Happiness
19 Jun 2009
Paul writes… I was singing along to that dull dirgey chorus…
“oh miserable day
oh depressin day
when Jesus washed
my sins away…”
…when I realised that was not at all what the words said. It was a happy tune singing about a happy day. So where had I suffered such a misinterpretation that christianity was about misery and suffering?
I hold my hand up and say I am going through a miserable and unhappy time. I acknowledge that this is not going to be a sunny piece cos of where I’m coming from. It’s going to be slanted and I own my biases.
One of the things that struck me about the AWAF conference was Dr Stephen Long (I think) saying that christianity is all about happiness. That was a bit of a shock to me so I confess I may well have passed out and missed the context/point of why he said that. But taking that on face value this is what I’m hearing:
Misery/suffering/unhappiness/despair etc are not meant to be the norm for christians.
I’m going to caveat that immediately and say of course we know that suffering, pain, hurt, despair etc will be part of the christian life. I get that we all have crap times and we will be unhappy. The light bulb that has gone off in my head is that this is not meant to be all the time.
Perhaps to frame it another way, another speaker at AWAF, Samuel Wells, made the point in regard to incarnational evangelism that Jesus spent 30 yrs in Galilee, 3 yrs on tour proclaiming/acting out the good news of God and only 1 week in Jerusalem being confrontational/judgemental. Which I use as a spring board to make the leap to, Jesus didn’t spend 33 yrs on suffering on a cross!
I won’t deny that I am sure Jesus suffered lots and the suffering that he diod go through was very intense. But it wasn’t all the time. Jesus didn’t model a humanity that was about a marathon of pain endurance.
Maybe there is one category of christian life to which unhappiness is a given and that would be persecution. I can see where there might be a joy in knowing that the faithfully following Christ is causing the pain. That still leaves me suspicious however of any descriptions of joy in the christian life that sound like an endorphin high!
Yes I hear that Jesus said that we should daily pick up our cross but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean the same as we should get crucified every day (although Greek readers and bible scholars please do correct me if I’m in a muddle here). For me the significance of this statement is about chosing identity, should it be shaped by Christ or by the world?
Not that everything is wrong with the world either. There is a lot of good but also a lot of brokenness too. My own life is a microcosm of this. It is tempting to think that the world’s prescription for curing unhappiness: holidays, working, spending, sleeping around, alcohol, living by the sea or whatever will make me permanently happy. In themselves there is a lot of good and happiness but left outside of Christ I do not think they will ultimately scratch the itch.
In fact I will attempt to mangle a 3rd speaker from AWAF, Dominic Erdozain, who quoted Charles Spurgeon as saying that he smoked his pipe for the glory of God. I like that, not going down some moralistic smoking, drinking, cavorting whatever bad and to be avoided. But redeeming these fun activities in God. Anywho, next time I light up a cigar I know whose glory I’ll be claiming to do it in 
.
Well I’m feeling a lot happier for having got that off my chest. How about you?
8 comments
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Comment by Alan Mann
4.22 pm on 19 Jun 2009
Oh, it’s crass I know, but please let me plug my book, A Permanent Becoming: A Contemporary Look at the Fruit of the Spirit, which has a whole chapter on the subject of Happiness – and as a teaser there’s a snippet below:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Permanent-Becoming-Alan-Mann/dp/1850787832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245424660&sr=8-1
http://deepchurch.org.uk/2009/04/19/the-fruits-of-the-spirit/
What’s more you can here Jason Clark talking about it here: http://www.vineyardchurch.org/sutton/mp3/030509.mp3
Happiness Hubs
One of the Psalmists says this: Your people are wonderful and they make me happy.
Is church the first place you go to look for happiness?
Lots of people I know think Christians are joyless, when in reality, we should be leaders in the pursuit of happiness. We need big advertising hoardings outside our churches saying ‘Happiness is Here!’
But that means the church has to walk the road that leads to happiness. We need to become living signposts for people to follow towards the Good Life. The elements that produce happiness should be at the centre of our Christian Communities.
People are genuinely looking for a happiness that lasts. So let’s tell them that they can find it with God, through God’s Spirit, within the Christian community, and not play games by pretending that happiness is a worldly pursuit, while we have something altogether better, called joy.
