Musical Prelude and Service.

Psalm 126 & John 1:6-8, 19-28
So, one of the questions I have been asking throughout Advent so far is what does “blank” look like. What does hope look like? What does peace look like? And this week, what does Joy look like?
This past week, I think I saw a lovely illustration. At our hymn singalong on Wednesday night, we had a few younger children in attendance. They had a delightful time playing with some toys provided at the front of the sanctuary here. They also enjoyed exploring the back of the chancel, admiring the decorations on the tree, checking out the doll we have back here that plays the role of Jesus on Christmas eve and thoroughly investigating the creche set up on the organ here.
There was certainly some joy in their expressions. But more so from my perspective, looking out on the faces of those in the congregation, was the delight and the happiness in the expressions of so many witnessing their enjoyment was what I would call joy.
Seeking a definition of joy is challenging. Quite often it is described as simply a different word for happiness. In my mind, Joy is a little bit more than another way of saying happy. I could be mistaken. But I look at joy as being a little more firmly rooted than happiness, which can so often be seen as very transitory. Happiness comes and goes. We are happy, then we are sad; or angry. We are happy to receive good tidings; or because we succeeded in a task.
But when I think about joy it is grounded in some manner by a knowledge of my place in creation.
At least that is how I have tried to explain it in the past. I have found myself wondering recently if maybe I am being too picky in my treatment of the word. You see, if I am not careful in determining the conditions for joy, I am placing the responsibility for Joy on external factors. My ability to experience Joy is dependent upon how I am treated by the world. I can rely upon the conditions of this world to provide the conditions for joy to exist in my life.
That right now seems like a sure-fire path to incredible disappointment.
Joy; just like hope and peace, is a gift from God. God desires that we experience joy. Just like God desires us to know hope and peace. And it is through God that we find these things, including joy.
Joy, that sense of happiness or well being.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
Then it was said, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
In the midst of our heartbreak; in the midst of our despair; God offers us healing and salvation. God offers us hope that things will get better. We are offered the hope that the world is on a new path. And that is a moment for great joy.
This sense of joy; this vision of a joyful response by God’s people also acknowledges the pain, the heartbreak, the violence, and sense of abandonment that is all too often a feature of our world.
But it is tempered by the understanding that God does not abandon us. We are assured time and time again that God hears our cries and answers. We are offered a new path. We are offered the reassurance that God will remain by our side offering strength and comfort.
And that is a cause for rejoicing. In that reassurance; in that hope; we can find a sense of peace and a deep joy, knowing God is always there.
I find this year, in the face of so many signs of violence and sadness, when being confronted by stories of heartbreak and despair, it can seem crass to proclaim the gift of joy; never mind peace and hope. But it also believes that we need to hold onto and proclaim these gifts from God all the more.
I wonder if perhaps proclaiming God’s gifts of hope, of peace, and yes, this week God’s gift of joy, is a sign of defiance to the direction our world seems intent on taking. Yes, the world is full of violence. Yes, in some quarters, society is not moving in a compassionate direction. And yes, it might seem pointless to expect things to get better. Yes, a great many powerful men appear to want to limit the options and opportunities of a great many among us.
But God promises us a better future. God urges us to live in hope. God urges us to comfort one another and work for peace. And God also promises us that we will never be alone. God is with us, and God hears our cries. And so, despite what this world tells us we will live in hope; we will work for peace, and we will rejoice; even when we are engulfed in darkness, because we know God hears us and answers us.
Just like John tells the Pharisees, we are not the light; but we will proclaim the light.
And so it is, that in the midst of so much stress and concern for our fellow human beings; even as we are filled with concern for what the future may hold, we can gather to sing songs celebrating the knowledge that God comes to live among us as a child. Then witness the excitement and the wonder of children, and we can experience the joy of that moment as we are told, not in mere words but through the sight and actions of a child, that God is indeed with us.
Thanks be to God.
Rev. Warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789