An Elusive Joy Walking Beside You

Introduction

Just after Christmas, Stéphane Guillet steps away from his usual pattern: instead of starting from a Bible passage, he opens with a poem by Quebec poet Saint-Denis Garneau that he often rereads on his phone. "I walk beside a joy, a joy that isn't mine, a joy of mine that I cannot take hold of." This poem says, in its own way, what the Bible announces differently: there is a joy of heaven, a joy that belongs to God himself, that comes to meet you at Christmas, that walks with you on your way, and that one day will be fully given to you. Until then, it walks beside you.

Sermon Outline

1. A joy that isn't mine, yet walks with me (1st stanza)

• The poem states right away the complicated relationship you can have with joy: it feels so close at certain moments, and then bad news arrives (2025 had plenty of it), and joy seems to slip away just out of reach.
• The Bible distinguishes two kinds of joy: the joy of creation (the joy of a couple in love, of work well done, of a good meal shared with friends, joy the Bible never looks down on), and the joy of heaven.
• This joy of heaven is God's own joy: "There is abundant joy in your presence" (Psalm 16:11), the Lord will make restored Jerusalem his greatest joy (Zephaniah 3:17), "The joy of Yahweh is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).
• God is joy just as he is love. And this is the very joy he wants to make yours at Christmas: "I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full" (John 15:11). A transfer: God's own joy that wants to become your joy in Jesus.

2. I walk beside myself in joy: the Christian life as a mysterious reality (2nd stanza)

• "I walk beside myself in joy." Here the joy is no longer merely beside you (it is already yours), yet you cannot fully taste it yet.
• The New Testament describes this strangeness: you are no longer of the world, yet you are still in a world marked by evil. Your citizenship is in heaven.
• Even more astonishing: God has seated you with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and your life is hidden with him in God (Colossians 3:3).
• Hence the biblical paradox: "The hope of the righteous is gladness" (Proverbs 10:28). And Paul: "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10). You cannot yet fully step into that walk and say, "there, that's me", but you can already hear your joyful footstep walking beside you.

3. I secretly scheme exchanges: foretastes of heaven's joy (3rd stanza)

• "For now I am content with this company, but I am secretly scheming exchanges through all sorts of operations, alchemies, through blood transfusions..." The poet takes liberties with words, refusing the perfection of the classic alexandrine line, because the human condition he finds himself in does not allow for that perfection.
• Your situation isn't tragic. The Bible doesn't tell you, "suffer now, joy will come later." It tells you that you can already taste a foretaste (sometimes just a foretaste of a foretaste of a foretaste, but a foretaste all the same), of the joy of heaven.
• Worship, the sacraments, and fellowship with other believers are these secret exchanges: in both the Old and New Testaments, Israel's great feasts were shot through with joy, occasions given to taste the realities of heaven.
• The Holy Spirit himself is at work in you: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace..." (Galatians 5:22). This is why Paul could be sorrowful and yet always rejoicing.
• Even in the darkest moments, by a strange alchemy, the Spirit keeps sowing seeds that faith is able to perceive. "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul" (Psalm 94:19). "Gladness and joy shall overtake them" (Isaiah 35:10).

4. That one day transposed: the perfect joy of the Kingdom (4th stanza)

• The key word of this final stanza is "transposed." It points to an eschatological reality: what God wants to give, not what you can create.
• Paul tells the Colossians: "giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love" (Colossians 1:12-13).
• This Kingdom is the place of a perfect joy: shouts of joy (Isaiah 35:10), everlasting joy (Isaiah 61:7), the roar of rejoicing (Revelation 19:6-9).
• On that day, you will be carried along by the dance of those joyful steps, and misfortune, trial, and pain will veer off to disappear for good, like a stranger turning down a side street.

Key Takeaways

• The Bible speaks of two kinds of joy: the joy of creation (very real, never looked down on), and the joy of heaven, which is God's own joy.
• God is joy just as he is love. His coming at Christmas brings great joy to the whole people because he comes to share his own joy with you.
• Your condition as a believer is paradoxical: the joy of heaven is already given to you, yet you cannot fully taste it yet. It walks beside you.
• The foretastes are real: worship, the sacraments, fellowship with other believers, the fruit of the Spirit. Even in the darkest nights, faith can perceive the seeds of this joy.
• Perfect joy is promised: one day you will be transposed into the Kingdom, and misfortune will be nothing more than a stranger turning down a side street.

Personal Application

1. At what moments in 2025 did you feel joy slipping away just out of reach, and where do you stand before God on that today?
2. Do you make room for the "joys of creation" God gives you (a good meal, a friendship, work well done), as gifts, not just distractions?
3. Where do you recognize, this week, "foretastes" of heaven's joy: in worship, in communion, in prayer, in a conversation with a fellow believer?
4. What piece of bad news right now needs to be reread in light of this promise: "gladness and joy shall overtake them"?
5. Do you practice a faith that makes you "able to perceive the seeds of heaven's joy sown in your everyday life," or are you waiting for perfect joy right now?

Scripture References

• Luke 2:10
• Luke 15:7
• Psalm 16:11
• Zephaniah 3:17
• Nehemiah 8:10
• John 15:11
• Ephesians 2:6
• Colossians 3:3
• Proverbs 10:28
• 2 Corinthians 6:10
• Galatians 5:22
• Psalm 94:19
• Isaiah 35:10
• Isaiah 61:7
• Revelation 19:6-9
• Colossians 1:12-13
• Acts 2:46
• Luke 15:31

Further reading

• Pastor, Elder, Deacon: What Are the Differences?
• Bible Reading Mistakes: How to Avoid Them at the Start
• Daily Bible Reading: Building the Habit

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Saint-Denis Garneau, the poet Stéphane Guillet quotes?

Saint-Denis Garneau was a Quebec poet from the first half of the 20th century, regarded as one of the great voices of his generation in Quebec. He was Catholic, but above all in search of a personal relationship with God, somewhat wary of institutional religion. He was strongly influenced by thinkers like Jacques Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier, and by the Christian personalist movement. Stéphane Guillet discovered his poem on joy in Quebec, at his son-in-law's home, and he rereads it very often on his phone.

What is the difference between the "joy of creation" and the "joy of heaven"?

The joy of creation is made up of the legitimate joys God gives you in this world: the joy of a couple in each other's presence, of spouses who love each other, of work well done, of a good meal shared with friends. The Bible never looks down on these. The joy of heaven, on the other hand, belongs to God himself: "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God" (Luke 15:7), "abundant joy in your presence" (Psalm 16:11). This is the very joy God came to share with you at Christmas, and it is the joy that will become fully yours in the Kingdom.

How can we talk about Christian joy when going through real suffering?

Stéphane Guillet emphasizes the biblical paradox. The apostle Paul says he is "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10). This joy is not an emotion you can summon on command, it is a work of the Spirit that keeps sowing seeds even through the darkest nights. Psalm 94:19 says: "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul." Faith does not deny sadness; it learns to perceive, in the midst of it, the foretastes of a joy that never fully disappears, because God himself never disappears.