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When I need to find my way again, in my mind and in my heart, I instinctively go looking for the words of Jesus. I love the far-seeing vision of Isaiah and stand beside him gazing and trying to see what he sees. Who cannot be moved by the emotional honesty of the Psalms, giving words to our feelings and prayers to our thoughts? Over the years I've spent ages listening to Paul at his most passionate and argumentative, often enough being willing to hold his jacket as he fights for the truth about the gospel of Jesus. And I regularly climb the mountain of the Fourth Gospel to watch again the strange and beautiful glory of the Fourth Gospel, as the Light of the world dawns yet again above the mundane limits of my personal horizons.

But when what I need is a re-orientation of the heart, a reminder of the organising principles that shape my thoughts, I go looking for the words of Jesus. Yes, I know I've already said that, but hearing and doing the words of Jesus always helps me ask the right questions about how to live faithfully as a follower of Jesus in a world that is fluid, unpredictable, beyond my control, and is the given time and place in which I live.

This started very early in my Christian life. Converted in my mid teens, one of my first 'achievements' was to memorise the Sermon on the Mount in the old King James Version. Those rhythms of language still push to the fore when I'm quoting the Beatitudes, the Antitheses and especially The Lord's Prayer which still only 'feels right' when I speak it in that version complete with each Thou, Thee and Thine! I spent the first two years as a probationer minister doing a thorough exegesis of the Sermon on the Mount as my major project. Ever since, for well over 40 years, I've kept up with both the scholarship and the pastoral and spiritual treatments of The Sermon on the Mount.

Against this background, during this week of seismic change in the geo-political maps, the arrival of a new book on the Beatitudes seems more providential than coincidental. The Beatitudes are about the Kingdom of God. The dispositions and life situations they describe are counter cultural, and in our politically charged world, counter-intuitive. Meekness? Are you kidding? Where does meekness ever get you when life is all about making deals? Blessed are the poor? Really? Have you ever been down to your last slice of bread with hungry children and no money? And as for being merciful, if what is meant is letting people off with what they deserve, what's the good of that? 

And so on. And on. Jesus' words are not meant to be self-help one liners towards being successful. In a world that has always had to deal with the use and abuse of power, the Beatitudes can read like a charter for the bullies. Not so. A year or two after the Beatitudes were spoken, Jesus added to Pilate's problems: "My kingdom is not of this world." In the face-off between Pilate and Jesus, for Pilate it was about control, expediency and power assertion.

The irony is, Pilate was never in control; indeed as John tells it the trial of Jesus becomes the trial of the powers that be, a test of the institutions of control. In the ways of the world power is structured, divided, and given executive functions over others. Those are the ways of the world and its kingdoms. But their power games are irrelevant to One who says, "My kingdom is not of this world."

What kind of Kingdom then? Back to the Sermon on the Mount, and especially the Beatitudes. Whose is the kingdom of heaven? Who will be shown mercy? Who will inherit the land and the earth? Who shall be comforted when life goes wrong? The ones who seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And that brings us back to where we are in the here and now of our lives. 

At a time when power and authority are again being centralised, and when military power is an early response to conflicting interests, to whose kingdom do we owe our heart's allegiance? When economic power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer people, and the global economy is destabilised and living standards uncertain, what does it mean to be merciful, compassionate, care for the poor, speak up for the welfare of a planet being stripped of the means of survival?

There are no easy answers. It will take commitment to contemplative prayer before God, imaginative intercession for a world of kingdoms hell-bent on growing in power, ways of being that take their inspiration and empowerment from Christ crucified and risen in whom power has been redefined, refocused and set loose in the world through resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately in the coming of Christ to redeem and renew Creation. The Beatitudes are unmistakably eschatological in their perspective and promise. But they are also descriptions of those who seek to follow faithfully after Jesus, as ideal disciples in the here and now of our days. 

