Joy is prayer. Mother Theresa of Calcutta

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1 Joy in your pocket

2 Joy is prayer Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. She gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen. Mother Theresa of Calcutta

3 the fruit of the Spirit Gentleness Generosity Love Patience Joy Kindness Peace Self-control Faithfulness is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22 and 25 (NRSV)

4 Joy of ascension - One needs to have become very quiet inside, to hear the soft sound of this word at all. Joy lives in quietness and in incomprehensibility. Indeed, comprehensible this joy is not. But the comprehensible never brings joy. It is the comprehensible and yet the true, the real, the alive that ignites joy. Therefore, real joy is always something incomprehensible for others, as well as for the one who experiences it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a collection of his writings The Mystery of Easter - Edited by Manfred Weber. Used with permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York.

5 Joy is more than happiness; it has a quality of eternity and promises deep contentment that withstands the ups and downs of each day s journey. Michaela Youngson May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NRSV) The fullness of joy is to behold God in all. Julian of Norwich,

6 When I behold Our sense of joy is the way we lean into the future and have a longing for something beyond ourselves. Thy peerless face Beaming with love, O Lord. What fear have I of earthly woe Or of the frown of sorrow? Christine Elliott If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. Dietrich Bonhoeffer As the first ray of the dawning sun dispels the dark. So too, Lord, when Thy blessed light Bursts forth within the heart. It scatters all our grief and pain with sweetest balm. When on Thy love and grace I ponder, In my heart s deepest depths. Tears of joy stream down my cheeks beyond restraining. Anonymous

7 Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy. William Blake Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord. Psalm 96:11-12 (NRSV)

8 Where is Joy in this I would ask of you, my loving God, where is joy in this dark place where love is gone cold, where hearts are breaking, where empty bellies belie a world over fed with stuff, where joy is bought, downloaded, exchanged for cash, fought over, stolen, hoarded, hidden and marketed by clever souls who seldom smile? And where is joy in a concrete world where green is covered by grey and colours by the clever dreariness of invention?

9 Look and I will show you. Look closely at the cracks in the stones. Look closely and see a dandelion, breaking out, roots deeply in the soil. Gentle power to fracture the stiffness of death. Listen closer still and I will sing to you of mornings that follow dark nights, of spring that follows cold winter, of the risen one who comes to warm our hearts and declare good news and joy everlasting. Mark Wakelin dark place?

10 Joy to the world! In the birth of the Christ-child In the resurrection of Christ-crucified In the presence of the Holy Spirit. Joy to the world! Michaela Youngson Joy to the world! Joy to the world! The Lord is come: Let earth receive her King, Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing. Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns: Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy. Isaac Watts

11 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy. Psalm 98:4,6,8 (NRSV) Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, Give me joy in my heart, I pray, Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising, Keep me praising till the break of day. Traditional

12 I felt my heart strangely warmed But it was not long before the enemy suggested, This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy? Then was I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them according to the counsels of His own will. After my return home, I was much buffeted with temptations, but I cried out, and they fled John Wesley Gracious God Source of all joy, Revealer of all beauty, Centre of all love, I thank you for this day, Open my soul, eyes and heart to the gifts you offer. Amen. Michaela Youngson

13 As the Father has loved me so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you John 15:9-12 (NRSV)

14 How many moments of genuine joy have I had in my life? The first rush of love, the birth of a child, a winning goal in injury time, the view from the summit, the sudden, shocking certainty of God s love. Not many. Add them all up and it is a lot less than a lifetime. Joy can be rare, and is precious, but it sustains us. So enjoy it, share it, cherish it, give it. Being joyful always is not easy when faced with real life, but there are far worse goals. George Mountford Joy the smile of my child, the laughter of a good friend, the crunch of leaves on an autumn path. Michaela Youngson

15 Loving God You fill me with joy You have called me by name You have assured me I am your own And my heart feels like singing Your grace has enfolded me Your love continues to fill me And I want to dance at the sound of your name You are my joy my heart is overflowing, overflowing with love May my joy in you become infectious for others, so that one day all creation will dance and sing for joy; for joy at all you have done for us in Jesus. Stephen Poxon, President of the Methodist Conference For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12 (NRSV) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit Romans 15:13 Rejoice always 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (NRSV)

16 Joy in your pocket is a gift from the Methodist Church This booklet is available as a PowerPoint presentation and can be downloaded from 25 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JR PA610 Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 2008 Edited: Joy Fisher Designed: The Communication Office of the Methodist Church Connexional Team.