Be the Boss of Christmas

December 17, 2017 Isaiah 61:1-11 Be the Boss of Christmas Third Sunday of Advent Children’s Sermon Light the third candle of joy – what is joy. Best joy is a surprise when you are not expecting it, when look for it, don’t find it – sneaks up on you – see joy, give joy to someone else. Isaiah 61Common English Bible (CEB) Joyful proclamations 61 The LORD God’s spirit is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and a day of vindication for our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 to provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement. They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, planted by the LORD to glorify himself. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore formerly deserted places; they will renew ruined cities, places deserted in generations past. 5 Foreigners will stay and shepherd your sheep, and strangers will be your farmers and vinedressers. 6 You will be called The Priests of the LORD; Ministers of Our God, they will say about you. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and fatten[a] yourself on their riches. 7 Instead of shame, their[b] portion will be double; instead of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share. They will possess a double portion in their land; everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and dishonesty.[c] I will faithfully give them their wage, and make with them an enduring covenant. 9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that they are a people blessed by the LORD. 10 I surely rejoice in the LORD; my heart is joyful because of my God, because he has clothed me with clothes of victory, wrapped me in a robe of righteousness like a bridegroom in a priestly crown, and like a bride adorned in jewelry. 11 As the earth puts out its growth, and as a garden grows its seeds, so the LORD God will grow righteousness and praise before all the nations. Footnotes: a. Isaiah 61:6 Heb uncertain b. Isaiah 61:7 Or your c. Isaiah 61:8 Heb manuscripts, LXX, Syr, Tg; MT robbery with an entirely burned offering Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible We all know that if you want to send a letter to Santa that you send it to the North Pole. I used to look forward to the post office keeping all of those letters and letting people come in and answer those letters and the post office would deliver the packages to children for free. Today the only post office that continues the program is the main post office in downtown Chicago. But suppose you had a serious problem and you needed to get a letter to God, where would you send it. The post office in Jerusalem reports that they get countless letters that have been addressed to God. They get so many letters, they don’t know what to do with them. One day, one of the post office employees opened one of these letters. It was a request for $250 in order to get a much needed operation. The employee shows the letter to his colleagues, and being that he was a good jew and went to synagogue every week, he told all of his colleagues – they were the people of God and God was depending on them to help the needy, so they had an obligation to help this person who asked God for help. His colleagues were luke warm on being religious, so they were luke warm in responding to the letter. He was only able to collect $198 from them. Thinking that was better than nothing, he sent it to the person in need with a letter signed God. The clerk was superexcited when he saw that the person sent a thank you note. The note said, thank you God for coming through when I needed you, but next time you send help, do not use the post office, they are a bunch of crooks. I know that you sent the full $250, but when I opened the envelope it only contained $198. The crooks at the post office stole the rest. It is important for us to realize – that we are indeed the people of God- called to serve those in need. This week I wanted us to stay with the prophecy in Isaiah. Someone gets up and announces that the spirit of the Lord is upon me to help those in need. Physical need as well as Spiritual needs. But the person can only meet those needs with the Lord’s help and the Lord’s favor. This prophecy of the one whom God sends helping others goes back to an earlier prophecy if Isaiah 42-51. This prophecy speaks of a leader chosen by God stepping up and saving the people, but sacrificing himself. This person is called the suffering servant. They call this person the messiah – the one sent by God. Isaiah 61 says that this person has been anointed by God and appointed by God to help those who are not able to help themselves. If you fast forward a few thousand years – if you read Luke 4 – Jesus stands in front of the synagogue and announces these exact words – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. This are the first words in his ministry – that he is the one they have been waiting for, he is the Lord’s anointed – the messiah. The time has come for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Today there are more than 2.2 billion people who consider themselves followers of this brave soul who stood up and fulfilled the prophecy, that is one third of all of the people on the planet. Today more than 1.6 billion people all over the world celebrate