December 30, 2002
CYBERCOLUMN:
Joy to the world
___By Brett Younger
___When I was in the primary department in Sunday School, between beginners and juniors, one of my favorite songs was "I've Got the Joy."
___I'm not sure who wrote the words, but it sounds like it could have been penned by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay." The first stanza alone is enough to qualify the song as a classic, but the best part is the last verse: "And if the devil doesn't like it, he can sit ona tack. Ouch! Sit on a tack. Ouch! Sit on a tack. Ouch! And if the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack. Sit on a tack to stay."
Brett Younger
___The last verse was wonderful not only for the lucidity of the poetry and the insightfulness of the theology, but also for its participatory nature. We began the song seated. Then when we shouted "Ouch!" we jumped out of our chairs. When it was over, everyone in the primary department rolled on the floor and laughed uproariously at how accurately we had depicted what it would look like if the personification of evil did indeed sit on a tack.
___When I was about 11 years old, and in the junior department, soon to be an intermediate, the group Three Dog Night recorded a song entitled "Joy to the World." The first line was not, however, "Joy to the World, the Lord is come" but was instead, and those of you who have as little musical taste as I have will remember this, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog; was a good friend of mine. I never understood a single word he said, but I helped him drink his wine."
___The last line was equally memorable: "Joy to the fishies in the deep blue sea, and joy to you and me."
___I bought the 45 record, put the little plastic disk in to make it fit our stereo and, for the first time, invited my mother into my room to listen to my new record. I said, "Look, Mom, I bought 'Joy to the World.' That's one of your favorite Christmas carols, isn't it?" My mother expressed amazement and suggested, as I hoped she would, that we listen to it. Mom left during, "I never understood a single word he said" long before "Joy to the fishies in the deep blue sea." I, of course, rolled on the floor and laughed uproariously.
___It's been 27 years since I graduated from the intermediate department. Now when I sing of joy, it's in a different key. I no longer find much joy in taunting either the devil or my mother, though both of those activities have their place. Joy is now less like uproarious laughter and more like sustaining hope.
___Some things aren't as simple as they once were. I realize now that not all of my dreams will come true. I've seen some of the people I love hurt terribly. I have a few scars of my own. Some of the people I've loved have died. I think that when we realize that life is hard and won't be everything we've hoped, our joy either fades away or goes deeper.
___Most recent hymnals include "Joy to the World"—the Isaac Watts and George F. Handel version, not the Three Dog Night version—but omit what used to be the third verse: "No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found." I'm sure the editors think that most congregations don't really enjoy singing: "Far as the curse is found." But it may be that Isaac Watts understood that real joy is found on the other side of the sorrows that grow and the thorns that destroy.
___God is the great joy deep inside us—the joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts. And if the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack.
___Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
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