16 for me in 2021 is Ragnar Jonasson’s Snowblind. Here I am again needing to apologize to an Icelandic artist (see Double the Joy v1.6) because I haven’t figured out how to add the correct diacritical mark using my keyboard (Sorry, Ragnar!). This book is another debut in a new series featuring a rookie police officer who has taken his first post in the extreme north of Iceland, where the location becomes a character in its own right. And here I am expanding again on my familiarity with Nordic Noir. First it was Denmark earlier this year, continuing to read the Wallander series set in Sweden, and now Iceland. I think because these are places I can never imagine living, for all sorts of reasons, that increases the appeal for me of these books. Of course, the mystery has to come through. And I need to enjoy the main character in some manner. Snowblind came through for in that regard and I expect to continue reading this series, as well.
Listening Joy
This week (and some of last), I’ve been listening to Andy Squyres new album that was just released recently. An old friend whose is a musician and Worship Pastor recommended this album on Twitter.
This is not your typical CCM-ified songs, but music and lyrics that are brutally honest and provocative. But not in the sense of provoking for the sake of trying to get a rise out of someone for sport. No, more in the sense of asking out loud hard questions, or reflecting on difficult circumstances, and still trying to come out the other side with one’s faith intact. Even if suffering and tears have worn down that faith in many ways. After my experiences with cancer, I don’t have much time for or interest in anything else. That is not to say I agree with every expression or am in the same place, but have an honest song to sing, than one that is a paper mache version of reality. Hollow on the inside. I’ll take my music with more substance, please. I’m going to keep listening and pondering what Mr. Squyres is articulating.
Here’s the description of this album on Andy Squyres’s website:
Andy Squyres’ first new album since 2015, Poet Priest is the continuing exploration of God, love, faith and redemption in the aftermath of loss. Drawing on the lyrical traditions of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Poet Priest is an album that is simultaneously disrupting and relieving.
Listen now:
Spotify
Apple Music
Bandcamp
You bring the gladness
I'll bring the gleaming
You bring the new wine, Lord
I'll bring the drinking
You bring Your spirit
I'll bring my weeping
I have nothing else
But the promises You're keeping
Seeing Joy
Several things to share here. First, something from my aforementioned hike this morning at Bethel Springs Nature Preserve:
The setting for the aforementioned Snowblind:
AND LOOK at this Starling! Absolutely gorgeous!
Pondering Joy
Reeses’s is coming out with a Peanut Butter Cup that is all peanut butter. Reese’s & Reese’s Pieces are two of my favorite candies. Not sure how I feel about this, but I aim to find out!
Random Joy
Answers to prayer. Some big. Some small. Answers still the same.
Where might you find joy in the more mundane and everyday in your life? It’s worth asking and looking.