Here’s my column from our Winter 2023 Stronger Together joint print newsletter introducing our Advent & Epiphany sermon series, How Does a Weary World Rejoice? from Illustrated Ministry. Read the Living Hope version of the entire newsletter here.
How Does a Weary World Rejoice?
The Christmas season is filled with emotions. There’s the wonder of a child opening their presents, nostalgia for traditions of Christmases past, the peace and awe of a sanctuary filled with candlelight, and grief for empty seats at the table. In the Biblical Christmas story, there is the joy of the angels, Zechariah’s fear at encountering an angel, Mary’s perplexity, the wonder of the shepherds, and the generosity of the magi.
This year as we journey through the Advent season and prepare for Christmas, we are focusing on the question, How does a weary world rejoice?. Through this series, we are exploring some of those familiar human emotions present in both the Christmas story and our own experience: Isolation, fear, and disbelief, as well as connection, trust, and joy.
Maybe you’re coming to this season feeling weary. As I write this, there is a truce in the fighting in Gaza, but it’s unclear how long it might last. The war in Ukraine seems to be mired in a bloody stalemate. We are living in a global climate crisis. People we know are facing long-term and acute medical issues. We have neighbors struggling to make ends meet. It’s hard to see how our present issues with poverty, violence, racism, greed, discrimination, inequality, and so many more things will be resolved. No wonder so many are feeling weary!
The good news of Christmas—the reason we can rejoice—is that God looks at this world with all its brokenness, division, and suffering, and God chooses to love it. God chooses to love us. Rather than abandon us to the consequences of our self-destruction, God chooses to be born into this world. Jesus lays down his life for our salvation, offering us new life in place of death.
What a wonderful story we have to share with our neighbors, many of whom are in desperate need of some good news! Christmas brings a “thrill of hope” in which this weary world can rejoice.
I hope you’ll join us in celebrating Advent and Christmas this year. Invite a friend or neighbor to come too. Bring all your emotions with you. Bring your weariness, and your joy, and remember that God’s grace and love are for you. May God bless you to rejoice this season.
Merry Christmas!
—Pastor Daniel