Advent Sunday - Joy (2021)


Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice! 

Ha! how difficult that is in our world today! What do we rejoice over? in what do we find joy? I think that there are very few people I know that actually know what that feels like ... feels like in their soul. And yet, that is what this day is about. 

What was it like in that time? I don't think things were much better than they are now. In fact, have they ever been 'good'? The truth? I think it is what we make of it. And, I think that the world will always be in a state of chaos. The earth will always be in flux, there will always be earthquakes and tornados and floods. (To note - at this time, there is massive flooding in western and eastern Canada, and in Spain; this last weekend saw a horrifically destructive tornado slice through five states, with at least 80 people dead.) But, at the time of Christ's birth, the world was in the middle of Roman occupation throughout the 'known' world, and those weren't fun times, especially for the oppressed. I wonder what was happening in other parts of the globe? Likely people were complaining there, too. 

And yet, something beyond human comprehension sliced through the human world. In the presentation of this infant, a normal, helpless infant. And somehow, through him, comes joy. A joy beyond human understanding. Something that comes from the soul, and not from the experience. Something that our world so desperately needs again, today. 

I don't think Joy is the same as Happiness. I don't think they mean the same thing. But how are they different? What goes on inside and is seen on the outside when one experiences Joy? When one lives in a state of Joy? How you do interact differently with others? With yourself? I don't know the answers, but I am wading into the waters of what they might look like. Especially when the world around is anything but 'joyful'. 

Thoughts for today: Is joy the same as happy? When you rejoice, what does that look like in your daily interactions? with others? with yourself? People say 'find your joy' or 'it brings me joy' ... is that the joy of the message of today? Howso? and if not, then how is it different? 

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

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