The first two candles around the Advent Wreath represent Hope and Peace.  The third is a pink candle and its meaning is Joy.  

Like Hope and Peace, contemplation of Joy can add a great deal to our Christmas preparations.  And, yes, this is true even as we behold so much violence in the world around us.

In a way, Joy seems like the most obvious note to strike in anticipation of Christmas.  Joy is good.  Joy is what we long for.  Christmas is all about Joy.  When any child is born, it is an occasion for joy, and all the more so when that birth is the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

The problem really comes from some admonitions in scripture that joy is the cornerstone of a faithful person’s character.  We are to “rejoice always” and be joyful in every circumstance.  Here’s where we usually stop and say: “Well, that’s hardly reasonable.  How am I supposed to be joyful when something bad happens?”

The problem is that we confuse joy with happiness.  They are not the same thing—at least not from the perspective of our faith.  In fact, an easy way to think about it is to consider joy to be a religious quality and happiness a secular quality.

For example, if you are like me, a peppermint hot chocolate this time of year is a source of happiness.  It is not, however, a source of joy because only God can be our source of joy.

In other words, happiness is fleeting (hot chocolate) while joy is constant (God).  Happiness relies on the external while joy is an internal reality.  Joy is our connection to the divine.  To “rejoice always,” as the Apostle Paul encourages, is the same as saying, “Be connected to God in the midst of anything you encounter.”  If you practice a spirituality of Joy, you can feel joy even in tragedy because you know, feel, and experience that God’s presence is greater than what is befalling you at that moment.

Jesus said: “These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  Joy, clearly, is the spirit of the divine—our communion with God.  It is not reliant on sunny skies or freedom from hardship.  It simply relies on a recognition of God’s accompaniment in all things.

For us as Christians, Christ is the symbol and source of this joy.  Johann Sebastian Bach wrote “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” to proclaim that truth.  Beethoven wrote “Ode to Joy” for the same reason.  In fact, it is interesting to note that Beethoven composed this song after he had become stone deaf.  Yet he wrote this song of Joy to proclaim the victory of God’s presence and love over any challenge he would ever face.

This Advent season, may you feel that same sense of Joy’s all-encompassing reality in your life.  Happiness may come and go, but joy—God’s presence—will never leave you.  

Embrace it, then, and live from it.  It is God’s compassion and strength in all that we experience in this life.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic