Joy to the World!
“By putting Jesus first, we get a clear picture of who we were created to be and what we were created to do. ”
Greetings! If ever the difference between Deck the Halls and Joy to the World needed to be illustrated, this year would do it. The pandemic and other upheavals of 2020 have ensured that there will be considerably less “fa la la la la ing” this year than in years past. And yet, because Christmas is still the celebration of the Savior’s birth, there is still plenty of joy to be had. Indeed, it is precisely because of Jesus that we can face the past, present, and future with genuine hope - a hope born of faith in the love of God which became incarnate on that holy night. A former running back for the Chicago Bears (I think it was Walter Payton but it might have been Gale Sayers) used to say that JOY was an acrostic for Jesus, Others, and You. When we put our priorities in that order we experience a joy that is far deeper than any circumstantially based happiness. We find a sense of well-being that holds up in even the strongest storm. I think he was right. By putting Jesus first, we get a clear picture of who we were created to be and what we were created to do. We find the grace and power of his Spirit to help us reach those ends. We find comfort, compassion, and healing from the One who truly understands us and we begin to see things in a very different light - the Light of Christ. We then turn, in obedience to Christ’s command, to help meet the needs of others. In so doing we find that our own burdens are lightened as our minds are taken off of our own struggles. It is remarkably difficult to help someone else and worry about yourself at the same time. Note, however, that while we put our own concerns last on this list, we do not ignore them. We do not seek asceticism, self-abnegation, or to be absorbed by some universal oneness or nothingness. The Christian Faith insists on the importance and permanence of individuals. You and I will always be distinct entities. Our oneness is that of relationship, not identity. (We will never actually become our parents, as much as it sometimes might seem so at times.) This means that we do bring our needs, desires, hopes and dreams to God and we make the effort to take care of ourselves. Taking time for oneself, resting, and pursuing our particular interests are good things. Taking on the weight of the world is not. The way to joy is not through ignoring our own lives; it’s through putting them in their proper place and perspective. Pilgrim has gone through much this year. We will take a shot at decking our building with a few tokens of the season but there is still going to be some inevitable melancholy, if not outright sadness. Nevertheless, because of the One whose birth we celebrate, we can face our losses with a solid, reasonable hope. We can look at the many ways we have been there for our community and each other. We can know that we come from, live in, and go to the love of God. We can have joy. Blessings!