Two weeks ago, a news analysis piece in the New York Times titled, “Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?” really sort of got me thinking.

The article defines happiness as “a positive state of overall well-being combined with a sense that one’s life has meaning.”

It seems that a lot of people are giving up on happiness. Yet there is considerable time, effort and money being spent on trying to scrutinize happiness on a global scale.

Did you know there is a World Happiness Report? This was news to me. Produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in partnership with the Ernesto Illy Foundation, the study has apparently been released every year since 2012.

In the most recent report, of the 156 countries analyzed, Finland ranks first, South Sudan 156. The United States comes in at 19, its lowest ranking so far. There are sections relating happiness and voting patterns, the effects of technology, prosocial behavior, addiction and unhappiness, and more.

Church is, in the author’s mind, perhaps regrettably, a thing of the past. In bygone days, churches were “central to a community’s integrity.” She quotes Dacher Keltner, director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, who said, “Church gave you awe, joy and ecstasy.” Keltner continued, “You collected in a group. You sang a little. You gave money. You got to chant.”

Even when some replace the immediate physical space known as church with virtual substitutes, most people have a hunch that it is not the same. And this loss of physical space and the lack of shared flesh and blood experiences of regular worship together is all part of the post-happiness world.

But the church is still here.

Those of us who still attend church regularly might not think of our church as a place of awe, joy and ecstasy, but maybe we should recognize that perhaps that is exactly what it is. And while we may not realize it, at least Keltner recognizes it because it’s something he doesn't have anymore.

What if happiness and joy comes not from obtaining it ourselves, but from living in such a way that what we are doing is part of the joy of Christ? This joy isn’t exactly ours to own, but a sort of fulfilment, a vessel through which Jesus passes on the joy set before him.

I’m probably not saying it quite right. It’s what Jesus prayed and Pastor Moody preached, “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

So the happiness we long for, the joy that refreshes, isn't even something we can own. What if joy comes when we do things Jesus wants us to do, things that we may not think we want to do or even can do on our own, things we can choose to do no matter what life is throwing at us? It’s the Holy Spirit at work, encouraging us, enabling us to what we might feel is impossible.

I’m thinking of the people who came forward to serve in Kids’ Harbor so that other people's children could have a place of their own to learn and grow.

Or the retired missionary who used to give money to our evangelism camps in Russia back when such camps were legally permitted there.

What about the people who spend a good amount of time faithfully praying for College Church, clicking on the missionary prayer letters in our church family news emails on Fridays and praying for them, asking God to bring revival to our tired and angry world.

What if joy is on display in the mom and her kids walking to Wheaton Square apartments to invite children who live there to a Backyard Bible Club. The mom, then leads a parade of joy-filled, happy children across Main Street, behind the buisness and down the street to the right backyard for the club.

I remember a family who vacationed in Eastern Europe and saw a need there so great that they came home and started a family foundation to make a difference there.

Or the unseen STARS families who stay past the third service to clean up the plastic communion cups after our Sunday morning communion services.

I think of every person who walks into church on Sunday carrying hurts and pains and sorrow, only to set them down to help carry another brother's or sister's burdens. Together we stand and pray and sing and hear God's Word preached.

The Times piece concludes by quoting an authority on happiness and joy, “I don’t think about happiness anymore,” she said. “I think about joy. And if you string together enough moments of joy, maybe you can have a happy life.”

Comparing that conclusion with the joy I witness in the people around me, well, there really isn’t any comparison.

So how will the joy of Jesus Christ be fulfilled in us today and when we gather together tomorrow?