The Advent season focuses messages on Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Amidst the busyness of parties, shopping, concerts, additional services … comes the call to consider these profound truths.

One Advent Sunday several years ago now, I preached a message on Joy and challenged the congregation with an illustration of a Black Baptist church in Alabama that came to grips with, forgave and actually embraced a 19 year old Caucasian man who burned down their church building. In the end the people from the congregation testified on his behalf that this was not a “hate crime”, and he ended up helping them rebuild the building. In my message I challenged the congregation to consider: do we have enough joy in our lives to allow us to forgive someone who burned down our church building? That night someone broke into our building, vandalized it and caused several thousand dollars worth of damage. Be careful what you preach on!!

As I examined the mess Monday morning, and my anger and resentment grew, I was suddenly reminded by one of the men from our congregation of the example of the church in the States. Advent invites us to move from theory to reality: from living in our own strength to gaining an understanding of what it means to have the joy of the Lord as our strength; from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus. This Advent may each of us be confronted by the reality of the One whose birth we celebrate, whose death we mourn, and whose resurrection allows a personal understanding of true Joy!

Merry Christmas to you all.

Rob