Monday

Psalm 34.12-14 “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

These words could be standing orders for every fractious Church Meeting, the rules of engagement for family arguments, the ethical boundaries of political discourse, or, as they were intended, wise counsel for how to have a peaceful life. Peace doesn’t just happen. We build peace, maintain peace, and restore peace. To seek and pursue peace is to make sure our own character and intention honours truth, shows respect for others, and we act as “ministers of reconciliation,” that is, peacemakers.   

Tuesday

Psalm 85.10 “Love and faithfulness meet together; justice and peace have embraced.”

The Psalm poet links four words into a chain of virtues ending in peace. He imagines faithful love and peace with justice embracing, and the result is human flourishing. Did the Psalm poet imagine the dancing of two pairs, the celebration of each human community shaped and moved by people learning to love each other, growing in trust and co-operation, acting with justice and a commitment to what is right, and so discovering that peace is possible? This is not a pipe dream – it is the vision of a poet who always thinks the impossible is possible because God is part of every equation!

Wednesday

Isaiah 32.17 “The fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence for ever. “

Righteousness is a rich and complex word. When Jesus said “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”, he was speaking of those who wanted to live in faithful obedience and loving service before God. But in a world of injustice, where much is unrighteous – when human life and community is broken by injustice and oppression, where so much is not right and therefore not righteous, what are we to do? We come before our Father in prayer, hungering and thirsting for justice and right, believing that we shall have our fill of the fruit of righteousness, as Jesus said.

Thursday

Isaiah 55.12 “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

These words were written to people in exile, for two generations cut off from their family, culture, and religious roots. Every day and everywhere Babylonian gods and temples reminded them they belonged to someone else. Except, no they don’t! God hasn’t given them up. Despite their fear, oppression and lost hope, they are God’s people, they will go home, and it will be soon. They will be “led forth in peace.” Isaiah is the prophet who makes peace sound possible, because he has an enlarged vision of God. The whole creation will celebrate the peace of God’s liberated people!

Friday

Isaiah 57.19 “Peace, peace, to those far and near” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

This is a promise to those of a contrite heart, those weighed down with guilt, locked into a sense of shame, anxious and regretful and wishing they could rewind and do things differently. Forgiveness is the healing of the heart, the closing of wounds, and the restoring of health in our relationships – to God, and to each other. However far we feel we have drifted from God, he speaks peace when we take the first step home. If I remember right, Jesus told a story about that kind of thing!

Saturday

Isaiah 57.20-21 “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

No rest for the wicked! Now used to describe working hard to get things done. But Isaiah was saying there’s no peace for those who build life on greed, dishonesty, power games, lying, and using and abusing others. Like a stormy sea, wicked actions dredge up the worst of those who do them. No, Isaiah warns, there can be no peace with a holy and just God for those who make a career out of selfishness, dishonesty, hurtful behaviours, and other ways of damaging the social fabric around them. The peace of forgiveness is impossible for those who think they have no need of it!

Sunday

Numbers 6.24-26 “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (King James Version)

In 17^th Century language, this has become one of the most beloved of biblical Benedictions. It asks the blessings of God’s protective care, the shining of the light of God’s love in the face of Jesus Christ, the enfolding of grace that enables and guides, and the gift of peace. In the end, the peace we need and the peace we seek, is that of an existence under the light of God’s presence, “kept by the power of God.”

I was on holiday for a few days this week? Should you switch off the news when you go on holiday? Is it possible to relax while given multiple reminders every day of the lethal efficiency of drones and missiles? All our devices with screens provide images, clips and comment on the sheer Hell people have to live through in the middle East, in Ukraine, Yemen, and any number of other places we will never visit, but whose nightmares haunt our imaginations, fed by the perpetual news machine.

I was on holiday for a few days this week. One of the favourite countries for Europeans to visit for their holidays, was inundated with floods that have so far killed over 200 people, destroyed towns and communities, and brought unforeseen misery to tens of thousands of people. A week ago these same people were happily living their lives oblivious of any imminent threat to their lives and families. Graphic footage exposes again the fragility of our security, and the uncertainty of every day.

