As we move through the Advent season, we gather for a moment around the candle of joy on our wreath. Let yourself… experience joy.
You would think that would be easy. After all, joy is one of the up-beat emotions. Don’t those come naturally?
Well, yes and no. If you have ever lost someone whose life was so woven into yours that for a time, joy seems obliterated, you know how hard experiencing joy can be sometimes. I remember a time not that long ago when I lost another member of my immediate family, and while walking down the street right afterwards I was struck by how everyone else just seemed to be carrying on as if nothing had happened, while my experience of the world had just been shattered. I wanted to shout, “Everybody Stop! Don’t you realize what has been lost?” In any moment, we experience life so very differently.
But then, over time, we heal. Life moves forward. We realize that not everything is lost. And we return to ourselves too. And somewhere along the line, usually when we are not watching for it, there comes a lightness. Not really a happiness. It is deeper than that. We notice, and we realize joy again.
God is right in the middle of this process. So on Tuesday at 6pm, amid this Christmas preparation season, Highlands and St. Catherine’s host a Quiet Christmas service, open to everyone who wants a gentle moment in the middle of it all. There we will light candles, hear readings, sing, and remember what Jan Richardson stated so eloquently, “As the hand is made for holding, and the eye for seeing, You have fashioned us for joy.” Hope to see you then.
Blessings, Will