The pursuit of happiness is a legitimate biblical, theological and sociological objective.
Here’s some good advice from Paul Martin. It’s not biblical. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true or that you can’t find the same advice in Scripture. Actually, I think God would say, ‘Yes and Amen’ to it. What’s more, I think it’s a great place to start if we want to make our Christian communities happiness hubs.
• Take a broad, long-term view of happiness: there is much more to it than immediate pleasure.
• Happiness is good for you, good for your children and good for society, so don’t be embarrassed about making it a top priority.
• Personal relationships are absolutely central to happiness and health. Be connected.
• Be active and engaged: throw yourself into meaningful pursuits.
• Look outwards, not inwards: focus your attention on other people and the world around you rather than dwelling on your own thoughts and feelings.
• Love unconditionally.
• A good education is one that fosters, among other things, social and emotional competence, communication skills, wisdom, resilience and a life-long love of learning.
• Let children play.
Comment by Paul
1.16 pm on 24 Jun 2009
Thanks Alan, we’re clealy far too English, are american cousins would only be too happy to refer to their own excellent works
In terms of your comment I see a tension with a secular consumeristic society is that all about promising happiness. Then again maybe we’ve undersold the happiness and overpromised pain, cost, suffering as an antidote?
Comment by Alan Mann
1.21 pm on 24 Jun 2009
Maybe this thought from my book helps:
There are factors that can generate core happiness, which isn’t vulnerable to the vagaries of our consumerist culture. There are universals that produce happiness in all times and in all places.
That’s not to suggest that happiness is a constant that has no ebb and flow to it. It’s not static. It changes over the course of a lifetime as it responds to our circumstance. But happiness can remain with us as a foundation of who we are even when life becomes tough. Indeed, many people manage to be happy despite severe illness, disability or poverty. The truth is, such things do not automatically condemn us to persistent unhappiness, just as wealth and good looks won’t necessarily bring us joy.
Equally, to look after a loved one who is sick, or to comfort those who mourn, may not be a pleasurable experience. We may not even ‘feel’ happy about having to do this. But that doesn’t mean it has nothing to do with happiness. Indeed, involvement with someone’s suffering, tending to their needs – be they emotional or physical – can connect us to them in a deep way. And human connectedness, even in the midst of pain and sorrow, is a building block to happiness.
Comment by brunettekoala
10.10 am on 23 Jun 2009
Sorry to hear you’re going through a miserable time.
I’d love to know where that first speaker was getting his theology from…Christianity is all about happiness? Um..has he read the bible? Seems to be a lot of tough times, crying, complaining, desperation, death as well as some joyful times.
Personally I think the key is trying to find ways to be content all circumstances…if anyone has any magical answers on how to actually DO that I’d love to know your secret!
There was a brilliant seminar done at the Soul Survivor Momentum Conference by a Canadian dude called Todd Atkinson about living in the valley. The guy has wisdom. Of course now I can’t remember what he said, but I remember the relief at realising my struggles and misery were not unusual, and that there was hope. I think I ended up at most of the rest of his seminars to try and get any wisdom I could from him as a result too!
My advice – find a beach and have a cartwheel (even if you can’t cartwheel). Seriously liberating and very silly! But fun.
Comment by Paul
1.20 pm on 24 Jun 2009
Thanks BK, i’ve always been in favour of putting the vaulting horse before the cart wheel lol. Beaches are of course one solution, so too is lots of wine and films!
I’m not sure that Stephen was saying that christians are always happy or should always be happy. Unhappiness can often be a stimulus to action and to seek happiness which would mean that being discontent is also a good thing.
I acknowledge thought that being discontent can equate to being unhappy so hopefully at some point the tension resolves before the next lot of discontent rolls in…
Comment by treforW
1.47 pm on 23 Jun 2009
here’s a link to Ken Dodd singing ‘Happiness’ in church!!! now that MUST guarentee true happiness!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEjlKOEjM1M
Comment by Alan Mann
2.11 pm on 23 Jun 2009
I’m not sure I’d describe that video of Ken Dodd as happiness inducing! Actually, I find it a bit creepy.
Comment by Paul
1.21 pm on 24 Jun 2009
lol Ken Dodd is creepy
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