I was on holiday for a few days this week. For the first time in their history the football team I support has played 16 matches without defeat. Aberdeen's biggest game so far was on Wednesday, when I was on holiday, and when full time came the glow of contentment was a holiday in itself! In addition, we were in a favourite place, the food was plentiful and high quality, all was geared to the comfort and convenience of the guests. As usual, and as expected, we have come back refreshed and with some good memories.

But. There was no holiday for people in parts of Spain, or Lebanon, or Israel, or Gaza, or Ukraine, or Russia, or Yemen. I can't help that – and that's the dilemma. We live within human limits, and we can't fix the world. Yet as a Christian I try to obey two imperatives: first to be a good steward of the life I have been given, the call and commission as a follower of Jesus to be and to share and to live visibly and audibly the love of God; second, to carry in my heart the pain and brokenness of the world and lay it before the throne of grace where we are promised, there is grace to help in time of need.

In other words, whatever is going on in the wider world, I have to live faithfully in the time and place where God has placed me. Yet at the same time, by prayer and intercession I am called to transcend the human limitations of time and space, and pray with patient and unrelenting hopefulness for the world I see on the screens of my computer, phone and TV. Even on holiday.

No I can't fix the world. Yes, we all are limited by our humanity, and the unalterable given that is our time and our place in the world and in God's purpose. Joy, gratitude, rest, the capacity to lose ourselves in beauty, fun, good company, satisfying food – these are all blessings, and they come together in a good holiday. So why not ignore the news for three days and give yourself over to well earned rest, and give your heart and brain a holiday as well?

But for good or ill, I refuse to switch off from the realities of the wider world, as experienced by all those other people who share this planet as their home. Does that 'spoil' the holiday? Perhaps. Then again, there is something quite specifically Christian in refusing to give the pain of the world a three day body swerve – it's called loving our neighbour, or faithful compassion in Jesus' name. Perhaps we can never have unalloyed, unspoilt joy, or total rest, even if we shut out the realities of war, flood, famine and cruelty.

For the Christian heart and mind, there is no firewall that protects from the harms let loose in the world. Only the call to bear the sorrows of the world to the throne of grace, to take up the cross daily by remembering why the cross was necessary in the first place, and to bear the sorrows and the cross strengthened in the hope of the risen Lord. We are a resurrection people; we believe that death is defeated and life is let loose; we pray because we are not fatalists who think ourselves impotent and the world beyond redemption. Why? Because God is not impotent, and because of the power of eternal love and sovereign purpose the world is not beyond redemption! We are followers of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ; we are called by the grace of God to bear witness to the Gospel; we are empowered by the Spirit to pray, even when we have no words of our own. 

Prayer is the gift, and the burden, of holding the weight of the world's suffering, while kneeling before the throne of grace, and joining our intercessions with those of the interceding Son who sits at the right hand of the Father. From such a gift, and such a burden, there is no holiday; simply the promise of the God of hope: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15.13) Or so, at least, it seems to me.     

Monday

Proverbs 12.25 “An anxious heart wears you down, but a kind word uplifts the heart.”

We’re all familiar with that background uncertainty about how life is, that easily slips into worry, often about things we can’t do anything about. Faith, confidence, belief and trust, – these are the words we use to describe the ideal Christian disposition as we make our way through the days and years of our lives. But we are human, and all of us vulnerable to the triggers of anxiety. The wisdom of our verse is that it both recognises the downward drag of worry, and encourages us to look out for each other and be the upward pull that makes a difference to someone else’s day.

Tuesday

Philippians 4.6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

We can’t usually talk ourselves out of worrying, but Paul tells us to pray our way out of it, or through it, or even while still engulfed in anxiety. Prayer is to put into words what’s troubling us, and saying it to God. Paul’s advice is brilliant psychology – bring whatever is making us anxious before the God of grace and mercy and peace, name it, be thankful for the truth that God is all of this and more to us, and seek God’s strength to trust the peace that always, but always, stands guard over our heart.

