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The word of YHWH [Yahweh] Omnipotent was addressed to me as follows; “YHWH Omnipotent says this. The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth are to become gladness and happiness and days of joyful feasting for the House of Judah. But love the truth and justice.”
Zechariah 8: 18-19

The holidays are a time we associate with festivities that may involve a lot of eating. Magazines at the grocery check out feature ways to avoid gaining weight over the holidays. The stores feature all kinds of delectable delicacies that are generally only available this time of year. Candied fruit, finocchio, chestnuts, and other specialties are featured. I know at our house, we usually use more heavy whipping cream between Thanksgiving and Christmas than we do the other 11 months of the year combined! We associate festive celebrations with food. If there is a reason to rejoice, then there is a reason to eat!

In the scripture from Zechariah, we see this association of feasting and joy. Celebration is connected with feasting. At first the people observed a fast once a year. Then twice a year. The directive to fast 4 months of the year in the verse above is double the directive given just a chapter earlier in Zechariah. So much fasting, a ritual of mourning and repentance. The people evidently had a lot to be sorry for.

But the words of the prophet indicate that all that fasting is to be turned into joyful celebration and feasting. This is because the people have returned to God. They have taken up God’s way again. They are redeemed. They are practicing authentic justice and compassion. They have abandoned defrauding the socially vulnerable. They no longer plot harm to one another. They are to feast for 4 months of the year because they have become a new people.

In AA and other twelve step programs, there is a common saying, “Fake it ‘til you make it.” The idea is to stop drinking (or using) and not drink, even if your thinking and character have not yet been transformed by the twelve step process and lifestyle. As you try to become a better person by working the 12 steps, do the right thing , even though your heart is not in it, and it doesn’t come naturally (yet). Act right, do the right thing, and eventually it will feel right to you.

Maybe we can apply this to the message from Zechariah. This holiday season as we feast, maybe we can fake it until we make it. Maybe we can celebrate with joy that we are living God’s way, shown to us in Jesus. Maybe we can celebrate with joy that we are generous people. We often are this time of year. If now, why not all year? Maybe we can celebrate with joy that we have become more just and fair in society. Maybe we can celebrate with joy that we are more compassionate and understanding. Maybe we can celebrate with joy that we are not taking advantage of others in any way; that there are no victims of our choices. Maybe if we celebrate all of this with our feasting this season, it will become more real for us, and we will have cause for joy not only this month, or two months, or fourth months of the year, but all 12 months of the year!

So, this Christmas do your best to feast joyfully with gladness and happiness, loving truth and justice. May our feasting call forth the world of joy that Jesus came to inaugurate. Bon appetite and pass the whipped cream!

Prayer
Each and every day is a gift with potential and imminent opportunity; a cause for celebration. Sometimes we are too busy and too consumed with our agendas to see it. Feasting is a way to recognize the gift. To celebrate the potential. To enact the hope and joy God intends for us. May we nourish and feed that which fosters our connection with God and one another in truth and justice. Amen.

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 meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
For the tyrant shall be not more,
and the scoffer shall crease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off –

Isaiah 29:19-20

I have a colleague who says Jesus and justice go together. She makes it a point to try to use the words “Jesus” and “justice” in the same sentence. She says they belong together.

When we read the scripture verse above from Isaiah, we see another pairing of ‘j’s’ — joy and justice. We are told that the meek, the lowly people of the world, and the neediest people, the poor, are joyful. Why are they joyful? Have they obtained food or status or power? Not exactly. They are joyful because there is no one oppressing them. No one taking advantage of them. No one making victims of them. So they are free to live in a world that is fair and just. So, justice, the end of oppression, is cause for joy.

At Christmas time we often have a desire to express our generosity through gift giving. This typically extends to giving to those who are in need. We do this at church through the Giving Tree for Operation Attack, and the Christmas Eve offering. To have food and clothing and shelter can increase the joy in the lives of others. A poor child getting a toy at Christmas can bring joy.

But Isaiah reminds us that a cause for “fresh” joy is justice. A fair social order where people can word cooperatively to provide for themselves and make a contribution to the good of the whole. This is something we do not yet have in our country. There are people who don’t have access to what is needed to live and work and play. There are people who are taken advantage of and treated with disrespect and contempt. Racial issues, gender, background can all influence access to the full social/economic order. A felony or prison record can prevent full participation in society. There are many factors which limit the ability of people in our country to fully participate and contribute to the well-being of the social order. Isaiah tells us that there is more to joy than just a good meal or a warm bed. Respect and fairness are cause for rejoicing.

As we prepare for the birth of Jesus and the justice he brings, can you think of some ways that things are not fair in your life, in our society, in the world at large? Can you think of people who do not get a fair chance to participate in the common life of our land? Maybe you can think of ways to bring Jesus, justice, and joy together in our world and in our communities, and even in the church! May we experience the “fresh” joy of God’s justice!

Prayer
We don’t like it when things are not fair. We do not like to be taken advantage of. We do not like to see some suffer to feed the greed and appetite for power of the few. We affirm that all people are children of God and deserve to be treated as such. When that happens, there can be joy for everyone, not just some. May we celebrate the joy of God’s justice this season as we await the birth of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.

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.

In this we find comfort. In addition to our own consolation, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by all of you.

