Enduring Joy

Are you a glass half empty or a glass half full person? A person who tends to see the positives, or a person who sees the negatives? There is nothing wrong with seeing the risks or blockages in situations and circumstances, but is this your natural response?

A friend once asked me a question regarding my ministry and leadership as an officer of The Salvation Army: Do you find joy in your life? I had to think and reflect upon that question for a moment before I responded. Now that’s not to say I don’t have my bad days, but overall and knowing a little about what he meant by ‘joy’, I said, ‘Yes, I do’.

‘Beyond Words’ is a series written by Ruth Haley Barton who talks about a space that can challenge our joyfulness:

Richard Rohr calls it ‘liminal space’—a particular spiritual position where human beings hate to be, but where the biblical God is always leading them. The Latin root ‘limen’ literally means ‘threshold’, referring to that needed transition when we are moving from one place or one state of being to another. Liminal space usually induces some sort of inner crisis: you have left the tried and true (or it has left you), and you have not yet been able to replace it with anything else.

We are in a season of change in The Salvation Army, not forgetting all that is happening within our communities. We as an Army are asking the questions about how we more effectively fulfill our mission of caring for people, transforming lives and reforming society by God’s power. How we live out the gospel of Jesus Christ and be the Army that brings life, individually and as a Christian movement in community.

Change is always with us, a perpetual ‘liminal space’, and it doesn’t feel very joyful at times, particularly when it usually induces some sort of inner crisis. So, my prayer for you comes from our Bible reading in Romans 15:13.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which is a characteristic of the life of Jesus, and one we live out as his followers.

Commissioner Mark Campbell
Territorial Commander