The Power of Christmas Joy

      Well, Christmas is just around the corner and for many of us, it will be a time of joy. Our Christmases will be anchored in love. Family members will come in with smiles on their faces. Adults will affirm one another. Kids will play joyfully and the house will be filled with laughter. Good will, good food, and an air of excitement- it's almost as good as it gets! But there are other families- I didn't know this growing up- who keep Christ at the center of their activities. They may have presents galore, a banquet of food, perhaps a drink or two... but the Christ in Christmas- is never forgotten or minimized in their homes. They celebrate their blessings and their abundance with loved ones... because the author of joy has born unto them.
      These people are also a blessing, but there are many others who will not experience Christmas joy. Some of them don't have a relationship with Christ... and therefore their Christmas is just like any other gathering they might host or attend. Some people share Christmas with someone who is likely to get angry, drunk, or out of hand in some other way... and the air in their home is filled with tension instead of joy. And there are families, many of them, who will gather around an empty chair for the first time, knowing that they must go on, but believing things will never be the same. I know many of these people. You do too and I hope that we will keep them in our prayers. Many people will be alone this Christmas. They will feel isolated and forgotten, especially in light of what we're told we ought to experience at Christmas. Many people simply live alone, others can't get to their kin, still others are estranged from loved ones... but they are alone at a time when everything tells them they should not be. When Sherry and I were in Rock Island, the Thompson's invited us over to their home every Christmas Eve because they thought we would be alone otherwise. Since we have moved from church to church and work every Christmas Eve, Sherry and I are accustomed to quiet Christmases. We're not all that upset by it, but I must confess that it gave us considerable joy to spend time with a loving family who had reached out to us. Loneliness, grief, worry, dysfunctionality, lack of money, health issues- all of these things bring people low at Christmas!
      When people are caught up in worry and pain, Christ's coming will not bring them as much joy as it could otherwise. They won't see it, or if they do, they won't see it clearly. They won't hear the angels proclaim, "Unto you- yes, you- a Savior is born... who will lift up the lowly, feed the hungry, free those who are imprisoned in all the ways we imprison ourselves, and give you a joy that cannot be squelched. In and through Christ, God gives us a joy that is much bigger than our circumstances. We will still have troubles. There will still be struggles. We will still cry from time to time and sometimes wonder why things are the way they are. Our loved ones will still get sick and die, our teens will still test our patience, and we'll still have to wait in the express lane behind someone who has 123 items... but our joy comes from knowing that He is ours and we are His! People spend their lives trying to track down or buy "peace," but real peace comes from knowing Christ. The Hebrews call it shalom, which is a deep contentment in knowing that things are going to be okay. We will have shalom when our souls settle contently in Christ and we feel "complete"... and at one with God and our neighbors. I'm all for having a great time, but we will never find real joy in the things we do and the things we possess. The view from our deck, the awards on our wall, the titles we have- they may give us a feeling of pride, perhaps even gratitude... but they will never produce a change that lasts forever. We can't ultimately find deep peace and lasting joy in such things... because they are temporal and self-centered. No, the source of our joy is our relationship with Christ and it comes to fulness when we join hands and serve others in His name.
      On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, Paul reminds us that we have a joy that is deeper than our pain and wider than our worries. Christmas is coming. Unto us a child is born! This is not a magical thing that protects us from bad things and guarantees that we'll have good things- after all, the shepherds who first heard the words, "unto you a child is born," were still shepherds the following morning... but it does mean that we can claim joy in the good and the bad, when we're up and when we're down, because our joy comes from our relationship with Christ. It means that we have been given a gift upon which our souls can rest... but the joy that we've been been blessed with...needs to be claimed and nurtured, lest we lose sight of it in a sea of worries and wants. With this in mind, Paul advises us to prepare for Christ's coming by living gratefully and intentionally as Christians; 2) by helping one another minister to others in a positive and affirming way; 3) by getting involved and busy in God's business, which is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the lonely, empowering the powerless, loving the unloved, and opening doors for those who are shut-in, shut-down, shut-away, and shut-up; 4) by putting our mirrors to the side and focusing on others; 5) by accepting the fact that joy comes from serving rather than acquiring; 6) by getting rid of thoughts that lead us to spend time comparing ourself to others; 7) and by taking our sorrows and our worries to God in prayer... and leaving them there! In the 3rd century a man wrote these words: "it's a bad world, incredibly bad. In the midst (of it) a holy people find joy a thousand times better than pleasure. They are despised and persecuted, but they don't care. They are masters of their souls. These people are the Christians- and I am one of them."
      He was right of course. Nothing will affect the peace that settles our souls or the joy that filled our hearts- not if it's anchored in Christ! If you find joy in Christ and in the work you do for Him, you will have joy every day of your life. Amen!