Scott's Weekly Greeting, December 8, 2020
Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
December 08, 2020
Scott's Weekly Greeting ...
"The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation."
That is the definition of joy.
Maybe I have not been paying enough attention, but it seems to me that joy is a word that we do not use often. Or could it be that joy is something that we have not experienced often enough? Great delight ... great happiness ... caused by something exceptionally good. We need more of that!
I began my week not feeling very joyful. Those of you that attempted to join us for the live-stream of our worship service know that we had technical difficulties once again. This time it was Mother Nature. The winter storm knocked out our internet service. I thank you for your patience and understanding, and I thank our media team for their perseverance. We were finally able to get the service up and online later on Sunday afternoon.
The feeling of disappointment spilled over into Monday. I thought of all of the work that our staff and volunteers do to prepare our worship services. And I thought of those who tuned in at 10:00 AM hoping to experience a worship service. These last few weeks have been very trying as our media system slowly died. Then Mother Nature gave us a little kick while we were down.
But then something wonderful happened. I felt joy today! Something happened that caused me great delight. I said to the people to whom I was speaking, "You have brought me so much joy!" The feeling was so powerful that I was brought to tears. Yes ... tears of joy!
As we spoke, I began to contemplate those words of scripture: "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people." Not just joy ... GREAT joy! If this is what joy feels like, how does great joy feel? It then occurred to me that it is fitting that we light the candle of Joy this week in our Advent wreaths. The messengers of God appeared to the shepherds and told them that there was exciting news. It was news that would bring GREAT JOY to all the people!
We gather for worship each week because of that great joy. We love and serve our neighbors because of that great joy. We experience everlasting peace because of that great joy. Our great joy is the love of God embodied in Jesus Christ. He is our Joy.
During the these remaining days of Advent, let us share the joy that we have found in Jesus Christ. May the Light of Christ shine in us and through us.
You are invited to join us for worship on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM. This week's Sunday school, "Jesus Brings Joy," will focus upon the message to the shepherds. We will light the candle of Joy and the choir will lift our spirits with the beautiful music of the season. Our message, "Joy!" will be based upon Psalm 126.
May God bless you all!
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