The theme for this Advent season at Lakewood United Church of Christ is JOY to the World. Each day during the Advent season, a reflection on a scripture passage related to JOY will be posted. We hope these daily reflections help you to have a joy-filled Advent.
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
Isaiah 35:1-2a
When we think of joy, we often think of it as a feeling in the vast array of human experiences. People feel joy at the birth of a baby, or after accomplishing something significant, or in response to the beauty of nature, as well as in many other circumstances. Can you think of a time when you have experienced joy? When have you witnessed joy in someone else?
In the beautiful portrayal of a restored land, the prophet Isaiah talks about the land itself experiencing joy. The land is glad. The land rejoices with joy and singing. There is the sense that the land itself is alive; that it has feelings and that it is aware of conscious experience. This fits with the Gaia Principle today expressing the idea that the world itself is a living organism.
The idea of the land experiencing joy also reflects the belief that nature is a manifestation of God. God is revealed in the power of a storm, in lightening and thunder, in the quaking of the earth, and the churning of the seas. The ancients believed that nature was under the direct control of God, and that nature revealed God. So the land expressing joy can be understood as a way that God is showing joy to the human community. Humans may not directly see God, but they can see the land, and the land can be an expression of God.
When we look at the land today, at Creation, we can think about how we see joy in the land. How is joy revealed in the beauty of nature? In its diversity? In the amazing complexity and design? Fertile land images convey joy when everything is in balance as it should be: When there is right relationship between people, and between people and God, and between people and Creation. There are also images of the land parched, dry, and barren. This is a way of conveying pain, disappointment, and devastation. The land is barren, an expression of pain, when things are not in right relationship. When there is injustice and abuse. The barren land is an image used when humanity has departed from the Divine will.
So this season is a time to reflect on what the land and all of Creation has to teach us about joy as well as the lack of joy in the world.
Prayer
We pray for the fertility and abundance of the land which sustains us. We cannot live without a healthy environment. May Creation be a source of joy for us and may it help us to cultivate our connection to the Source of life and joy. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 