Jenny’s letter 24th November

Dear Friends,

We have begun setting up the Christmas Tree Festival. I spent some time on Friday helping with the crib scene under the altar, though it will be hidden for another week. I confess I still feel a bit awkward about the whole nativity with Kings in it from the start, and Trees up before Christmas Eve. As a child, the Church we attended dressed for Christmas on Christmas Eve which is the liturgical start to the festival. 

The thing is, that while I think Advent is so important for us spiritually, I am aware that most of the community comes into church before rather than after Christmas. For that reason I have changed. I want people to be drawn by the magic of the forest of Christmas Trees, into the awe and wonder of the Stable scene. I want us to use every opportunity we have to show people Jesus. 

The theme for this year’s Christmas Tree Festival is Joy. Listening to the news at the moment, one could be forgiven for thinking that there is precious little of that around. We hear of war and conflict in a number of countries across the globe. We experience financial worry as we hear about our electricity bills being increased and we wonder about the instability that electing Donald Trump to the presidency of the USA will bring to the rest of the world. 

We consider Joy to be a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. When I start thinking about joy, my thoughts go to the Disney film, ‘Inside Out’ (2015) and ‘Inside Out 2’ (2024). If you haven’t seen either of them do take the trouble of finding them and watching. There is something in them for us all to learn and one of those things is that the capacity to feel joy is within us all, all the time. Granted that sadness and anger, fear and disgust are also part of who we are along with perhaps as many as 22 other emotions too. 

When life gets difficult we think in terms of the joy seeping out of us. We can feel helpless. Joy, however, does not leave. And we are not as much at the mercy of sadness as we might think. Those of us who are Christians will know that at baptism we pray as a church for the Holy Spirit to enter into the one who is baptised. As a person grows in faith we believe that the experience of Joy is a gift that is given to them alongside the other fruits of the Spirit. Understanding Joy is recognising that it is not simply about responding to what goes on in our daily lives and in the world around us – it goes much deeper than that.

Biblical joy is choosing to respond to external circumstances with inner contentment and satisfaction, because we know that God will use these experiences to accomplish His work in and through our lives. James says in his letter,  “My brethren, count it all joy, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1.2 NKJV). 

When we are able to grasp that even during difficulty God is with us, when we are able to step into the enormity of what Jesus did for us so that the burden of sin is not on us, when we acknowledge the true freedom that comes in our salvation, and when we allow our trials to bring us closer to God, then we begin to see joy in even the most difficult of times. ‘Impossible’ you may say. ‘In Christ all things are possible’, I reply. But it is not easy. 

I want to encourage you to take some time and a piece of paper and write down all the blessings that you have in your life. Begin with the freedom that we live in, if you wish. Consider the air we breathe and the temperatures we live at. We have rain too. Move on to clothing for your body and for most of us, the food that we eat. And then get more personal. What about your home. A pet? A car? A warm dry bed? Your choice of tea or coffee. Add the hundreds of choices of bread that we can buy and eat without having to knead the dough. Do you have a phone? What about a garden? Do you have at least one friend? Are you part of the church community? How full can you make your sheet with what are perhaps the things we take for granted? 

I wonder how you feel after you have done that task? I am not suggesting that worries about health or your family or your future disappear or that money issues or relationship problems float away. Of course they don’t. But in amongst the struggles there is still joy. When we begin to acknowledge the blessings, when we feel a little smile, joy begins to surface and we begin to change. 

The study of psychology and physiology can demonstrate the truth of this. We do have some control in allowing ourselves to feel joy and this is what James was trying to teach the new Christians who were scattered in countries beyond the edges of the Holy Land.Their life was very difficult and they knew persecution. 

Before I conclude, I do want to specifically mention those who, like me, can experience significant mental ill health and specifically depression. We live in a fallen world where some people are not just sad or low but have long or short periods of being mental ununwell. At these times it can be almost impossible to experience any feelings of happiness or delight. If that’s you then please don’t think you are a bad Christian or ‘doing it wrong.’ 

Paul writes in Romans 15.13 ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.’  May God bless you abundantly and may he give you the eyes to see what he has done. 

With love in Christ,