Scripture  

Nehemiah 8:10 (NRSV)  

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine  

and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared,  

for this day is holy to our Lord;  

and do not be grieved,  

for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Refrain  

Joy is not naive—it’s courageous.

Poem  

Cole Arthur Riley, from This Here Flesh

“Joy has nothing to do with ease  

and everything to do with presence.  

It is born in the tension,  

the ache,  

the yes that says:  

I will live fully, even here.  

To claim joy in a world that prefers despair  

is not indulgence.  

It is resistance.  

It is how we survive.”

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