Christmas. Christmas is the most commonly celebrated holiday in the world. Many of the people who celebrate Christmas are not even Christian, but they love the holiday. I went to Thailand at the end of January, my tour guide told me to not be surprised when I still found Christmas decorations up in a primarily Buddhist country. Over 60% of all of our Christmas decorations come from one area in China. I am told that you will find Christmas decorations up all year in the Phillipines. Many people who have never seen a heavy set pale man with white hair and a beard – love Santa Claus. And they are very clear what Christmas means. But the story of Christmas does not start in a manger in Nazareth. It starts with a vision of a roman Emporer. In 300 - the emporer Constantine was not a really religious person, but his mother was a Christian. One day he is in battle and he prayed to Jesus to help him win. He promised that if he won, then he would make the whole roman empire Christian. He saw a vision that the greek letters chi and ro appeared on the sun- the first letters of Christ. He took that to mean that Christ was with him. He won the battle. In order to get the masses of people to become Christian, he took holidays that they already celebrated and made them Christian. Christmas was a secular holiday, before it become a church holiday. People celebrated the winter solstice with family time and feasting and gift giving. And all of the things we associate with Christmas. Mary named her baby Joshua – meaning God saves. The Romans named her baby Jesus. As a matter of fact, Mary’s name is Miriam. Her baby was probably born sometime between the spring and before the fall. We like to say that Jesus is the reason for the season. But in reality the winter solstice is the reason for the season. There are 24 different holidays from 7 different religions celebrated between November and January. The winter solstice is not a joke, it really affects our spirit. The church went along with the reclaiming of the holiday, because they felt it was a perfect chance for the gentiles to learn about the prophecy of Jesus the messiah. And apparently they were right. Cultures all over the world have embraced that story of a couple in Nazareth giving birth to a child in a lonely manger. Stories of that baby growing up and declaring that the spirit of the Lord was upon him have shown up in so many unexpected places. There are stories of missionaries telling tribes deep in South America about Jesus – and they exclaimed that they met that man – who came to their village to tell them that the spirit was upon him to help the needy. They had their own religious practices – but they had to follow that man. Historians have found evidence of a mysterious man traveling to the native Americans – telling them that the spirit of the Lord was upon him to help others. So when they hear the story of Jesus – they respond – they know this man. They are more than happy to follow his lead and continue his work. Leonard Sweet – a pastor says that in our lives there are actually 3 advents – the spirit of the Lord comes into the world 3 times. First at the first Christmas as a baby, second as a messiah that we recognize in our hearts, and one day he will return. So every year it is important for us to prepare for Jesus to come into our hearts in a new way, with a better understanding. Jesus comes into the world when we are able to follow his lead. We all know that there is holy Christmas within the church, and there is a secular Christmas in the world. A lot of us get mad when we see Xmas – saying that is the world trying to x Christ our of Christmas. Not realizing that in Greek, X is the first letter of Christ. It is the first letter of Constantine’s vision that the spirit of Christ would spread throughout the world. On facebook a priest talked about whether we should say merry Christmas or happy holidays. I appreciated the fact that he said that Jesus probably does not really care which one we say. Christmas is a perfect opportunity for us to introduce Christ to a whole new generation of people. It is our chance to tell the story of the prophecy fulfilled, of God coming into our lives as a little baby and spreading joy, it is a perfect road to lead them to God’s love in a way that they can understand. I think that it is nice for us to remember advent and preparing our spirits – but it is so much more important for us to get out in the world to be the boss of Christmas. That is why we sing Christmas carols – if someone who never heard of Christ can come to church and hear a familiar song – we have a chance to tell them about a man named Jesus, who was anointed and appointed to bring peace to the land. So I have a challenge for us this year – let us all be the boss of Christmas. If we believe in the story, let us not be afraid to tell the story. If we follow that strange man – let the spirit of the lord be upon us. I have flyers out there that are going to go in the recycling bin. Take one, invite someone to come to hear the story and to feel the spirit on Christmas eve. There was a lady who waited until Christmas eve to send out her Christmas cards. She was in such a hurry to get them out, she didn’t even read them. Until after she sent them. The card said – expect a gift from me soon. 49 