An Advent Message on
Joy
Joy:
An Encounter with the Great Love of God or The Implications of God’s Joy
(Luke 1:28), the red-robed angel Gabriel announces
to the apprehensive virgin Mary
Luke 1:26-38 (The Birth of Jesus Foretold)
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin
betrothed[a] to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And
he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[b] 29 But
she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of
greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his
name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of
the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father
David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born[d] will be called
holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in
her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who
was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord; let
it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Advent is a season of reflection, contemplation and anticipation of the birth of the Christ child. It is a sacred space of time for those of us who profess Jesus as Christ to ponder or reaffirm our belief in his birth as the Christ child, the beloved son of God. I believe this to be of necessary intent in a world of people, systems and associated rhetoric more and more aligned with hate and fear. The Advent season is a holy and sacred invitation to experience a different imagination of life as we awaken to a most intimate encounter with divine love. Indeed, we have found favor with God. This is a joyous occasion as intimated by the words of the Angel Gabriel the messenger of God to Mary. This Advent time calls me to sit with Mary. To be seized by the intrigue of Mary. I want to be acquainted with her humanity, to embrace our common humanity. To gain insight to her fear, uneasiness and yes even the joy expressed to her by Gabriel. Of course this is Mary’s narrative yet her narrative of joy is a message to all who consider the birth of the Christ child to be a witness that there is a God who can be touched by the longing of a people in need. And this joy of God given to Mary is the seed which matures and blossoms permeating every facet of life and Church through the ages. While the protestant tradition may not fully receive Mary, the mother of Jesus, I suggest that sitting with Mary, taking time to know her, to know her story might give significant insight to the meaning and interpretation of joy.
Advent is a season of reflection, contemplation and anticipation of the birth of the Christ child. It is a sacred space of time for those of us who profess Jesus as Christ to ponder or reaffirm our belief in his birth as the Christ child, the beloved son of God. I believe this to be of necessary intent in a world of people, systems and associated rhetoric more and more aligned with hate and fear. The Advent season is a holy and sacred invitation to experience a different imagination of life as we awaken to a most intimate encounter with divine love. Indeed, we have found favor with God. This is a joyous occasion as intimated by the words of the Angel Gabriel the messenger of God to Mary. This Advent time calls me to sit with Mary. To be seized by the intrigue of Mary. I want to be acquainted with her humanity, to embrace our common humanity. To gain insight to her fear, uneasiness and yes even the joy expressed to her by Gabriel. Of course this is Mary’s narrative yet her narrative of joy is a message to all who consider the birth of the Christ child to be a witness that there is a God who can be touched by the longing of a people in need. And this joy of God given to Mary is the seed which matures and blossoms permeating every facet of life and Church through the ages. While the protestant tradition may not fully receive Mary, the mother of Jesus, I suggest that sitting with Mary, taking time to know her, to know her story might give significant insight to the meaning and interpretation of joy.
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer writes in his last circular letter to his friends, written on
November 29, 1942.
Joy
abides with God, and it comes down from God and embraces spirit, soul, and
body; and where this joy has seized a person, there it spreads, there it
carries one away, there it bursts open closed doors.
The one who would sincerely experience Advent opens their life to the joy
of God as they take hold of the birth of Christ in their heart. The
joy of God expressed by the birth of the Christ Child in their heart becomes a
means to new and different perspectives of possibility and in this the
manifestation of the reign of God resounds.
In a world where fear and scapegoating have seemingly taken or been
given center stage the joy of Advent becomes a profound act of love as fear
cannot exist in the same space or at the same time as joy. Yet, whether in communities of faith or
secular space I seldom hear of this joy except in “specific times such as
advent. In this sense to choose joy is a
courageous even a radical act of non-conformity worthy of the birth of the
Christ Child.
Christian joy is not just a giddy, light-hearted, frothy emotion. Our
joy is meatier than that, it has substance. It has endurance; it is strong
enough to gird us up through even the darkest of days.
