Shots from the Eagle and Child, October 2015.

I recently took part in a quick work discussion about the place of joy, whether or not one can expect it or in some way legislate it.  Joy, of course, was what C. S. Lewis was surprised by.  It became a kind of lifelong pursuit for him.  I’d be curious to hear what Lewis would say about James K. A. Smith’s recent take on the topic in his essay, “The State of Joy.”

In the essay, Smith points to personal experience, the thoughts of Pascal, and the writings of David Foster Wallace to get a better grasp on the way joy might work in the modern world.  I found his section on “the conditions of joy” well-rendered:

First, it seems to me that, while joy can by crystallized into discrete “experiences”—that is, joy can have episodic “highlights” that bring it to the surface of realization—nonetheless such experiences of joy actually relate to a more baseline, steady-state posture of receptivity, bound up with gratitude, as the condition of possibility for such epiphanic moments. Such “moments” of joy tend to be revelations and recognitions of the giftedness of one’s world—which, in those moments, is recognized to be a reality even during the routine and everyday moments when one isn’t necessarily aware of it. Perhaps we could say that joy is intimately linked to a sense of blessing, a sense of grace.

Second, it seems that such joy is relational: not only is it shared with others, and occasioned by relationships, but it also wells up from a sense of having received a gift from someone (Someone?). In a relational context, joy emerges from a sense of resting on someone who gives; in such a context, having received—being a recipient—is not experienced as a debt but as the basis for joy. So the stance of receptivity that seems integral to joy points to another—a giver or givers (or Giver). Perhaps one could say that joy is a mode of enjoying gratitude. That is, joy is the enjoyment of being a recipient, where receiving a gift fosters not resentment at being indebted but an open welcome of such gift-ing. It presupposes recognition of one’s “indebtedness” as a good feature of a blessed creaturely life. (One wonders, then, if only those creatures who can be resentful can also be joyful.)

I certainly like the connection of joy with a sense of recipient gratitude.  Perhaps joy is hard for many of us to come by because gratitude exists beyond our grasps.

By the essay’s end, Smith asserts that joy should be at the heart of the Christian mission in this period of late modernity: “What if both the cultural mandate and the Great Commission were reconciled as sharing the good news of a great joy, not just telling, but showing?”  It’s a noble and necessary part of our task.  If we take that part seriously, God just might surprise us.