JOY…TO GET THROUGH THE TOUGH DAYS
Luke 1: 46-55
Isaiah 35: 1-10

           Last week, we dealt with the concept of “peace” as a theme of Advent and I asked the question, “what does peace look like to you?”. You have probably been able to tell by now that our theme for this week is “joy”. Just as I did last week, I want to ask you a question; a question that I had the chance to ask several others throughout this past week. Here’s the question: How do you define joy? What brings you joy?

           With the way that words are used in our language, “joy” and “happiness” are often thought of as synonymous, as meaning the same thing. The reality is that joy and happiness are two entirely different states of being. Happiness is a very fleeting state, dependent upon circumstances. I would daresay we’ve all had times where we were happy one moment and not so happy the next moment. An infant is a perfect example of this. We’ve all seen or held infants who, in one moment, were happy and gurgling and giggling, etc., and the next moment they were screaming their heads off.

           Joy, on the other hand, is a far more permanent or enduring state. It is a deep-seated emotion that doesn’t always manifest itself in smiles or laughs. Instead, joy is evident when there is grace and assurance. Joy is not so much determined by the circumstances of the moment but, rather, clings to the promise that something better exists, no matter how good things might currently be.

           In our culture today, there is an expectation that everyone will be joyful at the holidays. After all, it is a FESTIVE time of year! Decorations are everywhere, there are endless events happening, the music (both secular and sacred) speak of glad tidings and joy and the like. These cultural expectations are personified in the cartoon “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. All the other children just expect that Charlie Brown will be full of holiday spirit, just because they are and because it is “what you are supposed to do”. Charlie, however, is having a difficult time with things; the others give the impression they really don’t want him around because he is just bringing them down. Often times, these cultural pressures and expectations serve to highlight what is wrong or missing in a person’s life.

           There are far too many things being experienced in the world that work to rob people of the joy God intends and desires each of us to have. Many in our own family, congregation, and community are dealing with these joy-robbers; things like health concerns, relationship changes, or work changes. There are times when the biggest joy-robber for people is the pressure/force to at least appear joyful when, deep down, they are experiencing deep pain, sorrow, or anguish.

           The Good News for the morning is that in sending the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God is all about making things new and whole and bring about a feeling of restoration. Our Scripture readings for the morning give illustration to this. As we look first in the Gospel of Luke, we hear Mary offering a song of praise to God; a song that is full of joy. Stop and consider for a minute Mary’s situation. She is an unwed girl who is pregnant. She was an outcast in her society. The fact that she is pregnant and yet to be married to Joseph makes it easy for others to believe that she was either unfaithful to Joseph or had failed to keep herself chaste until marriage. Either way, she would have been looked down upon by those around her. Instead of dwelling upon what others thought of her, though, she overflows with joy because of what God is doing through her. Listen to a few of the things she says that God is doing: the powerful are humbled, the lowly are elevated, the rich are sent away but the poor are filled with all they need, and—most of all—God has remembered the promise to be merciful to Israel. In spite of dire circumstances relating to her place in society, Mary is filled with joy at what God is doing.

           In the same way, Isaiah prophesies of a time when things will be radically reversed from the current reality. Do you hear what Isaiah is foretelling? The desert will become a flowering oasis, the weak are strengthened, the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped as if a cork is pulled out of them, the tongue of the mute is loosened, and the redeemed of God return to God’s Holy City with singing and great joy. These reversals are to bring about wholeness for all. God is all about bringing wholeness and either restoring joy or bringing about joy in a person for the first time! God is sometimes blamed as one of those joy-robbers; as though all the bad things are God’s fault and if God would have intervened then some things wouldn’t happen as they do! However, God’s desire for us is that we might experience a joy that nothing in this world is capable of bringing us; we can’t get it in putting up the decorations, we can’t get it by the number of parties we plan or attend, and we certainly can’t go to our favorite retailer and pluck it off the shelf. It is a joy that comes only from God and what God is doing in our life and in the world.

           This remembering of what God has done or is doing is part of the challenge of Advent. God has done much, and God is doing much. God’s activity is all around us. If we find it difficult to see what God is doing, then remember that God sent the Son into the world to save the world, to be a shining light, and to reveal the face and ways of God to the world, and that through Jesus God is with us now and always! Remembering can be a powerful source of joy. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul employed his memory as a source of his joy. In 2 Cor. 4:8, Paul writes of his trials, “we are pressed, but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” In spite of all the trials he and his companions faced, their joy was in the Lord their God!

           Joy—it is so much more than happiness. It is the assurance that there is something better, it is the grace to know that God is ultimately in charge and faithful to God’s promise, it is the strength to get through the tough days of life, it is a gift from God. So may it be. AMEN.



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