Third Advent - JOY

It is difficult to think about joy with the terrible news that has America reeling this week. The kind of hate and desperation expressed by this young gunman is impossible to fathom.

In thinking about this, I had to conclude with the fact people seeing this as a terrible thing shows that we have been given an inborn sense of right and wrong and a desire for good to prevail. We have been made in the image of a just God, but fall short in our sinful nature.

The reason God sent His Son into the world was to provide forgiveness . . . relating to true peace and joy. What happened in Newtown shows up the darkness of our world . . . a world that happened to be just as dark at the time Jesus was born. In reading about his birth, we read about a king who went about killing all newborn babies in order to, hopefully, kill this newborn king. Evil then, as today, tried to win the upper hand . . .  tried to get rid of any evidence of a loving God. Yet God continues to pour out His mercy on good and evil men.

In an unnamed shopping mall in America, one lady in the food court began singing and soon the entire mall was singing. Even though there were parts that were pre-planned, it filled me with joy to see that for a moment, shoppers could stop and focus on the reason for the season.

Hope was born on this dark night . . . as angels proclaimed Joy to the World.