Joy

Third Week of Advent
Sunday December 15, 2013

 Read: Luke 1:46b-55

 And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Luke 1:46b-49

Ever since I started being involved in Advent worship planning, I have had a problem with Joy coming before Love in the traditional themes for the season. I seem to remember that once it was the other way around, but I cannot find proof of that. Isn’t joy an outcome of love? Of course such traditions are not absolutes, but suggested disciplines that help us be more intentional in our spiritual journey. So I guess I could privately switch them around, but anymore the hymns that we use and the worship aids that are available place joy before love.

 And then I read the scriptures for today. The song of Mary clearly expresses this young woman’s joy at being called to serve God before the arrival of her child.  Another suggested reading, Isaiah 35:1-10, speaks of joy over the eventual return of the ransomed to Zion. Joy seems to be the purest emotional response to love whether in the past, now, or in the future. The world was born of love in the act of creation and joy was perhaps what God experienced when he saw the created as good. Even in the darkest of times when the Israelites were held in bondage, a remnant of them never lost their joyful connection with God.  

When considering Mary’s actual life experiences, there were most likely good times and bad, but we see her most in the bad. Watching her son journey toward danger and later standing at the foot of his cross, she lived through events that no mother should experience. Often described as meek and mild, Mary demonstrated more intestinal fortitude at a very young age than most of us would or could. I cannot help but think she had seen the failures and frailty of her people, the oppression of the powers that ruled, and the desperate need for the promised Savior. Her love was surely laced with joy even in her deepest sorrows as she understood or came to understand the magnitude of her son’s mission.

 In the world today as we strive for wholeness, oneness, and justice, the joy of fulfillment of even the tiniest step toward the Kingdom of God is ours for the taking as God sends us forth into the world as conduits of God’s love.

 Prayer: O Love that will not let us go, this week as we explore Joy, help us be aware of its relationship with Love. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.