Katherine Walden
There is a song I would sang in Sunday School entitled “This Joy I
Have”.
This Joy I have, the world
didn’t give to me. X3
The world didn’t give it; the world can’t take it away.
This is a song which defiantly responds to the injustice which seeks to
deny the love of God within. It speaks
to the ills, and absurdities of this life, to the struggles, concerns of a people in
need. Yes, joy is not juvenile or
dismissive but more so it is the consummation of our hopes and dreams. It presents God’s immanent will in us and in
the world. This Joy extends deep into
the bedrock of eternity. It
is invincible and irrefutable. I have
been taught over time that this Joy I have and which happens to be my middle
name is a testament to the hope present for me in the birth of the Christ
child. Joy is
my choice, however, deep in my soul, to daily orient my life to the goodness of
God. It is an essential tool in my stride
towards freedom.
Joy is a life transformed and made new, a
nation where justice and equality are for all.
The encounter between Gabriel
and Mary can yield needed clarity as we seek to walk humbly with God. It reminds us that God is in life with us
working towards what might be called “a rising tide of joy.” This rising tide of joy gradually takes away
the sinking sands of injustice and gives space to movements of change and
transformation. New and different
perspectives arise, and new visions reveal a depth of love not seen or
experienced before. Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. writes in his book Strength to love
“Too unconcerned to love and too passionless to hate, too detached to
be selfish and too lifeless to be unselfish, too indifferent to experience joy
and too cold to express sorrow, they are neither dead nor alive; they merely
exist.”
Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The words of Dr. King remind me to take hold of my humanity, to daily
claim my joy as I experience life in family, community and the farthest reaches
of my journey. I believe this to be just one interpretation of
change, transformation, transitions and even the pain I experience – to cause me
to take hold of the joy God desires in my life.
Of course the experience of Mary reminds me that God’s joy has to be
accepted. It’s not without a particular
uneasiness even as I have been conditioned to many contexts but not joy. Joy is typically outside of the matrix
designed as history has shown that it overcomes the intended oppressions. The Church, the civil rights movement, the
LGBTQ movement and the many revolutions down through history bear this out as
those in power seek to maintain the status quo.
Happiness yes, but joy no! To claim one’s joy from God is a danger to those
in power as God’s joy is antithetical to reality and notions of empire.
God’s Joy in the midst of Charles Dickens, “A
Tale of Two Cities”
Recently, I attended a celebration of Christmas. It was also a celebration of community. Although we spoke different languages, the
one language that each of us communicated was joy. This Joy with its dialect of happiness was
shared by all. This gathering was filled
with people who were longing for a different more abundant life. In this sense their longing was similar to
many other people. There was a longing
for God’s joy as shared with Mary. It is
clear to this reader that joy is God’s agenda.
God's immanent will is that we would have joy in our life. Joy is a part of God’s reign and the one who
would do God’s bidding does so in this light.
The one who has joy moves in the midst of Charles Dickens, “A tale of two
cities.” They live among the haves and
the have not's, between those who long for the liberation of their bodies and souls,
and those who daily develop systems and processes meant to maintain their
present form of aristocracy. Into this
fray God’s joy becomes manifest as revolution becomes the intent of a life
which has fully received the radiant love of God. The world is not equipped, due to its lust
for power and wealth, at any cost, to give or bless with joy.
The message of Mary’s encounter with Gabriel is one which changes her life
and how she receives her humanity. Although
fear, for better or worse is the initial manifestation of an encounter with the
unknown in the case of Mary fear turns to astonishment, even amazement as she begins
to fully receive the joy of God. She has
been changed in the process, and now experiences herself as servant of the highest.
(v 38). The more she receives the joy
of God, which emerges from the radiant love of God the more she is changed,
transformed and made new. Mary’s
experience should be received as a manifestation of the approachable, the
presence of God in the midst of empire and desires for liberation.
Beloved seize the joy for this is God’s will for you this day. Be not afraid in the midst of this joy but
take possession of this joy and make way for the reign of God.