The Christmas Hymn says:
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
I was reading this morning and in one of my Advent readings the writer expressed something that intrigues me - "Jesus delighted in being here on earth". For some reason that got me off guard, it made me stop and think about Jesus' coming to the earth. He didn't come because "he had to", "someone has got to do it", "I suppose, it's got to be done" - No, he came with Joy, with excitement that the winter of mankind's darkness would come to an end.
It made me stop and think some more about "how we do Christmas", and why I prefer to call this Advent versus the Christmas season.
Advent is the long meal with family and friends, with conversation, laughter, and fun. It is prepared for, for certain, but the goal is that time to sit together, in communion, in love, in a place of togetherness, with JOY.
Christmas can be a season of "I need to...", "I forgot to get....", "I wonder if so and so is going to do this or that and I need to do something also...", "I suppose I better get a present to....."
If we allow it to, it becomes a season of "have to's" and "got to's", and the JOY doesn't seem to be there at all...just duty, performance, and things to do.
Think about it: Jesus didn't "have to", "I've got to". It says in the Luke story:
"Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." Luke 2:9-11 (NRSV)
It struck me all over again, Jesus came into the world and delighted to be here!!
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