IT'S A SECRET - TELL IT!
Email, Esther, Ohio

A woman named Frances once knew a person at church named Debbie. Debbie always seemed effervescent and happy, although Frances knew she had faced struggles in her life. Her long-awaited marriage had quickly ended in divorce. She had struggled to get a grip on her single life. She hadn't chosen it, but she decided she would live it with utmost enjoyment and satisfaction.

Debbie was active in Sunday school, in the choir, as a leader of the junior high girl's group, and in the church renewal movement. Frances enjoyed knowing Debbie. Debbie's whole face seemed to smile and she always greeted Frances with a hug.

One day Frances asked Debbie, "How is it that you are always so happy; you have so much energy, and you never seem to get down?"

With her eyes smiling, Debbie said, "I know the secret!" "What secret is that? What are you talking about?" Frances asked. Debbie replied, "I'll tell you all about it, but you have to promise to share the 'secret' with others."

Frances agreed, "Okay, now what is it?" The secret is this: I have learned there is little I can do in my life that will make me truly happy. I must depend on God to make me happy and meet my needs. When a need arises in my life, I have to trust God to supply according to HIS riches. I have learned most of the time I don't need half of what I think I do. HE has never let me down. Since I learned that secret I am happy.

Frances' first thought was, that's too simple! But upon reflecting over her own life she recalled how she thought a bigger house would make her happy - but it didn't! She thought a better-paying job would make her happy - but it hadn't. When did she realize her greatest happiness? Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren, eating pizza and watching a movie -- a simple gift from God.

Debbie knew the secret, Frances learned the secret, and now you know it too! We can't depend on people to make us happy -- only GOD in His wisdom can do that. Trust Him. So pass it on!

I'm a witness that the secret is true! And now I pass the secret on to you. So once you get it, watcha gonna do? YOU have to tell someone the secret, too! That GOD in His wisdom will take care of you. God bless you. May the Lord's blessings be upon each of our lives as we share this wonderful discovery.

ODE TO JOY (Luke 20:37-38)
A Sermon by The Reverend Peter F. Walsh

Have you ever thought what it would sound like if the life of your soul was put to music? What would it be like if the life of your soul was made into a symphony? Imagine plumbing the depths of your soul with a microphone and listening for its sound. What would be the sound of your primal passions, your dreams and defeats; your loves and hates; your faithfulness and unfaithfulness - all covered over by the whirl of daily life.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as an Analogy
A few nights ago, I was listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony while I was cleaning the house and the Ode to Joy broke through my mental haze. The Church has adopted the Ode to Joy as the tune for the hymn, "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee." Though I know that Beethoven did not intend it, suddenly I heard parts of the symphony as the music of a Christian soul and the Ode to Joy as the soul's resurrection after death.

The First Movement
The symphony begins much like a conception - seemingly out of nothing comes a sound that organizes itself into something beautiful. Just for us, seemingly out of nothing, two cells organize themselves into somebody beautiful. Throughout the first movement, the symphony grows up - as we do - through ups and downs, dramas and traumas, and joys and sorrows that roll on through a daily stream of life.

Second Movement
When Beethoven started the second movement, he had many disparate pieces that seemed unrelated. But when he began to organize them around the Ode to Joy, which was to come in the fourth movement, these disparate pieces became one piece. In the second movement, women into the fabric of the music, are hints of the Ode to Joy. Two or three notes that never quite take off - bits of joy now, and a foreshadowing of what will come later.

The Second Movement in Us
Our lives are like the second movement. Our lives have many disparate pieces that seem unrelated. But as Christ draws us closer to Him, the disparate pieces of our life become focused around God and then woven into one piece which is our spiritual journey. Our spiritual journey aims toward union with god, a union which grows deeper in this life and is fully consummated after death. The hints of the Ode to Joy in the symphony are like the odes to joy that we sing in our own life when we break through the haze of daily life and awaken to being alive in God's world.

Adoration
That is what Francis of Assisi was writing about in the opening hymn (Hymn 400) - awakening to the knowledge and joy that all creation sings God's praises. This is adoration. "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee." We are created to adore, not because the Lord needs it, but because it gives us life. It is part of our vocation as humans now and as heavenly beings in the life to come. Adoration and praise set us free. They bring us joy. They put us in right relationship with God, because they release us from having to be God.

Fourth Movement
The fourth and last movement begins in a dire tone - the tympani pound out a warning that a crisis is near, while heavy double basses brood. If this were the sound of a person's life, death would be near. Life is grinding to halt. Yet in the midst of this, the woodwinds introduce some peace, but this does not last as the heavy-bowed basses return.

The Gospel
In this morning's Gospel, Jesus says that for those who are worthy, death will not be the end. They will be children of the resurrection. The Ode to Joy, set in the Ninth Symphony, gives us a hint of what that resurrection might be like.

The First Verse of the Ode to Joy
Just when the end seems imminent and it seems the music will finally grind to halt due to its own heaviness (just as many dying bodies grind to a halt out of their own heaviness), it begins - a few notes of the Ode to Joy. It is resurrection music - life coming out of death. The double basses play the first verse. It is a joyful melody dressed in heavy music, just as the soul sings a joyful melody as it prepares to meet God face to face, even as it is dressed in the heaviness of an earthly body that is dying. That is why, in the sixth verse of the opening hymn, Francis says that even death praises God. And even you most death, waiting to hush our final breath. O praise Him, Alleluia! You lead us back home, the child of God. For Christ our Lord, that way has trod, O praise him. Alleluia.

The Second Verse of Ode to Joy
In the second verse, a corps of violins join in and the melancholy heavy basses are drowned out by joy. The music breaks free. The body is dead and the soul breaks free from death and begins its ascent to the Lord. There is an incredible, sublime lightness of being. All the joy and struggle of life to this point are wrapped in a greater joy, an unearthly joy. It is so beautiful one can hardly stand it. More violins join in, the tempo increases, there is no stopping the soul now. It has entered God's magnetic field and there is nothing to hold it back as it races toward union with its Lord.

Third Verse of Ode to Joy
In the third verse, the whole orchestra breaks in to welcome the soul to the courts of the Lord, and the music becomes a triumphal march toward its union with the Lord. At last, the soul is unified with its maker, like long-lost lovers who have been separated by war. The Lord is there seated on the throne between the seraphim and cherubim. The Book of Revelation comes alive. All the ups and downs and joys and sorrows of the life led to this point are redeemed and made holy. The soul is overflowing with joy and it feels as though its joy should be complete, but it is not.

On Joining the Heavenly Choir
Union with God is not the end, but a new beginning. It is not graduation, but a commencement. Just as the symphony goes on, so does our heavenly life. In this morning's Gospel, we are told that we will be like angels and we know that angels and archangels forever sing hymns of praise. In the Ninth Symphony after the opening melody of Ode to Joy, a bass cantor sings "Brother" and a thunderous choir responds, "Brotherhood." So it will be for us. We will join the heavenly choir, being brothers and sisters with each other. And our joy will be compounded, because we will be unified not only with the Lord, but with each other. We will be heavenly beings unified in the love and praise of the Lord, and we will join the circle of love that is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.