Where Did the Joy Go?

I had gone shopping recently at quite a few different stores. I didn’t notice it at the time, but it looked like business as usual. Many people were probably looking for gifts. Looking back at the day, the one thing I didn’t see was joy. What season are we in? Christmas. What is one of the greatest Christmas songs? Joy to the World. We have the most amazing story of God sending His son Jesus into the world through Mary. There are kings, shepherds, angels, and the Savior of the world in a barn. It is a story of hope, of renewal, of forgiveness, and of restoration. You and I, as sinful as we are, can be made whole though who this baby would become. All generations were to be blessed by the events that we celebrate at Christmas. Why don’t we see Christmas joy? (without the alcohol). Shouldn’t we be bubbling over? Why is it that not one person seems to be filled with genuine Christmas joy. I try to make eye contact, smile, and say hi. I get a few smiles, but not true joy. It makes me wonder what is actually driving Christmas... Christ or the world? If we are too busy to be joyful, then our life is out of sync with God. If our scheduling, gift searching, family gathering, food preparing traditions are squeezing the joy out of us, maybe we need new traditions! I hate to say it, but maybe when Christmas is over, we might begin to understand the joy that should fill our hearts. It reminds me of when I was serving in South Dakota. We were reading through the bible in a year, and we got to Christmas in July. There were a number of people that commented about not really contemplating the Christmas story before because of all the busyness. The Devil doesn’t need us to get rid of Christmas. He just needs us to be so busy that we don’t have time to really think about the meaning of the day. I don’t want to lose the opportunity to minister to some that don’t always make it to worship, but I fear that many people don’t’ even begin to comprehend the great love the Father has for us. Maybe, as a church, we need to start celebrating Christmas at a time other than now is so that we can avoid much of the commercialism that the world puts on it. Take some time to contemplate the obedience of Mary and Joseph, the searching of the Magi, and the excitement of shepherds. Father, help us to pause and consider all that You have done for us through Your son, Jesus from birth to cross to resurrection. Amen