Christmas Joy?
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
‘So, this is Christmas!’ begins John Lennon’s Christmas ‘classic’ song, released in the early 1970s. How was your Christmas Day?
Leading up to the 25 December I was talking to somebody about that ‘Christmas feeling’, as they said that they had not experienced it yet. I spoke to somebody else who said that, for them, that feeling Christmassy started by coming to our church’s annual Live Nativity!
What gives us that ‘Christmas feeling’? Is it listening to a festive soundtrack – a mix of carols, pop and nostalgia? Is it putting up decorations, wearing a Christmas jumper, wrapping presents, watching a Christmas movie or enjoying mulled wine and a mince pie?
For me, this year, visiting schools to take Christmas assemblies gave me ‘that’ feeling. One school hall was packed with students, in their Christmas jumpers, passionately and loudly singing ‘Feliz Navidad’, it was joyous!
Joy is often associated with the Nativity story. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they said…
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
The angels’ message was not just for the shepherds, but joy for everyone, everywhere, as sung in the carol ‘Joy to the world’. But what was joyful about their message?
Joy is defined as ‘a feeling of great pleasure and happiness’. I think the joy that the angels’ referred to, began with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
After hundreds of years, the Son, Jesus, came to the earth, starting, like all of us, as a helpless baby. I wonder what excitement there was in heaven when it was time for Jesus to be on his way!
Jesus came, as the global saviour, God’s great gift to us all! In reflecting on this again, I rediscovered true joy, which is greater and deeper than the ‘Christmas feeling’.
I believe that this joy is a gladness of heart that comes from knowing God, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
How about seeking this kind of Joy…
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader