ADVENT week 3 (or 5)

Advent Week 3: The Shepherd Candle, the Candle of JOY

Joy isn’t an emotion we talk about a lot.
I’m so joyful….isn’t a phrase that we say in casual conversation.(check out the dictionary definition if you haven't in a while)

I think of the hymn…Joyful, Joyful we adore thee…
The old youth camp song, “ I have got the joy,joy, joy joy down in my heart! Where? Down in my heart! “
The Newsboys have a song called “JOY” that starts out…..
You give me joy that’s unspeakable, and I  like it , and I like it…..
And during this season I think of “ JOY TO THE WORLD”

But what does it really mean to be joyful?
According to biblegateway there are 242 verses in NIV version of the bible
That mention joy/joyful.

To often I’m more like Pig Pen from the Peanuts cartoons. Charles Shultz is one of my favorite cartoonists and the Charlie Browne Christmas is my all time favorite Christmas special (although the Grinch and Rudolph are close behind, but for very different reasons)
Do your remember Pig Pen…he walks around in his own cloud of dirt/dust, he obviously has an issue with personal hygiene. : )

Instead of a cloud of dirt, I carry around a cloud of frustration, confusion, and too often fear….many of us are like Pig Pen….we carry
Around clouds that are very far from joy.
That dust cloud of fear, anger, despair gets all over other people too ….
We walk around wearing the cloud
We get used to it
It becomes normal
And despair and anxiety, negativity and depression become our norm rather than a cloud of joy….

YET… even Pig Pen danced for joy even with his dirt cloud!

Today’s Advent candle is also the Shepherd’s Candle….
The shepherds probably looked and smelled a lot like Pig Pen….they were dirty and smelly and lived most of their lives outside with their sheep. They were comfortable in this life. The dirt and grim of camping out was just normal. They weren’t the first people on the guest list at the palace. They weren’t invited to the banquet halls or even the living rooms of the day. I even had one pastor friend describe the shepherds as the biker gangs of ancient Palestine.

These guys didn’t expect to receive a royal invitation from the host of heaven. From the Royal family to go to see the King of Kings…..
They were just doing their job out on the hillside watching their sheep.

The Shepherds weren’t just invited by heaven, they were invited first! Not last, not as an after thought, but as the prime guests at the  most audacious happening on the planet. God coming to earth as a baby.

And The beautiful thing is….they accepted the invitation
They actually got up and went to Bethlehem to see what the angels had announced.
They didn’t just roll over in their sleeping bags and keep snoring.
They didn’t say oh…they don’t really mean me…I don’t’ really deserve to go
Or I’m just too tired tonight…maybe I’ll go tomorrow.
Or “you go, and tell me about it when you get back”

They got up, being dirty, and tired and frightened and they WENT to Bethlehem and beheld the miracle.
They saw the Promise
They believed

They experienced the great Joy that the angels were singing about.
And their joy was contagious
They didn’t go back to their tents and keep the joy to themselves.
They spread this joy and their wonder and excitement to all whom they met.
They re-told the story.
They shared the joy that overflowed from their hearts and despite their dirt clouds they danced with the love of Jesus the new born king.

Jesus was born into the “dirt clouds” of our lives.
He wasn’t born in a beautiful place or in gold fleece diapers in a ghost crib.
He was born in a stable or a cave and the manger was made of clay, not gold or silver.
He came into the messiness of our world and he comes into the messiness our hearts and lives.
He comes to remove the dirt cloud of despair and bring us JOY that is unspeakable.