Advent Meditation: Joy

The 3rd week of Advent has come and the theme is Joy. On Sunday we talked about this joy, and also asked how people can proclaim the good news of great joy in a world that seems to experience little joy at all anymore.

I am reminded of Ray, a person I worked with in college who always had a one liner at the ready. I like to think I have a quick wit however; I was always standing still next to Ray. Whenever we would get into a complaining session about school, the university administration, politics, etc. Ray would eventually blurt out and say “Well okay, but other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play?”

It was always a stark reminder that we needed to quit complaining, realizing things were not that bad, but more importantly start doing. It is easy for us to look at a world that is in need of joy, point out those things wrong with it, and simply say things aren’t the way they used to be. In a way we are trained to do this. The media is full of negative stories, about death, accidents embezzlement, stealing. Even our political discourse by our leaders has been reduced to who can shout their talking points the loudest rather than true dialogue. Usually those talking points tell us how bad the other party or opponent is.

But there is much joy in the world if we choose to see it. The joy is there because people and in particular followers of Jesus are out making a difference. They are spreading joy that Jesus is coming, that God has remained faithful, and they do so by giving without any expectation of receiving. These do not always grab the headlines and that is partially by design. But the results are there.

So as we come into the time of Christ’s birth, and into a new year, remember that if we complain about something so often, that more than likely means Christ is calling us to do something about it. Resolve to be the person who brings the joy of Christ to the world, and in so doing, be the one who brings good news.