Whichever side of the Covid-response paradigm you are on, you are probably weary of hearing, “Wear a mask, wash your hands, maintain social distance and get the vaccine.”  I imagine the people in leadership are getting weary of saying those words too!  But the fact remains, we are dealing with an infectious disease.  This Covid “thing” is not a joke or a conspiracy.  The people who have had it, wouldn’t want it again and many people have died.  When we think about infectious things, we generally think about disease, but there are other things that are infectious that are not scary.  Happiness for example.  I’m always amazed at how the sound of a laughing child brightens my spirit.  Happiness can be contagious.  In Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of the Bible called, “The Message,” he wrote this by way of introduction about Philippians.  “This is Paul’s happiest letter.  And the happiness is infectious.  Before we’ve read a dozen lines, we begin to feel the joy ourselves…”  It’s true.  The apostle that wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice,” was practicing what he preached.  It’s palpable in his letter to the Philippians.  The problem is, when we pursue happiness for itself, we find it elusive.  Happiness, joy, contentment and satisfaction are by-products of something else—that something, is the emphasis for this coming Sunday.  I hope you catch it.