"WHERE CAN I FIND JOY?"
a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens
Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.
December 15, 2024
Luke 1:26-38 NRSV
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Where can I find joy? Where do you find joy? This time of year many of us feel extra pressure to be joyful. We have extra pressure to do all the “holiday things.” Sometimes the “holiday things” don’t bring as much joy as they do stress. This is especially true if one is dealing with mental health issues, grief, or just a high level of everyday stress. I’m glad we have the “Blue Christmas” service to offer a quiet reflective time to process this time of year.
So, I am not here to give free and/or useless advice about how to have joy. I am not here to admonish anyone to be more joyful. I don’t want to sound like I’m saying you ought to be more joyful or that if you just believed more or did more of this or that you would have joy. Experiencing joy is not some easy- to- conjure magic trick.
Still, this is “Gaudete” Sunday, meaning “joy,” as we heard in the script for the lighting of the Advent candle. We also know that a lot of the songs we sing are about joy. We know that we are “supposed” to be joyful. So let me reflect on the Scripture and see if we can’t accidentally, or on purpose, wander into some way of grasping some kind of joy, if you aren’t just automatically a joyful person.
I’ll be honest, joy isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I read this scene for our Scripture this morning. An angel is sent to earth. Not just any angel, but Gabriel, one of the Almighty’s top angels. He starts out “Greetings!” Someone once told me that is the way draft letters used to begin: “Greetings!” I guess from Uncle Sam rather than the Angel Gabriel. I guess, too, that you could call this something of a draft announcement, since Mary, the recipient of this angelic announcement, didn’t volunteer for this. Gabriel tells her she’s found favor with God and is going to have a child. One might think this would possibly be a reason for joy. There are just two problems: we are told she is a virgin and she isn’t married yet, just engaged. So she’s about to be an unwed mother. As I mentioned last week, that was at least grounds for a pre-marriage divorce, maybe even death by stoning. I’m thinking most of the reasons for joy seem to have been offset by reasons for other emotions.
The next part of the announcement is a promise that not only will this child’s conception be extraordinary, but he will also be no less than titled, “Son of God.” The final extraordinary part of the announcement, as another sign of God’s ability to do extraordinary things, is that Mary’s Aunt Elizabeth – by all measures well beyond child-bearing years- is already six months pregnant with a son. And the final flourish from the famous trumpeter Gabriel is this: “for nothing is impossible with God.” Is that enough for you? Mary is convinced. She responds in faith: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” I’m not sure if any of these things qualify as reasons for joy for Mary. Certainly, Christianity has honored her for her role in this since that time. But let me try to stop sounding like Scrooge here, or the Grinch who stole Christmas. Let’s try to find our way to joy.
This time of year, that may be time with family, or it may not. It may be all the trimmings of Christmas, or it may not. Perhaps you know what things you can count on to bring you joy. And maybe you are ok on this front. But let me offer some insight into some ways the story of Jesus’ birth might bring us a joy we never expected, that unexpected joy that lifts us up when we are down.
Let me offer a couple of observations. No advice, no “should,” just observations. First observation: joy doesn’t come on command, sometimes it takes a minute. Mary’s joy did not come in the moment we just read about. But a while later she goes to see her aunt Elizabeth, and when she hears Elizabeth greet her with joy, Mary sings:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,48 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
Mary’s spirit rejoices in God her Savior. That is real joy.
Second observation – Joy often comes unexpectedly. Last Monday I wandered into the kitchen. Wasn’t feeling much joy. I heard strange music coming from somewhere. Turns out the Swamp Rats band [ is that what they are called? ] was playing outside at MARC house for the clients. I wandered over. They were playing some of the silly songs Christmas has sparked, like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Now, I’ll admit I normally hate that song and turn the channel when I hear it. But they were having so much fun playing it, and the clients were having so much fun hearing it I was mesmerized. The clients were shaking bells and grinning and some were singing along. My spirit just leaped with joy. Such an unexpected moment and I had to think God was chuckling and maybe dancing with joy to see some of God’s most treasured children experiencing joy – and that the joy was contagious enough to get a grouchy old pastor to feel that joy and laugh along.
Third observation: As best I can remember, our faith – and my own experience – suggests that even as blue as we may be at Christmas, or as joyless as life circumstances can be, sometimes the best path to joy is to do something for someone else. No matter how small, no matter if it is even done anonymously, doing something to bless someone else seems to bring joy. It always ignites a bit of joy for me. I think Jesus, the one who came to us, whose advent we await, once put it this way later in his life: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I think just maybe if I want more joy I better start doing things to give joy to others, rather than waiting for everyone to give me joy.
Huh, is that one of the reasons why we put so much into giving each other gifts this time of year, maybe - so we can discover the joy that comes from focusing on someone else instead of ourselves? I think I’ll try my best to follow my own “non-advice.” Imagine how much joy the whole world would have if everyone in the world started looking for how to give joy, rather than just get it, and made it part of their everyday lives? Maybe you already do that. Maybe some of us can do more and who knows, maybe if we do it enough and keep doing it, the song will come true: Joy to the World! AMEN.
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