March 28, 2024

Let’s not keep the joy for ourselves

Editor’s note: This column was originally published Sept. 22, 2016

What is more precious than a children’s hand-bell choir ringing and singing “I’ve Got the Joy” on a Sunday morning?

Picture the 3, 4, 5 and 6-year-old’s in their little Sunday dresses and Sunday suits chiming multi-colored bells and singing the refrain, “I’ve go the joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart” in unison and slightly off key. Their smiles radiate pure joy and innocent faith.

I lived this moment as a kid at our Des Moines northside Presbyterian church. And so did Marguerite.

She was new to the United States by way of a former Soviet republic. This was the early 1990s, when the pain of Soviet oppression and turmoil in eastern Europe was ongoing and fresh in people’s minds. Marguerite spoke little English but was so happy to be in that church on American soil.

But Marguerite had an additional caveat. She had an intellectual disability. As a young child, I didn’t know much about her or what she had experienced in her youth, I just remember her sudden, unplanned trips to the front of the church on Sundays to share her joy with the people in the pews.

During that children’s hand-bell choir performance she stood alongside the kids and clapped to the beat, wanting to be included in the fun.

This would not be the last time Marguerite would make an impromptu march toward the pulpit. One Sunday during Pastor Terry’s sermon, she decided to walk up to the church leader, got down on one knee and repeatedly thank the man who was always uncomfortable receiving any praise.

Terry paused from his message to explain to the congregation that Marguerite had been trying for days to thank him for making her feel so at home in the church.

No one advertised or criticized Marguerite for her background. They did not ask about her upbringing, her faith or intentions. They saw her as a humble person who felt blessed by her presence due to the rough circumstances of her past. A past which she didn’t quite understand.

Today’s Syrian refugee crisis — infused with refugee crises from dozens of other countries around the world caused by famine, war, religious persecution, environmental and economic displacement — has again tested the resolve of the values we profess to hold. Our leaders need to look beyond the immediate geopolitical implications of giving those far away a sanctuary and a home. We need to see the long-term outcome of kindness is a peaceful world.

Will the American public let the fear of a few cause us to shut the door on the many? Will we reduce the plight and pain of others to a bowl or colored candies? I, for one, will not.

We have the joy, so give it.

Contact Mike Mendenhall
at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com