I'm talkin' 'bout joy

I first want to make a correction. With my sketchy memory, I gave you some wrong information on Byron Herbert Reece last week, the poet who wrote the poem I read to you about John the Baptizer. He went to and taught at Young Harris, not at Reindhardt. And, Chowy-Stowy is near Blairsville, not Canton. I’m sorry for the confusion.

But that aside, I think we all learned how peace is coming, and we should follow our cue from John on how to prepare the way for it.

So far, we have talked about Hope and Peace. How they are coming to us in this Christmas season. We do not need to lose sight of that. Despite things ramping up with the holidays approaching, exams coming, Travel plans to arrange, decorating to be done, shopping to think about…all of these things take a back seat to hope, peace, and today’s candle…joy.

Church gurus around the world decided that this candle should not be purple like the rest, but should be pink. They felt that purple was too much of a downer, so they went with a brighter color.

Now too many of us in this Christmas season, and in our country confuse joy with happiness. I think it might have something to do with a whole generation being raised on the Partridge Family where the opening theme song was, C’mon get happy!

Like if you aren’t happy, then there is something wrong with you.

But I think that if we are honest with ourselves, its impossible to be happy all of the time. There are tough days. And Christmas time is no exception.

Some of us have lost people who were very special to us recently. Some of us are worried about closing out the year. Many of us have experienced loss in one way or another, as a lot can happen in our lives. Sometimes it is expected, but many times it is not. If we are honest, as we should be this time of year, we don’t feel very happy.

Yet we feel this pressure all around us to be happy. That as long as we can grip something with our mind vice we can force ourselves to look on the bright side, and forget about the rest.

So on the day when we light the candle for joy…we wonder if it is even possible, because we confuse happiness with joy. Because happiness is a feeling. And feelings come and go. But our joy isn’t based on a feeling. It is based on a relationship. A relationship that will always be there. A relationship that we explore anew at this time every year, but one in which we should explore every day. A relationship on one we call both savior, and friend. Who we call a King, yet is coming among us as a baby.

The people to whom Isaiah was talking felt that too. They were under threats from all sides. Assyrians, Babylonians, Egypt…different kings with different agendas that wanted their land for different purposes. Some practical, some political, but the single truth remained that the land promised to them, and given to them by God, was being taken away from them by forces beyond their control.

We can’t control our lives. We think we can. We operate under the allusion of control with insurance policies and security systems, but we can’t control everything.

Just as we can’t save ourselves. Only God can. We can’t heal ourselves, only God can. You see we feel the same things that the displaced Israelites felt. That we are tired at the end of the day from all of our activities, trying to be good people and doing good, and we wonder if we made any difference. We feel that some things in life just aren’t fair. Why some people are “normal” and many of us are not. Why some have all the luck, and some do not. Like the song by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Sometimes you are windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.

How can we be honest and light a candle for joy in the face of that?

We can light the candle, because Joy is different from happiness.

One of my family’s holiday traditions is that after the late Christmas eve service, we would watch a Claymation Christmas. It was this special that ran on TV one time, and my parents happened to tape it. It was made by Will Vinton, who is a claymation artist. Claymation was stop motion animation where Clay figures were made, and you would move them one motion, take a picture. Move them a little bit more, take a picture, and so on and so on. So when we ran through the pictures quickly, it looked like they were moving. It was a tedious process, but I always really liked it.

Claymation Christmas is the clay figures singing various Christmas carols hosted by a clay tyrannosaurus rex and a triceratops. I just realized how ridiculous that sounds, and I don’t think I could make that up if I tried.

But one of my favorite carols from that show is their rendition of Joy to the world. It is a gospel version, and during it a stained glass window in the church comes alive. And at one point, the bass line of the song is, “I’m talking ‘bout joy.” Repeated over and over and over.

I’m talking ‘bout joy.

I’m talking about praising and worshipping God to the ends of the earth. I’m talking about families loving, forgiving, and eating with one another. I’m talking about the true gift of the season, Jesus Christ coming into our lives. I’m talking ‘bout joy.

I’m talking about living your true calling and true vocation. I’m talking about seeing your kids grow up, and asking the tough questions, and doing wonderful things in their lives and in their communities. I’m talking about giving becoming far greater a priority in our lives than receiving. I’m talking ‘bout joy.

And I’m talking about joy, in spite of our unhappiness, that God is in control of this world, and God is in control of our lives.


One of the more interesting things to me about this passage from Isaiah is that the mute will sing songs, and the lame will leap like deer. Not only are these people given abilities that they did not have before, but they use them to their utmost.

Because when you walk on that Holy Road, we are expected to use whatever gifts God has given us to the utmost. I’m talking ‘bout joy.

Strengthen those drooping hands, and weak knees. When the toughness of the world is crashing down on you. God is coming.

The kids sang last week, and they did a phenomenal job when they interpreted what Mary, the young girl that found out from an angel that she was going to have a child says to God…The answer is yes.

God is breaking through into our lives…say yes, because we are being invited on a wonderful adventure with wonderful opportunity. The iconic character from JRR Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, never would have gone on an adventure, or played in part in the righting of their world had he not done one thing…leave the shire. Leave his comfort when he was invited.

God is inviting all of us this Christmas season. God is inviting us to share the love and joy of Christ that we have. God is inviting us to be a part of something truly special when we say we will become a part of this church. God may be inviting you to work with the children. God may be inviting you to sing in the choir. God may be inviting you to help with the youth. God may be inviting you to a mission trip. God may be inviting you to give a tithe, 10% of your income, which is a scary thing, because you have never done any of these things before and you don’t know if you are talented enough, and you aren’t sure if you will make it. …say yes.

I’m talking ‘bout joy.

Times are tough, and sometimes we are not happy, but I’m talking ‘bout joy. That hope that Jesus is coming and breaking into the dark places in life to shine his light. The peace that will be brought in the world and in our innermost selves.

I see joy in your faces, and I see it in this church. As we are getting closer and closer to Christmas, we honor those and those things we have lost, but joy is coming…and joy is here.

Don’t lose it.

My dad, has always compared me to Tigger, from the Winnie the Pooh books. He says that I have a “bounce” to me. He says he knows that things are tough when I lose my bounce, and sometimes I need to get my bounce back.

I will be honest with you this morning, I was losing my bounce there for a while. I was struggling in my ministry, and was struggling in my calling to even continue to be a minister. I researched teaching and a host of other things that I could do. But being here at Bold Spring. In this community, in this church, with all of you and the great things that we have done and all of the energy and great things that God is asking us to do…I have my bounce back.

What gives you bounce? What gives you joy? Is it seeing new faces among the familiar ones here at our church? Is it great music? Is it the faces of the children?

If you have lost your bounce this year, I hope you are able to get it back, because God is giving it back to us. To restore our relationship with him…he is sending his son.
I’m talking ‘bout joy.