What Gandalf Taught Me

"Are you angry with me, Gandalf?" [Pippin] said as their guide went out and closed the door. "I did the best I could."

"You did indeed!" said Gandalf, laughing suddenly; and he came and stood beside Pippin, putting his arm about the hobbits shoulders, and gazing out of the window. Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.

The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkein

This is one of my favorite passages from The Lord of the Rings. It made me happy for days after I first read it, and has been on my mind ever since. It is a favorite for me because Gandalf in those dark hours at Minas Tirith (the scene which the above lines recount) is an ideal to which I aspire: a life and an outlook that is at once sorrowful at the brokeness of a Creation under siege, yet full of mirth and joy and laughter underneath the lines of care.

Too often we who follow Jesus and believe his Gospel are guilty of being sour, dismal, and gray. On one end of the spectrum are those who feel it is their Christian duty to root out heresy and hunt down wolves in sheep's clothing - or even just those who don't mind alcohol and who read versions that are not the King James. The internet is full of these types. With the heavy battles they fight day in and day out, they seem suspicious of any hint that life on earth might be fun and that joyous laughter might be a manifestation of the kingdom of God.

At the other end of the spectrum are those Christians who are deeply concerned with the often unjust ways the world works. From poverty and disease, to war and slavery, they know in detail the reasons to mourn the brokenness of creation. Too often, though, they can't see any reason for mirth or joy with all the horrors in the world. Why, they ask, should I laugh when the world seems so broken?

Now - as someone passionate about both orthodoxy and justice - I must confess that I am very sympathetic with each of these groups. It is good and right to mourn the unfaithfulness of the church and injustice around the globe. But underneath the lines of care ought to be a fountain of mirth and a swelling ocean of joy. Jesus is risen! The curse is broken! As C.S. Lewis put it, death has begun to work backwards. One day the church will have all its mistaken beliefs and practices corrected, one day God will wipe away every tear of sorrow and put all the world right. Read Isaiah 35 or Revelation 22 if your supply of laughter, joy, and delight needs replenishing.

So, as we battle for truth, let us remember that the war is already won and confidently fight with love and joy - not to destroy but to take many prisoners to the One who can set them free. As we work for justice, let us labor with tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts as the servants of the true King who is putting his broken creation together again.

G.K. Chesterton was said to win arguments and disarm sour audiences with the force of his mirth and the power of his laugh. What a difference it might make to our theological and social battles if we let the lines of care burst forth with the mirth that will set whole kingdoms laughing. So remember Gandalf who fought the powers of darkness and led a great struggle against tyranny - let your face display deep lines of care and a deeper fountain of joy that the whole story has a happy ending.