A Hearty Welcome to Christmas!

I think Advent and Christmas have been welcomed this year like a gigantic, band-playing, dancers-dancing, and gorgeous floats rolling along like a Christmas parade. I went to many of those Christmas parades in downtown Dallas when I was a kid. Oh, the anticipation for the last float – Santa! As 2020 is coming to a close (thanks be to God), we’re like kids as we anticipate the JOYS of Christmas AND the HOPES for a brand new and better year. The Advent season has been an invitation for us all to choose to set aside the fear and uncertainty that has defined 2020. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been intentional about taking my focus off the turmoil of this year and am already getting out my big eraser to wipe the slate clean for the new year. I’ve given God my concerns, worries and sadness of the past. This fourth Sunday of Advent reminds us that Jesus offers us PEACE in every season and nothing is impossible with Him! On this final Sunday of Advent, it's time to sing: "Go tell it on the mountain!"! Well, not necessarily from a mountain. That would mean we'd have to go climbing! Perhaps we can start right here on level ground to be joyful and full of the good news of Christ's coming to this world. And, oh, the PEACE we can live in when we determine to live in that JOY! Last Sunday, the third Advent candle that symbolizes JOY was lit. St. Paul wrote about that joy in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.” Picture this. Paul writes these rejoicing words from a place of captivity. How could he write such words? He deserved to be in misery – even whining and crying a bucket of tears. I suspect many of us haven't been in a rejoicing mood. And, maybe Paul wasn't either -- yet he knew the secret to joy and peace was rejoicing in the midst of the discomfort. Paul is the kind of role-model we’ve needed this year. Give me the Paul-kind-of-role-model any day! The kind that lives out “No matter where we are or what we're facing, we can find JOY in the good news of Emmanuel -- God with us -- right in the middle of our circumstances." The REJOICING that Paul speaks of is an action word. In that prison cell, he was taking action. Our expressions of joy can be so different. JOY can be exuberant. But, it is also that calm and PEACE-filled assurance of God's faithfulness, His sovereignty and the pure delight of His love for us. Today’s Advent candle represents PEACE in some traditions and LOVE in others. It really doesn’t matter because I’m certain that God’s peace and love abiding in us and us believing it, is what infuses us with “The JOY of the Lord is our strength!” Nehemiah 8:10 This week we focus our hearts on the “Lord of peace” who came down from heaven in the form of a baby. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says, “Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” God has given us the gift of peace so we can live joy-filled lives! In these final days of Advent before Christmas Day, I pray that we seek God’s perfect peace to be evident in our hearts and homes. It’s been a chaotic year, filled with uncertainty. God’s peace is something we need to grab tightly onto more than ever. May God’s Spirit fill our hearts with His “PEACE” that passes all understanding and transform us as we JOY-fully await our King!