Wednesday

2 Corinthians 11.28 “Apart from everything else, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

This is the same Paul who wrote have no anxiety about anything! For him, and for each of us, the life of faith is never straightforward. Nor can our response to hurts, difficulties, and challenges always be unbroken trust or consistent confidence in God. Faith is a struggle, for Paul and for us. Life is a source of all kinds of anxieties and sometimes they come at us like the groceries going through an Aldi checkout – too fast for us to keep up! But God said, to Paul and us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12.9)

Thursday

Matthew 6.25 “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?”

Food and clothes, two of the big things the human family still worries about. We have created the phrase ‘food security’. In a globalised world with an ever increasing population, and a dangerously compromised climate system, more than ever we are anxious about the future. We are back to that line in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us, not just me. Until we learn how to share better; until our tables are places of welcome; until bread is broken and shared in an economy geared more to justice and human welfare. Until then, we pray this prayer for all those in our world anxious about where their children’s next meal will come from.

Friday

Matthew 6.25 “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?”

Having prayed that others might have daily bread, those words of Jesus still rebuke our obsession with stuff. Life is indeed more than bread and clothes. There is a place in the competitive economies of our age for quiet and determined Christian witness, a protest against the machinery of more and bigger. The doctrine of the providence of the Creator is a foundation principle of Christian trust and dependence. God feeds the birds; humans matter even more; how much more will God feed and clothe his children, and call them to live in shalom, under the security of One we call Father?

Saturday

1 Peter 5.7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because he cares for you.”

Is Peter remembering Jesus’ words? “Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I think so. Worry is an inner burden, an ache of the heart, a weight on the mind. Throw it on to shoulders that were strong enough to bear the weight of the world’s sin, and its fears, and wounds and broken hopes. God is neither unaware, nor unconcerned about what’s happening to us. God’s care is personal, specific, faithful, the present practical expression of love that is eternal.

Sunday Prayers

Father, give to us, and to all your people, in times of anxiety, serenity; in times of hardship, courage; in times of uncertainty, patience; and at all times, a quiet trust in your wisdom and love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good’ render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the faint-hearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honour all people; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Antiphon (I)

Let all the world in every corner sing,
"My God and King!"
The heav'ns are not too high,
His praise may thither fly;
the earth is not too low,
His praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
"My God and King!"

Let all the world in every corner sing,
"My God and King!"
The church with psalms must shout:
no door can keep them out.
But, more than all, the heart
must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing,
"My God and King!"

 

Monday

May the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling all I do and say.

Kate Barclay Wilkinson is primarily known through one hymn. It has given many thousands of Christians words to describe their experiences of longing and prayer towards greater holiness of life, centred on ‘having the mind of Christ’. Each verse is a prayer for the days of the week, leading towards Sunday worship. The love of Christ ‘constrains us’, so that what we say and do and think, are quality controlled by a will surrendered to Christ whose enabling grace is as deep and strong as our prayers. 

Tuesday

May the Word of Christ dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph only through His power.

The words are from Colossians 3.16, where Paul encourages us to hold the Word of Christ in our hearts. He means the message of God’s reconciling love, the good news of Christ ‘in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell’. It is this same crucified and risen Christ who lives in us, and we in Him. He is the energy-giving source of grace who enables our faith, love and obedience. The mind of Christ living in us day by day; the Word of Christ residing in our heart hour by hour; these words describe the desire of mind and heart to be conformed to the image of Christ.  

Wednesday

May the peace of Christ my Saviour rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort sick and sorrowing.

Colossians 3.15 this time. Paul sees the peace of Christ not as passive waiting for our own blessing, but as the foundation of our acting with compassion to the blessing of others. The peace of Christ can never be a state of comfortable self-indulgence; it is more the gift of clear thought, sharp vision, creative imagination, and all of these in the service of living and acting out of the mind of Christ. The phrase ‘sick and sorrowing’ is not Victorian sentimentality; the author worked in London amongst young women whose lives were broken by poverty, disease and social rejection.  

Thursday

May the love of Jesus fill me, as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing, this is victory.

