16 December

On the Journey

                            The joy we anticipate at Christmas—

              Would it be Christmas if we did not sing the carol, Joy to the World! The Lord Is Come? Not in my world! In my experience of Christmas hope, this carol holds everything together. For me, the carol introduces the essence of the joy we are to anticipate with the birth of the Christ-child.

              Yet, I find it difficult to define joy or to identify real experiences of joy. Joy, I think, is more than intense happiness. The essence of joy lies beyond any experience of deep and abiding satisfaction or contentment that I have known. Mr. Webster does help me just a bit. According him, joy is “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” If I allow Mr. Webster, the carol Joy to the World!, and the Biblical witness to be my teachers, then I would conclude the joy of Christmas lies in the prospect that one day we will live in a world that truly reflects  God’s will for humanity and creation. We experience joy with the birth of Christ, for his birth marks the beginning of this new age—an age that is here, but not yet fully here! We anticipate a new reality that embodies all that both humanity and nature have longed for since the Fall—the relationship broken between God and humanity when creature desired to be Creator. [Theological reflections on Genesis and Romans]

              I have pondered in recent days the significance of the carol, Joy to the World!, in my celebration of Christmas. My soul bears a deep impression of a joy expressed by both instruments and voices when I have heard this carol sung for a half century now. I confess that for many years I paid no attention to the words of the carol. Yet now, as I grow older, the words of the carol remind me that the joy I experience at Christmas is grounded in the anticipation of a new world. A new world has come in Christ—in part, but not completely. The carol calls upon believers in Jesus to resist the temptation to accept our world as it now exists. Our hope and joy look confidently to another time.

              The next time you sing this carol I encourage you to pay attention to the words you are singing. In fact, I invite you to meditate upon them daily as you approach your celebrations of Christmas Day. Ponder these words in your heart—

              Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;

              Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room, And heav’n and nature sing,

              And heav’n and nature sing, And heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

              Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ;

              While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy,

              Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

              No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;

              He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,

              Far as the curse is found, Far as, Far as the curse is found.

              He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove

              The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of his love,

              And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.

              There is joy expressed in this carol for a day when not only has the Lord come, but every human heart has prepared a place to receive him and the world recognizes him as King and Lord of all. There is joy in the coming of Christ, for all creation anticipates being made new. There is joy, for the power of sin and death will be forever shattered, and a new life in Christ will be present to all. There is joy, for we anticipate when all earthly powers are subject to the reign of God’s mercy and compassion, truth and grace. In this new time, the wonders of God’s love will be evident to all.

              On that silent and holy night, there was joy in the birth of a child in a stable in Bethlehem, for his birth initiated the birth pangs of a new heaven and a new earth where God dwells forever among His children. Yes, there is joy filling the world for the Lord has come! Yes, joy is God’s gift to all nature and to all humanity for a new heaven and a new earth are on their way! Joy, Joy, Joy, for a day yet to be! This is the anticipation of Christmas joy born on Christmas morn. May we all experience a joyful and blessed Christmas as we anticipate the fulfillment of God’s will for all the world.jamie