Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
-Psalm 100:1 (KJV)
AS a young minister still in seminary, I served my first church in Brooklyn. One of the members I particularly enjoyed visiting was a woman in her 80s who could have found abundant reasons to be unhappy. She lived alone in a tiny fourth-floor walk-up apartment in a deteriorating tenement. She was in failing health, had very little family, and survived on a meager income. Her "rooms" (as she called them) were often cold in the winter and sweltering in the summer.
Still, I anticipated our visits because of the conversations. She wanted to chat about the Bible -- especially her favorite scripture, Psalm 100 -- and about classics of Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, and Hardy that she had read and re-read. What I found most exhilarating was her boundless enthusiasm. Everything was "just wonderful" -- her neighbors, New York City, her church. And, "Isn't the Lord just wonderful!" she would exclaim.
Some might call her a bit of a Pollyanna. Maybe. But what a privilege to be in her presence and to feel such joy, such gratitude, and such faith! I'm sure she received a special welcome when she entered the world to come, and I thank her for the inspiration she gave a sometimes-disheartened young minister.
