Joy...A kind of wanting.

     This third week of Advent we lit the candle symbolizing Joy.  I am not going to lie; this was difficult considering all that was not joyful in Newtown Connecticut.  However we lit the only pink candle on the Advent Wreath as we blessed the children of our church. We lit the candle in memory of the joy that was, thankful for the joy that is, and prayerful for the joy to come.

     C.S. Lewis, who knew his own grief after the death of his wife, said that "Joy is the serious business of Heaven."  He also said (condensed) "it is the that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than the satisfaction....it is not Happiness or Pleasure, and only holds the desire for more of it in common with them....it might also be compared to grief or unhappiness in its quality---that being an intense kind of want."

     Think of a child; remember yourself as a child, a week before, the night before their/your favorite holiday or birthday.  The anticipation is/was better than the actual event or all the gifts. 

     Joy is the anticipation of fullness, this fullness cannot be bought, and it cannot be wrapped.  This fullness comes from a place bigger than we are but when it settles in us we feel it, it is too big for us making our chests expand as if we cannot contain it. 

This joy is powerful.  In Nehemiah 8:10 --"The joy of the LORD makes you strong.” 

     So how can we speak of joy at a time like this?  We speak of it because we have a deep desire for something more. We pray for a fullness to be felt that will be different from the fullness of yesterday, but one that will be felt with time.  

The Gift of Peace

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27) 

     Frederick Buechner reminds us that "in Hebrew peace, shalom, means fullness, having everything you need to be wholly and happily yourself.”

    My fullness and happiness I leave with you, my fullness and happiness I give to you, not as the world gives...Jesus says this even as he knows what he is about to go through. Jesus says this knowing that the disciples have only had a short time to get that what the world has to offer is only temporary and can leave one wanting more.  But the peace of Jesus is long lasting and stronger than all that the world has to offer.

     Christ was born in a time of chaos; we can imagine that night; one with shepherds and angels, tired parents, a crowded inn, a cranky innkeeper and a barn full of animals making room for a much unexpected birth. 

     And speaking of birth, there is no reason to think that Mary delivered quietly.  Christ surely arrived a midst the groaning and pushing and eventual squalling that accompanies most births and yet in spite of the journey, fullness and happiness was surely felt that night.

     This was not only a collective peace, like the image we see on a Christmas card, this was personal.  This is a mother's peace, a father's peace, the peace of a king and a shepherd.

  This was and is personal, the world tries to offer us peace by distracting us with temporary solutions that appeal to our desire for quick fixes; something that can be bought or imitated.  The gift of peace Christ offers will be unique for each of us, we will  may have to journey through some chaos to recognize it and it may require a certain amount of courage and humility to accept it, but once we do....we will know it was so worth the ride.

   If each one of us found ourselves full and happy with whom we are there would be no need to create this fullness or happiness at the expense of another. 

Light of hope.

  

 Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent--the season of waiting begins with hope.

Emily Dickinson writes:

Hope     

Hope is the thing with feathers 

That perches in the soul, 

And sings the tune--without the words, 

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 

And sore must be the storm 

That could abash the little bird 

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 

And on the strangest sea; 

Yet, never, in extremity, 

It asked a crumb of me.

I love this image of hope because it reminds us that hope is so very different than a want or a wish--when we hope there is an unspoken sense that we do not know and may not see the end result of our hope. 

     I began to think of the signs of hope that surround us and in doing so I remembered yesterday's church service and the people kneeling at the rail after communion.  These people were praying; praying is literally sending out on wings what has been residing in our souls to God.

     I wonder if when people have "lost all hope" if what they have really lost is their willingness to settle in with God for a good old "one on one".  So this advent I am going to do what I preach and not only pray for others, which is the easy part, but also pray for myself so that hope my live in, through and beyond me.

     What if we began each day with some form of prayer like this?

Dear God,

Help me to-listen and see.......

Show me- when I am to lead and to follow....

Give me-strength, courage, patience to get me through my difficult times such as....

Heal me--Spiritually, emotionally, physically....

Remove my—doubts of worthiness, lack of confidence……

Let me--accept Your love, Your forgiveness, Your image of me....

I thank You for this time, guide me through my day, my hope is in You.

Give way to God,

Give way to hope,

The earth waits,

We respond;

Prepare the way, prepare the way!

We are the children made warriors, lovers, light bearers,

Created in God’s image,

Good News!  Good News!