This verse has the same uncompromising desire for Christ to inhabit the whole of the inner life, because only as we are filled with the love of Jesus will it overflow into the lives of others. It is worth remembering Paul’s own uncompromising words: “God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Rom 5.5) The author knew this verse deeply and personally – she was associated with the Keswick Holiness Conventions where Romans was regularly and powerfully expounded as virtually the textbook of sanctification. Keswick also made popular the spirituality of the ‘victorious life’, that is, the life so given over to Jesus that there was little room left for sin in a life filled with the love of Jesus ‘as the waters fill the sea’.

Friday

May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus as I onward go.

Another text, this time Hebrews 12.1-2, embedded in Keswick, and in evangelical spirituality with its focus on Jesus and the experienced reality in personal life of the crucified, risen and ever present Christ – “You ask me how I know he lives, He lives within my heart.” Conflict, temptation, failure, the need for forgiveness and knowing our own weakness, these are realities of the Christian life. The greater reality is the revelation of God’s love in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, who now ever lives to make intercession for us. We are prayed for in heaven, by this same Jesus, to whom we look for strength and courage to face whatever life throws at us – and who is the same faithful Saviour, yesterday, today and forever. .

Saturday

May His beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel, seeing only Him.

Christian holiness is a beautiful thing, because it is the life of Christ within us, and we are called, equipped and sent by God to live forth the grace of Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. There are few more persuasive arguments, few more effective forms of witness, than a life guided by the mind of Christ, his word dwelling richly in our hearts, and his love flowing outwards in our words and actions.

Sunday

 Colossians 3.1-3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

To have the mind of Christ; to have the Word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts’; to know the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit; to look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. These are Gospel realities, the gifts of God to the people of God. When we pray this hymn, we are opening our hearts to receive and live into what God has already given in Christ. Our life is hidden with Christ in God!

Monday

Romans 15.13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

By trusting in the God of hope, we are filled with joy and peace and the overflow is hope. The word joy is in very good company – peace, trust, hope – and these are God’s gifts by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joy is not about emotional excitement, but springs out of a life whose bedrock is the God of hope. This verse is about hope, where it comes from and what it does to our ways of being, within ourselves and as we serve God in our own times, during a recession of hope, peace and joy.

Tuesday

2 Corinthians 8.1-2 “Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

Now it’s the connection between joy and generosity. God’s grace never touches us without changing us. God’s generous grace generates gratitude, and thankfulness is fertile soil out of which grows our own joy in self-giving service. Paul always got those connections – grace and gratitude, gratefulness and generosity, generosity and the mutual joy of giver and given to. Note Paul’s astonishing contrasts – out of very severe trial and extreme poverty overflowing joy results in rich generosity!

Wednesday

Galatians 5.22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

If I’m right that a word can often be interpreted by the company it keeps, this verse places joy in the cluster of fruitfulness that is Christian character. This is God’s doing, the fruit of the Spirit is the natural, organic outgrowth of life in Christ and Christ in us. Joy is a feature of Christ-likeness, the music and melody of a life composed and performed in obedience to God, by the grace of Christ, in the power of the Spirit.

Thursday

Philippians 1.3-6 “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Paul prays with joy because of all those who share fellowship with him in the work and worship of the Church. He is writing this to a church where joy isn’t all that evident in the rivalries, frictions and tensions of a community that needs to learn again the mind of Christ. Joy in fellowship is not automatic. It requires of us levels of humility and love that can’t co-exist with ambition, pride, and ‘thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.” Paul encourages this fractious and fractured community to have the mind of Christ, and learn the obedience of the cross. Joy is found, not in self-assertion, but in the fellowship of those who have the mind of the Servant King.

Friday

Philippians 2.1-2 “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 

There is joy in the togetherness, shared focus, and common experience of the Spirit; not so much if we think we are God’s gift to the church, and everyone else should give us our place! Joy is linked to “considering others better than ourselves” and a balancing of interests between what we want and what others want in the life of the Church. That takes humility, love and “a sober judgement of ourselves”!

