The World's Happiest Playlist

March 17, 2015

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

The United Nations would like to know:  What songs make you happy?

The UN has designated this Friday, March 20, as the International Day of Happiness, which sounds at first like a fairly cheesy addition to the already overloaded list of contrived annual observances.  (It’s sandwiched between March 19 (National Poultry Day) and March 21 (National Fragrance Day and National Goof Off Day.)  But the International Day of Happiness was inaugurated in 2012 for a more serious purpose: to declare solidarity with those suffering around the world due to hunger, poverty, and violence, and affirm the universal right of all human beings to pursue happiness.

To commemorate the day, the UN has enlisted some well known songwriters, including Ed Sheeran, James Blunt, David Guetta and John Legend, to assemble what they are calling “The World’s Happiest Playlist.” The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon - who personally recommends Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” - describes the power of this playlist in this way: “On this day we are using the universal language of music to show solidarity with the millions of people around the world suffering from poverty, human rights abuses, humanitarian crises and the effects of environmental degradation and climate change.” [1]

Naturally, this all makes me wonder what song titles you would recommend to this list.  What songs put a jump in your step and a lift to your spirits?  What songs have the power to buoy your soul in your toughest moments, and give you courage to sustain you when life is difficult? 

For what it’s worth, my three songs are:

·      “Linus and Lucy” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.  That song returns me to the innocence of my childhood.  And it makes me want to dance like Snoopy.

·      “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.  It brims with so much optimism and hope that I want it played at my funeral some day.

·      “Sunshine on My Shoulders” by John Denver.  It’s hard to pick just one John Denver song for this list, but I’ll go with the one that actually contains the word “happy.”

I’d love to hear your recommendations, but more importantly, I’d love for you to join us for worship this Sunday, when we continue our sermon series on how to have a cross-shaped character.  This week, we’ll take a look at the concept of joy, which is one of the Bible’s favorite words.  It appears over 170 times throughout the Scriptures.  Jesus used the word almost twenty times in his public teaching and ministry.  Paul used the word two dozen times throughout his letters to the churches.  

Yet joy is one of the most elusive concepts in the Christian life.  We know what it means to be happy, but joy is not the same as happiness.  Happiness is contingent on your circumstances, on your situation.  Happiness is what you feel when something good is happening to you or around you.  It comes and it goes, depending on whether or not you are having a good day, or a bad day. Happiness flees and fades. 

But joy is much more constant.  Its roots in the Greek language, which we will explore this Sunday, suggest a steady, constant, unwavering acknowledgment of something good in one’s life.  And what is that source of joy?

Perhaps it is best summarized by the words of St. Patrick, whose legacy was much more significant than the corned beef, cabbage, and Irish beer we use to commemorate him today.  As a passionate follower of Jesus, and an ardent evangelizer of the gospel to the people of Ireland, he drew his strength from the one true source of joy:

“God, my God, omnipotent King, I humbly adore thee.

Thou art King of kings, Lord of lords.

Thou art the Judge of every age.

Thou art the Redeemer of souls.

Thou art the Liberator of those who believe.

Thou art the Hope of those who toil.

Thou art the Comforter of those in sorrow.

Thou art the Way to those who wander.

Thou art Master to the nations.

Thou art the Creator of all creatures.

Thou art the Lover of all good.

Thou art the Prince of all virtues.

Thou art the joy of all Thy saints.

Thou art life perpetual.

Thou art joy in truth.

Thou art the exultation in the eternal fatherland.

Thou art the Light of light.

Thou art the Fountain of holiness.

Thou art the glory of God the Father in the height.

Thou art Savior of the world.

Thou art the plenitude of the Holy Spirit.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God the Father on the throne, reigning for ever.”

I’m sure this song won’t make the UN list this Friday, but it sounds pretty joyful to me!

Grace, Peace, and Joy,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVegaSt. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA  51012
Ph:  712-225-3955
Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/16/joy-to-the-world-whats-your-happy-music