They Come With Joy To Meet Their Lord

As the month of November tries to run by without so much as a hello I’m beginning to realize that before I know it Christmas will be upon us. I don’t mean Christmas day of course that is still weeks away. I’m referring of course to the Christmas season. I live and work between two worlds which are represented by two separate but equally important calendars. There is the liturgical calendar that lets me know where I am in relation to God’s time and the story being told by the readings and the liturgy of the Church. When I talk about the Christmas season I’m talking about the 12 days that run from Christmas Day to the Feast of the Epiphany. When I am at home or wearing my secular hat, the Christmas season begins on that ambiguous date sometime in November when people start shopping for Christmas gifts. This is a long and drawn out explanation to inform you that I have the reputation of being a bit of a grinch. 

I must say that I have improved over the years. When I was in seminary I tried my hardest not to remain in the “Advent spirit” and focus on the preparation for the birth of Christ and not just the preparation to open presents. My wife was very patient with me while I worked through how best to reconcile my spiritual and secular worlds without being such a pill. Over the last few years I’ve learned that no matter how hard I try that the fight to keep Christmas confined to just a 12 day celebration is a lost cause. The fact that I’m writing about this now should tell how far I’ve come. But that’s not the point. 

The turning point came when I watched my then toddler boys open their gifts with jubilation and sincere joy. There is something pure about watching children play with a new toy and say thank you to their parents or grandparents as they run around the house making up a new game or creating an imaginary world. It’s seeing that joy that taught me the most important lesson I could learn not just about Christmas but about joy itself: joy can’t be contained but it must be kindled. 

"Joy can't be contained but it must be kindled."

We aren’t born joyful. So many of us live lives bereft of joy and happiness. When we do experience joy it can feel fleeting in the face of the suffering we see in the world, our own frailties, and the day to day grind that makes up our lives. I confess that over the last several weeks I had come to a place where I felt some of my joy fading. It wasn’t anything that anyone did. It was the daily grind. It was the stack of paperwork that builds on my desk, the todo list I keep adding to, and the desire to serve. 

The good news is that God uses the people around us to become bearers of joy. These are people who seek to know and love God and to share that love with others. And the best part is that these saints don’t always realize that they are bearing God’s joy to you. 

In more than one sermon I’ve tried to remind my parishioners that as they come forward to receive communion there is a distinct difference between solemnity and dread. I’m not expecting cartwheels down the aisles but we should feel open to acknowledging the power and emotion the presence of Jesus can stir. As I stood there, not even realizing that I had been frowning, a woman came forward, her hands in the shape of a throne for our Lord, and with a warm and joyful smile. I smiled in return and then kept that smile as I continued to distribute the consecrated bread. Someone had brought me joy and now I was hoping to bring it to others. 

Not swimming alone isn’t just about deep introspection and allowing ourselves to acknowledge our suffering. It’s also about the opportunity to see the joy that is being brought to us. Christmas, much like the love and joy of Christ cannot be contained to a day or a season. It won’t allow itself to be. I give thanks for those who bear the joyful image of God to me and to the rest of the world and I hope that I can be one those saints whose smile might cause that chain reaction of joy.