of her friends were expecting a gift from her. That gift is the spirit of the Lord, the lord’s favor, and a man , a man named Jesus who came to save the world. Amen. Extra illustrations…. Extending Christ’s Love Some of you may be familiar with a story Fred Craddock once told about Dr. Oswald Golter. Dr. Golter was a missionary to China more than 60 years ago. After World War II he was asked to leave that country. So his missionary society wired him a ticket and Dr. Golter made his way to India to catch a ship home to America. While he was there he noticed that there were many Jews living in the area--in attics and sheds and barns. They were there because India was one of the few countries in the world that welcomed the Jews following the War. And Dr. Golter was excited to see them and went around and greeted them. It was Christmastime and he said to them “Merry Christmas to you!” And they said “We’re Jews.” “Well, I know,” said Dr. Golter, “but Merry Christmas anyway.” “I tell you,” they responded, “we’re Jews. We don’t mark Christmas.” “I know” he said, “but if you did, what would you want for Christmas?” “Well if we did,” they replied, “then we probably would want some fine German pastries.” So Dr. Golter found a shop that sold fine German pastries, cashed in his ticket home and bought up boxes and boxes of pastry. He took it back to the barns and attics and sheds and handed it out to the Jews saying, “Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas.” That story was told in the presence of Dr. Golter years later at a seminary where he was invited to speak. As he got up to the microphone a young seminarian stood up and said to Dr. Golter, “I can’t believe you did that. Those people aren’t Christians. They don’t even believe in Jesus Christ!” Dr. Golter nodded his head and said, “I know.” Then he added, “But I do. I do.” King Duncan, www.Sermons.com Did you catch that? Jesus left off the part about “the day of vengeance of our God . . .” Do you suppose that was an accident or could this be part of his mission to correct how humanity sees God? Could this have anything to do with the fact that Jesus taught us to call God “Daddy”? Unless you had a very warped father which does sometimes happen it’s very difficult to reconcile “Daddy” and “the vengeance of God.” Could it be that Christ’s coming was partially for the purpose of resetting our understanding of who God is? I heard about two children who were talking about the Bible. One of them was quite upset about some of the atrocities that are found in the Old Testament. The other of them, a little girl, thought for a moment and then said, “Those things must have happened before God became a Christian.” Well, in a sense, that’s true. How can you fear the vengeance of God who wraps Himself up in a babe in a manger? Our lesson for this third Sunday of Advent is from Isaiah, but our understanding of this passage is from Christ himself. We are living in the year of the Lord’s favor. We are living in the light of the star of Bethlehem. The message of Advent and Christmas is and will always be Good News for the poor, for the disadvantaged, for the marginalized, for the oppressed, for the captive in short for all humankind. A new thing came into the world with Jesus. Welcome, my friend, to the year of the Lord’s favor. And somehow, there comes a time when we know that the stories of the Bible are no more incredible than the stories of ourselves, or the stories of our fates, or the stories of our successes and failures. Either God is who he claims to be: the Creator of the Universe who won't let our world destroy itself; Father of the hopeless and the helpless and the harmless; Lover of the best that's in us, and even of our worst . . . Either God is that, as the Bible says, or we're left to other gods who are far less kind, and far more cruel. And here's the leap of faith. The angels shout the messages in the skies. But they leave it up to the shepherds to decide what to do with it. And so with us. Everyone celebrates Christmas. But not everyone celebrates it in the same way. And wherever we find ourselves connected to God in all of this, the Spirit has flown our hearts over the hurdle of unbelief, and false belief, and even misbelief, and we've found our way to Bethlehem. Harry Emerson Fosdick once said that a person's best memories, when life is closing, will be those memories of moments when we said yes to God. Maybe they'll never write a song about it, like they did when Armstrong stepped out on the surface of the moon. But my guess is that if those best memories come to you, the music in your own heart will sound an awful lot like Christmas carols. I read recently about a woman who had waited till the last minute to send Christmas cards. She rushed into a store and bought a package of 50 cards without really looking at them. Still in a big hurry she addressed 49 of the 50 and signed them without reading the message inside. On Christmas Day, when things had quieted down somewhat she chanced to run upon the leftover card and finally read the message she had sent to 49 of her friends. Much to her dismay, it read like this: "This card is just to say A little gift is on the way." Suddenly she realized that 49 of her friends were expecting a gift from her, a gift that would never come.

