Saturday in the Park ... I Think it was the 4th of July?

I love scanning radio stations on Sunday mornings as I travel the state of Indiana on the way to visit one of our churches. I've heard some great sermons and some embarrassing sermons. I've heard great orators and poor orators, anointed and ... well... not anointed.
The other morning, scanning the dial I heard a mass complete with pipe organ and people coughing in the background (can you say, "omni directional microphones left open").

I hit the "seek" button.

Next was a preacher scolding his congregation for not showing up for their "week of prayer" emphasis. He continued to expound upon the difficulty of prayer but its necessity. He made communication and intimacy with God sound like a real drag.

I hit the "seek" button.

Next was a sermon about Moses on the back side of the desert for forty years and how much his life and his circumstances stunk and how we might go through 40 years of pain, agony, to prepare us to meet the people who worship their god through child sacrifices...

"Seek".

Then I found the encouragement I was looking for. I hit on an oldies station and Chicago was singing, "Saturday in the park, I think it was the fourth of July... People laughing, people smiling, a man selling ice cream singing Italian songs." I listened to this song about people singing and a man playing his guitar and everybody was smiling and having a good time. That sounded better to me than anything I heard the religious broadcasts offering that particular morning. The life that sounded like a life I wanted to live was on the oldies station!

In John 15 Jesus tells us to live productive and obedient lives, so there are requirements and parameters to be met, but the outcome of that obedience and productivity is seen in verse 11, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (NIV). Jesus also tells us that the strength to obey and produce comes from our relationship with him.

People are looking for a place like the park described in the song. Some people spend a lifetime searching for such a place. It is a bit ironic that the one place where such joy can be found is often portrayed as a very dull and lifeless place.

Jesus is all about life and he is all about joy.