1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." 7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication: 9 "What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!" 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Psalm 30
Introduction
Last night I was watching the tribute to the life of the great opera diva, Beverly Sills. At one point the interviewer asked her, in light of her outstanding career, “Are you a happy person?” And wisely, she responded, “I am not a happy person, I am joyful person.” Beverly’s private life was not a happy one, as she raised two children, a girl who due to hearing affliction was left stone deaf, and a second child, a boy, who was profoundly mentally disable. She comments that it is ironic that with a woman spending so much time with sound, would be given a daughter that couldn’t hear her sing, and the greater blow of having a profoundly mentally disabled child. As Beverly said, “we tried to provide for him the very best of what he could comprehend.”
Happiness and Joy
There is a difference between happiness and joy. And we often confuse the two. In our society we strive for happiness. The whole industry of advertising takes advantage of our choice. If we purchase the right teeth cleaner, our lives will be filled with happiness. If men will dye their hair, women will jump into their arms, and only then will they be happy.
Scripture teaches us that happiness is superficial, and transitory. It is emotional, rather than foundational. Joy comes from deep within. In our youth, we don’t understand joy until later, when life has dealt us experiences that either break us or makes us stronger.
The revelation of Scripture reminds us time again that the purpose of life on this globe is to live our lives in such a way that we are preparing for heaven. Preparing for heaven simply involves our sharing heaven with all persons that we reach. And that preparation requires joy. One cannot attain joy as a goal. We can’t pursue it. It is a quality of life, not simply an emotion or a feeling. Joy sneaks up on you when we least expect it. Joy doesn’t come with the fulfillment of pleasure nor selfish desires, nor material wealth. Joy often comes through the suffering that life has dealt us.
Joy is experienced with hope. Joy is impossible without hope. And if we are denied everything, most of us can survive as long as we have hope. And our hope is found not in the transitory life on earth, yet in the eternity of heaven.
Joyful people know this, and while living on earth, they begin to live as in heaven. Service with others and the spreading of God’s love in Christ Jesus is the aim of the Christian disciple and the servant, as Stacy Selph was and lived.
This is why Stacy was a joyful person. Ever since I knew Stacy, I always saw a smile on his face. Joy overflowed and lead the way with his ministry. Like a beacon, Stacy’s joy brought light and hope to all whom he ministered in his 50 years of pastoral service.
Stacy was born and reared in Lakeland. He grew up at the old Myrtle Street Methodist Church, which would move to its present location as Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church. He and Anne met at the Myrtle Street Church. He served his country in the Army Air Corps as a radar maintenance technician. Stacy and Anne were married on a weekend pass back at Myrtle Street—a marriage that lived for 62 years. Stacy responded to the call to ministry and began as a student pastor in 1953. He graduated from Florida Southern College in 1956, and from Duke Divinity School in 1959.
Anne and Stacy served as a pastoral team in ten Florida Conference churches, including their last active appointment at Melrose Park. Even in retirement from 1991 on, back home at Wesley Memorial, Stacy served actively and lovingly with that congregation, preacher, visitor, teaching Sunday School, a member of the choir. He worked hard and joyfully until he physically could do no more. Stacy loved music, especially singing in male gospel quartets. He sang in all the choirs in the churches where he served.
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Sunday, I went to Stacy’s room in the hospital and visited with Anne and daughter Tracy. Shelley was rushing north from Ft. Lauderdale. Stacy had experienced a long battle with survival and he was tired. His family was tired. It was time for release. The family agonized with an option that is only present with modern medical technology. However, God had a better way and allowed Stacy to slip away before the decision was made.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. Luke 6:23 (NRSV)
Conclusion
By S Hall Young
Let me die, working; Still tackling plans unfinished, Tasks undone!
Clean to its end, swift may my race be run.
No laggard steps, no faltering, no shirking; Let me die working!
Let me die Thinking, Let me fare forth still with an open mind,
Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to find,
My soul undimmed, alert, no question blinking; Let me die thinking;
Let me die, laughing. No sighing o’er past sins; they are forgiven.
Spilled on this earth are all the joys of heaven; The wine of life, the cup of mirth quaffing. Let me die, laughing.”
Prayer Hymn by Charles Wesley
Servant of God, Well done!
O happy, happy soul! In ecstasies of praise, Long as eternal ages roll, Thou seest thy Savior’s face. Redeemed from earth and pain. Ah! When shall we ascend, All in Jesus’ presence reign, Through ages without end.
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