The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us

Rev. Harriette Cross Englewood-Rust United Methodist Church December 14, 2014 Isaiah 61:1-11 Year B The Spirit of the Lord is upon us The debate continues – do we say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? People continue to say that we have strayed away from the true meaning of Christmas. They say that we have taken Jesus out of Christmas. And then there is the endless discussion of how xmas is the world’s way of x-ing Christ out of Christmas. You do know that the x is the greek letter chi- the first letter of Christos. And as far as taking Christ our of Christmas. I don’t know if Jesus was ever in Christmas. The historical Christ was born in the spring. Cultures all over the world celebrate December as a turning point . December 25th is an old Roman holiday. It is not a matter of taking Christ out of Christmas, but it is a way of putting Christ in Christmas. The point is for us to remember God’s promise to bring change. We have to put flesh on the prophecy in Isaiah 61 – the spirit of the lord is upon me to feed the hungry, to free the captives and to preach good news. That is God’s promise to the righteous victims. God recognizes that we live in an unjust system – there are those who suffer just because of where they are. God promises to raise up a righteous leader to change the system. Today is solidarity day – many people are marching to say that #blacklives matter I think that we have to remember the prophecy that God is going to send a person to act on behalf of God. I am still listening for he voice of God in this situation. I think that the prophecy of Isaiah still applies for today. Who is speaking in this situation and who is leading with God’s authority. This whole story is unfolding and yet to emerge. God is in the season of advent and Christ himself must be our leader. Once again it is not a matter of God being taken out of the movement, but God must be put in it. I went to see the new movie – Exodus – God and King. And of course it did not go exactly as the book says it was. It was a strange movie. But I have found that every movie has at least one good line. In this movie – Moses has led the Hebrews across the red sea and they are in the desert. One of them says to Moses – We are not slaves any more. And Moses responds, you may not be a slave anymore, but you are still not free. That is us today. Freedom is a process. We have to discover there God is in the process, where the world is,and where we are. It is a process to go from Hebrews to Isrealites – those who struggle with God and prove victorious. This particular issue is not an us and them matter, the police are part of our families and our community. There are many people right here in this community that profit from injustice. We mourn the loss of Demario Baily, who was a student across the street at Johnson Prep. The principal said that there should be marshal law all throughout the south side. What does that mean? And where is God in that solution? What does God want us to do in this situation. We have to put Christ in the situation. Once again we have to put Christ in Christmas. We have to be Christ for the world. THE GIFT OF THE SKATES So how do we recognize His authority in our lives? How do we express our faith and our love to Him? By committing ourselves to His mission. Jesus doesn’t say anything about saving sinners and getting them into heaven. The primary priority of his mission is to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” So why do we do what we do? Not just because it’s a good thing but because Jesus is the mashach, the Messiah. The way we recognize His Messiahship is that we give ourselves to him and his mission. Elizabeth English tells the story of Christmas 1949 when she and her husband Herman locked the doors to their small town appliance store at 11 PM. They were dead tired and had sold out of everything including record players, bicycles, dollhouses and games. They had only one lay away package left and the person never came for it. The next morning, Elizabeth, Herman and their 12 year old son Tom woke up and opened their gifts. But it just wasn’t the same. Tom was growing up and all he asked for was clothes and a few games. His childish exuberance of past years was gone. As soon as breakfast was over, Tom went next door to play, Herman mumbled that he was going back to sleep and Elizabeth found herself cleaning up the aftermath of breakfast and the opened gifts. And the holiday doldrums set in. It began to sleet with snow mixed in and the wind rattled the windows. Suddenly, she had a feeling hit her that she should go on a walk. "That's crazy," she thought, looking out the window and she fought it for an hour but finally gave in. She told her husband she was going to walk to the store. "That was crazy," he said, but she put on her coat, gloves and scarf and went anyway. She shivered as she tucked her hands in her pocket. When she got to the store, she was surprised to see two small boys, exclaiming, "There she is. See, I told you she would come." They were half-frozen and one of the boy’s face was wet with tears. "What are you children doing here? You should be home on a day like this!" They were poorly dressed with