Tag: joy

Third Sunday of Advent 2025, the Candle of Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christian Discipleship, Christmas

This third Sunday of Advent we celebrate the gift of joy. Think of the pure unbridled, squealing, giggling joy of kids on Christmas morning. That’s the joy we want as we anticipate the greatest gift ever given – God incarnate, overflowing with undeserved, indescribable grace.

We await Emmanuel, God with Us, who from our fears and sins releases us so we can dance a happy dance and make angels in the snow. This is the joy that like the North Star is always there, even when hidden by cloudy skies. Nothing, absolutely nothing in all creation can ever snuff out the joy in the hearts of God’s beloved who have knelt at Bethlehem’s manger.

And so today we relight the candles of Hope and Peace, and we add to the growing brightness by lighting the candle of Joy.

(Light 3 candles)

Please pray with me the prayer on the screen:

O merciful God, we confess our joy often gets lost in the hectic schedule of this season. We have so much to do and so little time. All the festivities are wonderful, but it’s so easy to lose track of what the season is all about. Break through our busyness and remind us of Isaiah’s wisdom that a little child shall lead us. Let us feel again childlike wonder, so joy can bubble up in our hearts, and for just a little while let us lose ourselves in the mystery of your holy incarnation. Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio

Third Sunday of Advent 2024, Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christmas

Piece by piece we are building housing for the Holy this Advent season.

On the first Sunday of Advent we laid a foundation of Hope for God’s Holy home. [Relight first candle].

Last Sunday we raised four walls of eternal Peace on that foundation. [Relight second candle].

Today, on this third Sunday, we are adding windows and doors so Joy can shine forth to a world hungering and thirsting for that illusive quality of life that is so much more than happiness.

 Happiness is fleeting; it comes briefly with a moment of success, a random act of kindness, or a surprise visit of a friend. But like the sun setting in the west happiness soon fades away, leaving us longing for more.

 Joy is deeper than happiness, unaffected by external circumstances. Joy is like the calm below the sea. No matter how high the wind blows the waves on the surface of the ocean, the same serenity persists below. The whales and sea turtles swim confidently without fear, and the manatees play together, trusting the water around them to sustain their lives.

 Joy for us is like Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. When life threatens to collapse around us from illness, grief, pain, or broken-heartedness, joy is the anchor that steadies and sustains us. Joy cannot be explained or be bought and sold. But those grounded in the eternal God of the entire Cosmos shine with the simple trust that nothing in all creation can extinguish.

Joy is a home for the Holy built on the Rock of Ages, and it is the precious gift of Advent we celebrate today as we light the third candle on our wreath. [Light 3rd candle]

Let us pray:

O Giver of Great Joy, we use these metaphors of things we can see to point toward the Holy mystery we can only glimpse in a mirror dimly. The whole miracle of the your coming in flesh to share our humanity is more than we can begin to understand. We marvel at the meanings revealed to us in the Gospel narratives–how you chose to reveal yourself through common people like an unwed mother, a carpenter, shepherds, and foreign astrologers. It is with those ordinary souls you found a home for the Holy so long ago, and it is through their stories you reveal to us that we can be innkeepers who shelter the strangers today or parents to your sons and daughters right now. During this Advent season help us prepare a place in our own hearts where your Holy Spirit can dwell and bring Joy to your people and to your world. Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio, Advent 2024

Advent 3rd Sunday: Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Faith and Values, prayer

As we get closer and closer to Christmas we can feel joy spreading like a wildfire from the candles of hope and peace.  This joy is not the fleeting satisfaction we call happiness.  Joy is not a pious catch phrase, but an eternal flame that cannot be snuffed out by the cares of a weary world.

These candles here will not burn forever, but true joy that lives in our souls endures eternally. It survives flood, famine, pandemic, and unbearable sorrow.  When our bodies are too tired to carry on, the songs of joy still ring in our hearts.  

Today we light this candle of joy because the Christmas story reminds us that Emmanuel means God is with us always and everywhere.  [Light candle]

And so we pray: O come Emmanuel and ransom our weary world held captive by fear. When we are calm in the midst of chaos it is because your eternal joy is in us. We dare to be joyful because the tiny babe of Bethlehem has shown us victory over all the things that frighten us. No matter how many variants the forces of evil change themselves into; we know that you, almighty God, can transform our suffering into joyful praise. You have taught us that no matter how long our mourning in darkness may last, joy will come with the dawning of a fresh new day filled with hope, peace and love. And so today we offer you our songs of praise for the one who is Joy to the World. Amen

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT LITURGY: JOY

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, prayer, spiritual discipline

First Reader: On the third Sunday of Advent we ponder and celebrate the gift of Joy. We remember that life was not all calm and bright for Mary and Joseph either. The Holy family lived under oppressive Roman rule. Because there was no room in the inn Mary’s labor room was a barn. And yet baby Jesus slept in heavenly peace there in his manger bed.

Second Reader: From day one Jesus shows us that Joy does not come from external circumstances. As he would later sleep through a storm at sea and face crucifixion with steadfast faith, Jesus shows us that joy is an internal state of being, and He is the way to true Joy. He was at home in God’s universe no matter what was going on around him. (As reader 1 lights 3 candles) And so today we relight the candles of Hope and Peace and add the third candle, the candle of Joy.

Unison Prayer of confession: O God who loves us so much you came to a humble stable. You sent John to warn us to turn back from the things that bring us no joy. We confess we have not always listened to your prophets. We have not always lived lives that bear good fruit. We have failed to receive the power of your Holy Spirit. This Advent, fill us to overflowing with true joy. Let us follow the true Messiah who sets us free to share joyfully with our neighbors. Teach us to be humble bearers of Good News so our lives may be signs that proclaim Joy to the World. Amen