Have you noticed that few people appear, from the looks of their faces and from their body language, to be really happy? As you observe people from your automobile, or see them walking in the grocery store or the shopping malls, you see face after face looking tired, worn out, bored, or just empty and drained of any emotion. You can go for hours without encountering a single truly jolly person.

Life gets more serious as we get older; we know that. But one gets the impression that even kids are not as carefree as they were in earlier days. It’s a fact that team spirit and school enthusiasm have significantly weakened at the secondary level all over our country. High school students are a lot more serious than they once were. When you notice young people not having as much fun as they’re really entitled to have, you realize this is a symptom of a serious problem.

There are a myriad of reasons.

1. Many young people are from hurting and broken homes.
2. The economy is not very promising and the future financial and employment forecast looks kind of bleak.
3. Young people face pressure to do well academically to get into a good school-a cheap school but a good school. They’re studying harder, having to learn more, faster.
4. Some face scary problems in schools; violence is commonplace.
5. There’s a lot of pressure to have sex-but don’t get pregnant!
6. There’s confusion about sexual identity, and the rules change rapidly.
7. Many young people don’t have a compassionate, wise person to help them sort these things out. No wonder it’s not as much fun to be a kid now-a-days.

Our churches and homes can be places of joy. They will be if we learn some of the secrets of joy. I believe one of the secrets of a joyful spirit is coming to understand the graciousness of God. This mighty, holy, awesome God, whom we worship, is at heart a gracious, generous, giving, compassionate, merciful person who cares about you more than you care about you.

If we can come to appreciate and understand this, and let it work its way through our lives-our thoughts, our emotions, our relationships-we can be transformed by the grace of God. We will become more thankful people, and thankful people are always joyful people. Thanksgiving Day is nearly here, and it’s an appropriate time to reflect on this.

So for a moment, I want to focus us on the importance of being thankful.

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It is reported that the newspaper counselor, Ann Landers, received an average of 10,000 letters each month, and nearly all of them from people burdened with problems. She was asked if there was any one of theme that dominates the letters she receives. Her reply was the one problem above all others seems to be fear. People are afraid of losing their health, their wealth, their loved ones. People are afraid of life itself.

The first time I remember being afraid was when my dad took me to see the movie Jaws. You know, the movie that has this huge great white killer shark that was chasing and one by one eating these teenage kids on their father’s boat. I remember that I was scared to death of the water for a long, long time.

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Have any of you been to a bar lately? Not a sports bar, but a pub, a bar, or a tavern? If not, you should go. Really . . . I’m completely serious. I grew up goign to the bar when I was a kid and I continue to frequent one often. Do you know what a bar that is really hard to find anywhere else? “Beer” Ha! Ok, besides beer. The onething that a bar has that most other places dont have is community. I make it a habit of mine to watch socail and cultureal trends. Cheers was one of the longest running TV shows ever. Cheers was so popular because people want a place where “Everybody knows your name.” A the core of the human heart, people want to know and be known. People want to love and be loved. These are basic needs of the human soul. This is who God created us.  

The church is called to be bar community times 10, but the churh often times gets confused with the vision of who God calls us to be and the stark reality of where we really are  In the church, there’s always this tension with how God created things to be, and the way things really are, and sometimes people who are a part of the church judge others, when Jesus himself never did. God never intended the church to a place of judgement, but rather the greatest community.

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When I was a kid, I watched super heroes like Superman, Batman and Robin, and underdog . . . and I dreamed of being powerful like them. My favorite superhero was . . . Wonder Woman! I had a crush on her! Fess up guys, you all had a crush on her didn’t you?

We are all drawn to super heroes because at the heart of who we are, we all would like to have super power. We would love to use our power to fight against evil. 

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