no hats or gloves and shoes that barely fit. "We’ve been waiting for you. My little brother Jimmy didn’t get any Christmas gifts and we want to buy skates. We have $3, see." It broke Elizabeth’s heart to tell them that they had sold out of everything. But then the layaway package came to mind. "Wait a minute" as she went to the shelf praying that they would be the right size. And miracle upon miracle, they were. They were a perfect fit. When they handed the money over, Elizabeth refused to take it, and she was rewarded with awe and wonder and joy in the boy’s eyes when they realized she was giving them the skates. "Now take that money and get some gloves!" she said. Then she said to the boys, "How lucky you were that I came." "I knew you would come," the older boy said. "How?" "I asked Jesus to send you." And upon hearing that tingles went down Elizabeth’s spine. God had planned this. As they waved goodbye, she turned home to a brighter Christmas than she had left. Family and friends soon arrived, and we had a delicious diner and a wonderful time. But the one thng that made that Christmas really joyous was the one thing which makes every Christmas wonderful--Jesus was there. (From a sermon by Tim Smith, Good News to the Poor, 10/19/2009) Christ is in the world when Christians are present in the world.when Jesus said that spirit of the Lord is upon me – he was empowered to be the messiah, and he did the work of the messiah. The spirit is upon us to preach good news, the feed the hungry and to free the captives. If you want to put Christ in Christmas we have to reach the oppressed, brokenhearted, captives, prisoners, and the mourners – the righteous victims. This is the 3rd week of advent – we light the pink candle – the candle of joy. the documentary on recent studies in happiness, called "Happy" and available on Netflix Canada -- probably also Netflix America) says recent studies indicate that all of us have our own baseline of happiness (that is pretty constant throughout our life, and is the happiness quotient we normally return to after spikes of ecstasy or drops of sorrow), and that this personal baseline or happiness quotient is determined 50 % by genetics, only 10 % by circumstance or situation (like money, status, job, possessions, health, etc -- in other words, all the things we strive for, to make ourselves happy), and 40 % by activities we choose that help create contentment and happiness (like exercise, walking, healthy living, charity, meditation, etc) we put Christ in the world by what we do. Where can joy be found? What does justice look like in this world? 2832 Where Is Happiness? Not in Unbelief—Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.” Not in Pleasure—Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.” Not in Money—Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.” Not in Position and Fame—Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.” Not in Military Glory—Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because he said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.” Where then is happiness found?—the answer is simple, in Christ alone. —The Bible Friend Our joy is in Christ, and in Christ alone. Putting Christ in Christmas is not in lights, baby Jesus, singing or putting money in the red kettle. The true spirit of Jesus, the messiah came forth to serve the righteous victims. To feed the hungry, to free the captives, to preach good news to the poor. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us this year – we have to work to put Christ in Christmas! Amen. Extra illustrations…… Merry Xmas For years folks have complained about that "XMAS" abbreviation. They shout, "Keep Christ in Christmas," decrying the commercialization of the whole season as much as the use of "X." Half of the complaint is valid. No one would deny that the season has been taken over by the wizards of mass marketing in their quest to be the first-est with the most-est. Most of us remember the not too distant past when Christmas advertising began on the day after Thanksgiving. Now we get it in late September. I am told that buyers for the major retail chains begin their search for Christmas merchandise in February and March. There is no question as to the over-commercialization of Christmas. As to the other part of the complaint...the X...there is less validity. To the English-speaking world, X is simply the twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet. But to the Greeks, the ones in whose language the New Testament was written, those diagonally-crossed lines are the letter "Chi," the first letter in the name "Christos," the Messiah. Through the years it has been an acceptable abbreviation for Christ. If you look at the lecture notes I took years ago in seminary, you will see it all over the place. To backtrack a moment, I am less than accurate when I say that "X" to us is only a letter of the alphabet. Any math student would happily correct me. In algebra, it represents an unknown: 2+3=X...3x3=X. But in Christianity X represents someone you do know. David E. Leininger, Adapted from “Merry Xmas” _________________________ Principal Rainy, of whom a child once remarked that she believed he went to Heaven every night because he was so happy every