Joy to the World

Lara has been practicing some Christmas songs for church the last week or so. I've been working with her on them quite a bit, because she is supposed to stand up with her class and sing. This is the first time Lara has done anything like this because apparently I keep her quite sheltered, so I seriously doubt she will focus and perform when the time comes. Her Sunday School teachers say she is not interested in participating. So we sing them over and over and I tell Lara what the songs mean...one that we sing is JOY TO THE WORLD!!!

Here's a Christmas daily devotional written by the staff of Denver Seminary. This is Day 8-The Joy of Christmas.


At Advent hearts are lifted, excitement
mounts, and a spirit of goodwill reigns.
Charlie Brown from the Peanuts cartoon
noted, “Christmas is a time of hope, a time
of loving, and a time of joy. Christmas
makes the rest of the year worthwhile.”

How do we explain Advent’s delight? How
do we account for the poems, hymns, and
paintings inspired by the birth of an obscure
baby 2,000 years ago? The answer lies in the
promises God gave to His ancient people.
The first is the promise of an historical event.
Micah wrote when Assyrians threatened to
invade Israel, “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah,
although you are small among the clans of
Judah, out of you will come one who will be
ruler of Israel . . .” (Micah 5:2).

Eight centuries later Micah’s prophecy was
fulfilled. Luke 2:1-7 relates that in Bethlehem
a male baby was born when Caesar Augustus
ruled the Mediterranean world. The birth of
Jesus is not a myth, but an event deeply
rooted in history.We exult at Christmastime
because of the joy that His birth brings.

We also exult at Christmas because of the
promise of a redemptive event. Twenty years
after Micah’s prophecy, Isaiah met Ahaz
outside the city and told the wicked king
that if he trusted God Assyria would cease
to threaten him. The Lord invited Ahaz to
ask a sign of His power to save the nation.
When the king refused, God announced a
greater, redemptive sign: “The virgin will
conceive and give birth to a son, and will
call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

The promise remained unclear until an
angel announced to Joseph that Mary, his
betrothed, would give birth to a son named
Jesus. “All this took place to fulfill what the
Lord said through the prophet: ‘The virgin
will be with child and will give birth to a
son, and they will call him Immanuel,
(which means, God with us).’”

Christmas is a completely magical time of year. We've chosen, over the hundreds of years, to adopt many pagan ways of celebrating Christmas-and so the door has opened for many non-religious people to celebrate this time. There's nothing wrong at all with gift-giving and decorating a pine tree. But hence the Christmas Spirit of Misgiving when you can't see past it, when it should be more to you. Oh, how awful it is when I go to the store at this time of year-the aisles are always so crowded, crowded with sour faces, pouty men, and stressed out women. The joy that was brought here to us, that will never be fully comprehendable in its entire nature, cannot be seen or felt in the hearts of those who crave it. In that one moment, when Jesus appeared to us, brought himself to us in flesh, everything that anybody ever needed, was provided. Was given. Joy!! So, for just a day, put the cookie-dough down, or just send it my way and I'll eat it, stop trying to get your Christmas tree to look as perfect as your neighbor's, and STOP shopping. And think about what it would be like if your heart really, really knew joy. Search for it. The heavens and nature still sing. Can you hear it??

It's not about being a Christian. A lot of Christians I know don't know what I am talking about. It's not about being religious. I try not to be religious if at all possible. :) Unless we're talking about chocolate, and then I try to be VERY religious about eating my chocolate.

I'm just talking about joy and love. That starry night in a little town called Bethlehem, humanity was put back on the path that will lead us to perfection, as we once were.

Joy.
Joy.