E-mail: lowell“at”revlowell.com

JOURNEY TO WHOLENESS

Entitled to Joy

Voice 1: “. . . the angel said to the shepherds, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.’” Voice 2: “Joy to the world!” we sing in one of the most stirring hymns for this season or any season.

[MUSIC] 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.

Voice 2: But heaven and nature are out of tune. And joy is such a rare commodity during this season that we remorselessly chase joy with all our heart, our soul, our strength, every last dollar in our pockets, and to the full limit of our credit.

Voice 1: In the cartoon, Cathy, we find our heroine at home with her parents.

[READ BY Voice 1]

CATHY’S MOM: Due to the tight economy, your father and I have decided to eliminate gift-giving this Christmas, Cathy.

CATHY’S DAD: Well, we’ll have to give gifts to some of my problem clients . . .

CATHY’S MOM: And we’ll have to give gifts to anyone we offended during the year

. . .

CATHY’S DAD AND MOM: And we’ll have to give gifts to the relatives we can’t dump from the list because they keep sending us gifts, but that’s it!! CATHY’S MOM: We’ll be giving gifts only to those people we don’t like and aren’t speaking to.

CATHY: Another happy American family rediscovers the basics.”

Voice 2: For many of us, Christmas is an ordeal of stress and frustration, a time of loneliness and disappointment. When we are too exhausted to fight the crowds in the malls or wrap gifts or make decorations or run the children to yet another Yuletide event. We sit, eat and drink, listen to other people sing, and watch other people re-experience the joy of Christmas on our behalf in reruns of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34^thth Street,” and Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.”

Voice 1: Thank you, Ebenezer Scrooge, for having a good time for us!

Voice 2: Christians and non-Christians alike feel a deep, spiritual emptiness at Christmas. Women, the Christmas magicians, and men, the Christmas stagehands, stumble about looking desperately for ways to connect themselves with ideas and experiences larger than themselves, looking for ways to share their blessings with other people, looking for ways to feel whole and happy.

Why isn’t Christmas the way it used to be, when I was a child? Why isn’t Christmas the way it used to be, before all this commercialism, before shopping malls and TV advertising? Why isn’t Christmas the way it used to be, when people really cared about one another, when families really were families? “What’s wrong with me that I don’t feel loving and generous and closer to God? Why haven’t I felt even one moment of pure happiness?”

The solution lies in not trying to do it all, in determining what one’s choices are, and choosing. The solution lies in becoming clear about one’s values and finding meaningful ways of expressing them. The solution lies in realizing that “many of the rare moment of joy that light up the holiday cannot be programmed or prescribed. They come as gifts.”

Voice 2: Let me explain something basic about the sadness many people feel during the Christmas season. When I lose sense of who I am and of how I am related to the source of my being, I am sad. When I have no stories that relate the universe to me or me to the universe, I am sad. When I lose the awe and wonder of whatever life presents in the moment at hand, I am sad. When I become preoccupied with myself and no longer reach out in love and compassion to others, I am sad.

Christmas is a time for hearing the stories that re-attach us to the wellsprings of our existence. Christmas is a time for telling others the stories that make sense out of our world despite its contradictions and miseries.

We possess an inherent claim to joy! We are entitled to joy. We are created for joy. Joy is the most indisputable and irrefutable evidence of the presence of the divine in our lives. Joy fulfills us as God’s creation. We are not immaterial spirits but rather embodied, flesh-and-blood beings who need and are sustained by joy. We live in homes not merely to protect ourselves against the elements but to have places in which to relish the intimacy and security of our families. We eat and drink not merely to keep from starving to death but because of the delight of taste, texture, and fragrance. We wear clothes not just for warmth but to express our individual identities and to adorn our existence. We swim and play tennis not merely to burn calories but for the fun of recreation. We make love not only to produce offspring but for the joy and communion it bring us. We do none of these things purely for survival—but for joy. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer remarked:

Voice 1: “The life of the body assumes its full significance only with the fulfillment of its inherent claim to joy.”

Voice 2: Christmas is a time for robustly, zestfully, singing and living . . . .

[MUSIC]

ALL: 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.

Voice 2: Christmas is a time for joyful prayers like this one, uttered by psychologist Paul Pearsall:

Voice 1: God, I feel You within me and I try to realize my closeness to You every day. I love You as You love all of us, and I thank You for giving me life and for giving me this world to live in. Please let me know how I may better serve You.

Voice 2: In this prayer is a recipe for joy—feeling the presence of God within, drawing from that closeness gratitude for all life as God’s gift, and reaching out with the gift of our own that counts most—loving service to others. Jo Robinson and Jean Staeheli, who for years have conducted workshops on how to rediscover the joy of Christmas, capture the same formula so well. For them, this season is a time to commit oneself to “the Christmas Pledge.”

Voice 1: Believing in the beauty and simplicity of Christmas, I commit myself to the following:

1.   To remember those people who truly need my gifts

2.   To express my love for family and friends in more direct ways than presents

3.   To rededicate myself to the spiritual growth of my family

4.   To examine my holiday activities in light of the true spirit of Christmas

5.   To initiate on act of peacemaking within my circles of family and friends

Voice 2: Can we live by this pledge throughout this Advent season?

We think of Christmas as a time for children. But what is it that children really want?

In the words of a noted child specialist, Dr. Milton Levine:

Voice 1:

“The greatest need of all children at Christmas—just like any time of the year—is the assurance that they are very much wanted and loved by their parents.”

Voice 2: And in this respect we are all children, for our greatest need at Christmas—or at any other time of the year—is the assurance that we are wanted and loved. Supply this need for others and your own joy will never be exhausted. If you want to get joy, give joy!

The secret of joy at Christmas is the secret of joy at any other time. Clarify your values. Decide what your options are. Take charge of what you can control and accept what you can’t. And get out of the way. There is only one thing between you and the joy of Christmas—and that is you.

God’s messengers are at hand today as they were two thousand years ago. In the midst of the busyness and noise of this season, be quiet for just a moment and you cannot help but hear them.

Voice 1: “. . . the angel said to the shepherds, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good

news of great joy that will be for all people.’”

Voice 2: As we travel together the road to Bethlehem on our JOURNEY TO WHOLENESS.