day, once used a fine metaphor about a Christian’s joy. “Joy,” he said, “is the flag which is flown from the castle of the heart when the King is in residence there.” These words have been made into a popular chorus. Our attention is often directed to the two shortest verses in the Bible noting that “Jesus wept” is the shorter of the two. But in the Greek we find this “shortest” verse has three words whereas the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (“Rejoice evermore”) has only two. However, one surely can see the lovely connection between the two verses. The Christian’s joy flows from the sympathy and grace of their Saviour. Jesus wept—we rejoice evermore. —Daily Readings God’s Daring Plan Once upon a time – or before time, actually before there were clocks or calendars or Christmas trees – God was all there was. No one knows anything about that time because no one was there to know it, but somewhere in the middle of that time before time, God decided to make a world. So God made a world – this world – and filled it with the most astonishing things: with humpback whales that sing and white-striped skunks that stink and birds with more colour on them than a box of Crayola crayons! The list is way too long to go into here, but let’s just say that at the end when God stood back and looked at it all - God was pleased. Only something was missing. Everything he had made was interesting and it all fitted together really well, only there was nothing in the world that looked exactly like him. So he got busy making his signature piece, something made in his own image, so that anyone who looked at it would know who the artist was. So God decided to make two things, which were alike but different, and both reflections of him – a man and a woman who could keep him and each other company. Flesh was what he made them out of – flesh and blood – extremely flexible and warm to touch. God watched his two creatures stretch and yawn, laugh and run. And he liked nothing more than walking with them in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening. It almost broke God’s heart when they got together behind his back, did the one thing he had asked them not to do and then hid from him – from him! Things were different after that. God still loved the human creatures best of all, but the attraction was not mutual. Human beings had other things on their minds. It was not long before most human beings forgot all about him. Without God, they got into so much trouble that it almost killed him to see what they were doing to each other. God shouted to them from the sidelines, using every means he could think of, including floods, famines, and messengers. But they didn’t seem to hear. Babies were the exception to this sad state of affairs. Babies did not go to war. They never made horrible speeches, or littered, or refused to play with each other. They depended on other people for everything necessary to their lives. Almost everyone seemed to love them and that gave God an idea. Why not create himself as a baby and come to earth to sort everything out? He tried the idea out on his angels in heaven and at first they were all quiet. Finally the senior archangel stepped forward to speak for all of them. He told God how much they would worry about him. People could do anything they wanted to him, and there would be no escape for him if things went wrong. Could he at least create himself as a magical baby with special powers? It would not take much – just the power to become invisible, maybe, or the power to hurl bolts of lightning if the need arose. The baby idea was a stroke of genius, the angel said, it really was, but it lacked adequate safety features. God thanked the angels for their concern but said ‘no’, he thought he would like to be a regular baby. How else could he gain the trust of his creatures? How else could he persuade them that he knew their lives inside and out, unless he lived a life like theirs? It was indeed a daring plan, but once the angels saw that God was dead set on it, they broke into spontaneous applause. At this, God turned around and left the room, shedding his robes as he went. The angels watched as his midnight blue robes fell to the floor, so that all the stars on it collapsed in a heap. Then a strange thing happened. Where the robes had fallen, the floor melted and opened up to reveal a scrubby brown pasture speckled with sheep and – right in the middle of them – a bunch of shepherds sitting round a camp fire. It was hard to say who was more startled, the shepherds or the angels, but as the shepherds looked up at them, the angels pushed their senior member to the edge of the hole. Looking down at the human beings who were all trying to hide behind each other, the angel said in as gentle a voice as he could muster, ‘do no 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 saviour who is Messiah, the Lord.’ And away up the hill from the direction of town came the sound of a newborn baby’s cry. As I look at the scriptures for Sunday, I am thinking about the gift of joy. What does that mean in, to, for our time? What does joy taste like? What does joy look like? What does joy feel like? Can we touch joy? HOw does it touch us, transform us, heal us? Any thoughts would be welcome.