Saturday

1 Thessalonians 1.6 “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”

The decision to trust in Christ, and welcome and believe in the good news of God’s love revealed in his Son, Jesus Christ, resulted in the gift of joy. The Holy Spirit moves the heart, leads the mind to truth, and draws the person into a new relationship to God. Forgiven, reconciled, a new creation, the New Testament has many ways of describing the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation. But even when that act of witnessing faith brings severe opposition, the Holy Spirit instils joy in the heart!

Sunday

Romans 14.17-18 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval". 

There was strong disagreement in the Roman house churches about whether to eat meat that had been used in sacrifice in pagan temples. Paul is arguing that what matters is love and care for each other, and being prepared not to insist on our own rightness. The rightness that counts is being right with God, peace-making within the fellowship, and finding joy in each other by seeing the working of the Spirit in each of our lives. The kingdom of God, the rule of God in the community and in each believer’s life, is made real by doing right by each other, working at peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy, then, is one of the barcode signs that God is at work among us! 

Monday

Luke 2.10 “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

I know. It’s way too early to anticipate Christmas. Or is it? Why would we only read the greatest announcement of joy to the world, in the bleak midwinter? This is a truth for all people, in all places, at all times. The Christian year was never intended to fence off Christmas, Easter and Pentecost as annual reminders of what matters most in our faith. In a world fractured and dangerous, Christians are called to bear witness now to the coming of God in Christ, to live out the reconciling love that has come amongst us in judgement, mercy, forgiveness, God’s plan to end all enmities.

Tuesday

Matthew 2.10-11 “When they saw the star they were overjoyed. On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.”   

Behind this too often sentimentalised account of three ancient travellers bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, are Isaiah’s words: “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” There is in Christ the power and the capacity to “draw all people to himself.” The joy in this passage is the joy of anticipation, of hope determined to go on trusting God in a world where so much evidence encourages despair. We pray that nations will come to the light of Christ and the brightness of a new dawn. Is that naïve? Or is it the foolishness of God outshining human wisdom?

Wednesday

Matthew 13.44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

What matters most to you? What is worth giving your life to? The kingdom of God isn’t a hobby, and discipleship doesn’t work as a part time commitment. Following Jesus means living in the ways of the Kingdom of God. The motive for self-giving service to Jesus is the joy of knowing that he is the greatest treasure, and that the Father’s welcoming love is the overflow of God’s mercy. Joy is finding our soul’s true north, discovering in Jesus the reality that makes sense of every other thing in life.

Thursday

Luke 15.7 “I tell you. . .there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.”

You know the story. The good shepherd counts the sheep, knows them by name, and knows when one is missing. The others are left safe, but the shepherd risks life and limb to find the lost sheep. When he finds it, with a great sigh of relief, exhausted as he is, he lifts it and carries it back to the safety of the fold. God’s joy is like that!

Friday

John 15.10-12 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

The logic of joy! God loves Jesus; Jesus loves us; we are to stay put in this circle of love by keeping the new commandment to love one another. The love of Jesus, crucified and risen resides in us, and we in Him. It is His joy that is in us, “our life is hid with Christ in God”, and so joy comes full circle. We are filled full, and fulfilled.

Saturday

John 16.22 “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

Of the six times John writes of joy, five of them are in the Farewell Discourse. In the longest and most intimate conversation with the disciples, overshadowed by menace and looming tragedy, Jesus speaks of joy. Yes there will be grief; yes hope will seem to evaporate; and yes, sorrow is real and hearts really break. But. The presence of Jesus risen, his triumph over hatred, lies, violence and death, is the keynote of joy in the New Testament –and in our own lives. “Lo Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb! Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.” Joy is the default setting of the community of Christ, deep, durable, defining joy.

Sunday

John 17.13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

That circle of encircling love that we call the Triune God of grace, lies at the deep centre of Christian faith, practice and worship. Jesus is in communion with the Father, praying for disciples devastated by a world suddenly hostile. But he has prayed for each of them, and they will find their sorrow turned into dancing, and fear and sorrow must, and will give way, to the joy of Christ let loose on the world and poured into hearts illumined by “the last reality of the universe…Eternal love, bearing sin.”; in the words by my theological hero, James Denney (1856-1917)