Hello YAV Community

Happy New Year 2026!

I started off my new year by traveling to the Montreat Conference Center to help Steffan & Audrey with recruiting more YAVs along with participating in group discussions added with me participating in a workshop planting trees.

The theme for the 2026 Summit at Montreat was Strains of Joy. Every worship both during the day and in the evening was joyous and full of learning. We began on Friday, January 2nd in the evening with the opening passage by the apostle James of the New Testament

In the Scriptures, James is expressively conveying that God’s tests throughout our lives are meant to help us grow, NOT decay in our walk of faith & calls on us to be strained by Joy. We also learned that while we know the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit along with Joseph, Virgin Mary, and Baby Jesus, there are examples other trinities we can name (ex. Oldest, Middle, Youngest Child; Beginning, Middle, and End).

Saturday, January 3rd

Montreat Conference Center had the honorable joy and privilege of presenting Reverend Lizzie McManus-Dail to talk about what real Christian joy is versus how the world pictures joy.

Lizzie told everybody that joy is supposed to be spiritual and something to put our teeth in. Joy comes through powerful, memorable highlights in our lives. Internally, Lizzie said joy feels like a “cleansing of your head.” Joy is strongest in the face of destruction added with Christian joy holding death in its teeth without fear.

The “worldly” joy according to Lizzie is rooted in: extractive capitalism, colonialism, oppression, misogyny, and white supremacy.

God is NOT lazy nor boring. God made us for joy and His joy is not to own us, control us, or demean us. It is a joy we have to hold on to, not something we can own or sell for profit. Joy is not a fence, but the most vulnerable human trait. It is the tender underbelly of our connections to each other. Joy is beauty for beauty’s sake. Joy in the form of resistance doesn’t mean rapid consumption but not allowing the world to consume us.

Later, there was a book signing at the Montreat Store of Reverend Lizzie’s newly published book titled “God Didn’t Make Us to Hate Us.” I was the last person to get an autographed copy of her book.

That same evening we had a wonderful worship where that in order to attain joy we have to have the courage as Israeli King David expressed in Psalm 56:1-4 of the Old Testament, teaching us that when we feel scared or pursued by our enemies, we still have to be obedient to God,

Psalm 56

Trust in God under Persecution

To the leader: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. Of David. A Miktam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

¹ Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me;
    all day long foes oppress me;
² my enemies trample on me all day long,
    for many fight against me.
O Most High, ³ when I am afraid,
    I put my trust in you.
⁴ In God, whose word I praise,
    in God I trust; I am not afraid;
    what can flesh do to me?

Everyone goes through pain, but we also painfully go through healing. Healing can hurt, and it also requires lots of self-commitment.

Sunday, January 4th

Worship was with the usual music followed by a sermon and the big question that hung over everybody was why is the institution of Christianity so afraid of Joy? The answer is simple; fear and greed. Joy is however, very radical.

Our keynote speaker for that day was Brian Martinez de la Combs along with the Gospel of Luke in the first ten verses of the nineteenth chapter being our morning passage

Luke 19:1-10New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷ All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Brian told us that Luke’s message is encouraging us to let everyone know that they are deserving of joy. We also need empathy to spread, not keep it as a deficit. Another passage was from verses twelve to thirteen of the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans seen below

Romans 12:12-13New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹² Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

Joy is something we can’t possess. It is a spoken assurance that God is with us. Happiness is based on what is happening. Joy is a way of living. Jesus chose a holy declaration of being joyful. Joy is rooted in our faith with God. Let us have joy amongst ourselves, not alone. Joy can coexist with suffering. Serving God means turning a lousy day into a fruitful one. Seeds are planted to grow. Joy is rooted in love. Joy gives something to hope for and the world can’t give nor take it away.

While I was away, my local church, First United Presbyterian Church of Dale City (FUPCDC), Virginia had their Epiphany church service. During the service, the passage from the first twelve verses of the second chapter in the Gospel of Matthew was read and it relates to the message mentioned at the beginning of this blog. King Herod learned that Jesus was born and he was afraid. He asked the Three Kings to bring him to Jesus. This was a trial for the Three Kings to take up. They traveled following the star of Bethlehem and when they arrived they were overjoyed and presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Annually at this service my church has congregants pick a star with a word on it, and congregants can’t see the word as they pick their star. During the service there was a time for the congregation to listen to videos of some church members talking about their Epiphany Star Words of the past year (seen in the video below). My word for 2025 was “Serve” and for the year 2026, my word to reflect on is “discipleship”.

On Monday, January 5th, we had our final worship service at Montreat where we followed with the verses below:

Genesis 1:26-29New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

²⁷ So God created humans in his image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹ God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.

God created humanity and commands them to multiply. This implies that Joy is something we can create and re-create amongst each other.

When I arrived home, I happily reflected on how I took up the opportunity to visit the Montreat Conference Center and the joyful experience that I will always cherish in my heart forever.

Please feel free to leave a comment.