May 2, 2024

Steve Hayner

Joy is a misunderstood word. We commonly associate it with happiness, which relies on outward variables to achieve pleasure. Joy isn’t contingent on external circumstances. Joy originates in the heart of God and is one of God’s good gifts to people. We can be joyful even when our situations aren’t joyful.

Steve Hayner (1948-2015), who served as President of Columbia Theological Seminary and President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, was known for his joyous outlook on life. I can personally attest to it. He signed all his letters with the words, “Joyfully, Steve.” His joy was put to the ultimate test when he received a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer. Despite the aggressive medical treatments, he likely had only months to live. Steve and his wife Sharol, herself a pastor, shared updates on CaringBridge that were striking for both their candor and trust. It is possible to live with joy even in the shadow of death. After Steve died in 2015, their journal updates were gathered into book form with the appropriate title, Joy in the Journey: Finding Abundance in the Shadow of Death. The subject of prayer came up often in their journal entries. What Steve wrote about prayers for his healing has stayed with me, “Many are praying for one of God’s ‘big’ miracles.’ We are as well. But it is not how God answers that determines our response to God. God is committed to my ultimate healing. But being cured of my cancer may or may not be a part of that healing work.”

The prayer offered at Steve’s memorial service from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us that life is more than physical health:

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we ask or imagine, to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.(Ephesians 3.12-21)

Steve and Sharol Hayner, Joy in the Journey.

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.