2 Corinthians 7:13

Clearly there are times when we do not feel joyful. When you go to work, a job you love, and find out that you are being downsized immediately, it is devastating. It is hard to feel joy. When the police knock on the door to inform you that your child has been killed in a car accident, can there be any room for joy? A routine physical reveals an untreatable debilitating illness. Where is the joy? Life can be hard. We face many struggles and heart aches. No one was promised an easy life.

Life was not easy for the apostle Paul to whom the Second Letter to the Corinthians is attributed. Once a persecutor of Christians, he becomes one. And then he is persecuted, imprisoned, and beaten for his beliefs. What he did to others is now done to him. In addition, he traveled widely spreading the gospel and planting churches. Travel itself was difficult and perilous both on land and on sea. And then there were the problems in the churches. Things went wrong. False teachers took over. There was infighting. These fledgling faith communities were a handful and Paul tried to offer them wisdom and guidance, often from far away, without the benefit of phone, fax, email, texting, or Skype!

Paul had a difficult life. He faced many challenging circumstances. There could be many days where he might think, “Where’s the joy?” Yet as we read above, there is rejoicing and joy, because of Titus, their colleague. This brief verse invites us to think about what we might call second-hand joy. Maybe if we are not finding joy in our own lives, we can rejoice in the joy of someone else. Maybe someone we associate with has had good fortune of some kind. Maybe someone we know is joyful about something. Maybe someone we care about is filled with joy. Maybe there is cause for joy at some occurrence in the wider world.

Can you think of sources of joy among your family, friends, in the wider world? Can you see reason for joy, even if not in your own life at this moment?

When we are really down, that is the moment to borrow joy from another, take in some second-hand joy. There is always reason to be joyful somewhere for someone, and when we can’t find it in ourselves, let us seek it from others. This way we can keep joy alive and joy can keep us alive in our darkest hours. Taking joy from another can be our comfort, too, as it was for the writer of Second Corinthians.

Prayer
In these short days and long nights of December, we know how dark life can be. We need joy to light up that darkness. We are grateful that when we don’t seem to be able to generate joy from within ourselves, there are others who are joyful, and we can be sustained by their joy, making it our own. May we have the wisdom to seek the joy we need whatever our life circumstances. There is always joy! Amen.

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 moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy.

Luke 1:44

It is often said that Christmas is for children. The Santa traditions, stockings, flying reindeer all make Christmas a delight for children. Maybe this is because children innately experience joy. They are by nature joyful. Maybe it’s because years of life experience has not made them skeptical and cynical. I don’t know. But it seems that joy is closer to the surface with children.

When our daughter, Angela, was 5, she had to have an operation. We took her to All Children’s Hospital. She was to have the surgery and then recover in the hospital for 5-7 days. As it turned out, she had an infection and so the doctor was unable to perform the surgery. It would have to be postponed at least a month. The whole situation had been very stressful for the parents. We were worried. We were anxious. The idea of waiting and going through this all again was just too much! We were distraught. We waited for Angela to come out of the anesthesia, and then we told her simply that the operation could not be performed today and we would have to come back in a month. She was ecstatic. “You mean we get to go home?” “Yes.” “Now? Today?” “Yes.” She was jubilant. We thought maybe she didn’t understand that we would have to come back. The procedure was being postponed, not cancelled. She still repeated, “But we get to go home now.” “Yes.” That was all she needed to know. She was so happy. Joyful, really. Today we were going home. She was about to head out of the hospital today, not in 5 days. She was thrilled. She would not let anticipation of the future cloud her joy of the moment. She would not let what may or may not be ahead diminish her delight.

Children remind us to take joy in the moment. They can be crying one minute and laughing the next. Right now there is reason for joy, why let the past interfere, or the unknown future. Don’t miss the joy now. Be ready to change your mood or attitude instantly. Expect joy to be lurking just ahead. You never know!

Take a moment to think about how you have seen joy in children lately. The children and youth of our church family are a wonderful source of joy for the entire congregation! That’s a great place to start thinking about how children experience joy.

In the scripture from Luke, the angel Gabriel has visited Mary, and Mary has gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth. When Mary arrives, Elizabeth greets her with great joy. The child within her, who will be John the Baptizer who prepares the way for Jesus, leaps in her womb. The baby expresses joy. And so does Elizabeth and then Mary. It is a beautiful scene filled with the joy of these two expectant mothers and their babies.

The Gospel writer knows the ending of the story: How Jesus will die a humiliating, excruciating death on a cross as a traitor. But the pain ahead does not diminish the joy of the beginning of the story.

As we think of bringing joy to children at Christmas with gifts and holiday traditions, let’s not forget to let children bring joy us, show us the joy of life, and lead us to take delight in the moment. May we be infected by the joy of children and young people this Christmas season and always.

Prayer
Children are a great gift and have much to teach and share. May we care for the children of our families, our communities, and our world, so that they can make their full contribution to the world as children. May we appreciate all they bring and not just see them as workers-in-training to be cogs in the great wheel of economic production. May we, as adults, tend their bodies and spirits, and let them tend our souls. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, may we work to take care of all children as we would seek to care for Jesus. And may we open ourselves to be infused with their joy! Amen.

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.