Hello, and welcome to another Journey of Blessing Sunday. Also participating with me in this endeavor are

Lynda Lambert
and
Abbie Johnson Taylor

Dec. 14 is the 3rd Sunday of advent. The candle for this Sunday is called the joy candle, and, in some settings, the Shepherds’ Candle, because of the joy the shepherds felt on hearing the announcement of the birth of the Messiah. Rather than being purple or violet, it is sometimes pink, which is viewed by some to be a less solemn color than those other two colors, which traditionally represent royalty.

I’ve been asking myself a lot this week exactly what joy is. One conclusion I’ve come to is that, although many equate it with happiness, they aren’t the same. Happiness comes from something that happens to you, some external event, like getting a gift you wanted or winning the lottery. It’s no coincidence that “happiness” and “happen” share the same root.

Joy, on the other hand, doesn’t depend on circumstance. Indeed, the word is often uttered in the same or adjacent breaths in conjunction with things and events that are anything but joyful. Rather, it’s a feeling of peace, contentment, and knowing we belong.

David, in Psalm 51:12, which is a response to the prophet Nathan confronting him about his infidelity with Bathsheba, says,

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Just a few verses later, he says:

17  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

And in Hebrews 12:2b, it says:

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Joy endures despite circumstances. It’s given by God. Think of the shepherds who were told about the birth of Messiah before most others. We tend to think highly of shepherds today, but In Jesus’s time, they were scorned and looked down upon. They tended to smell like sheep, they tended not to be as clean, mostly because they lived outdoors–they were very much perceived like the “gypsies” of today. Yet they were the first to hear the angel choirs sing.

Joy endures because Jesus overcame the world, and with Him beside us, so can we. He made us His children, and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-39).

During this advent season, we prepare to celebrate the birth of Messiah on Christmas day. But we also prepare our hearts for the time He’ll come again, and reunite all creation with Himself. We look forward to that time with great joy. And we also rejoice that our Messiah is with us now, even though invisible.

Wishing everyone a joyous Christmas.