Beloved Friends,
As we approach the fourth and final Sunday of Advent (also the same day as Christmas Eve this year), we will have turned the corner on our metaphorical journey to Bethlehem and be right at the threshold of the stable. We can almost hear the angels singing and see the shepherds as they make their way to a smelly and out of the way place where they will find the most unlikely of kings. But we are not quite there yet, so we will gather in the morning to fully anticipate the joy just ahead.
“Joy”- it is a word, a state of being I have spent a lot of time thinking, reading and teaching about this past year, particularly in my faculty role for CREDO- a national clergy wellness program offered and sponsored by the Church Pension Fund. I facilitate a session titled, “Rekindling Joy” and during that time explore how clergy may have lost or forgotten what it is that brings them deep peace, gladness and energy in their vocation. I find it helpful for all, regardless of our calling, to ask ourselves the question that emerges from the Quaker tradition: Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me? For it is perhaps in the answer to that question we can source our deepest joy -our most authentic connection to what is waiting to be born inside of us as we approach this most Holy Night.
What does the gift of joy look like to you today? Where are the places that you need to receive that gift in your life, even amidst the challenging circumstances that may be present in your life? There is a profound shift we are invited to take this Sunday as we gather in the morning to proclaim the Good News and the imminent birth of Jesus, and then return later in the day to stand in awe and wonder at the birth of a child, a refugee; one who relegated to enter the world on a cold and dark night, so that one day we would be able to tell the story in order to rekindle a story of love and light for all the world to see.
Come home this Sunday for what will surely be a full day of awesome moments culminating in the telling of our version of what “Joy to the World” looks and feels like in our lives!
May you never forget that you are loved.
Lisa