joy - third sunday of advent

so it isn't sunday... i just got home from celebrating advent with some friends... as i mentioned earlier, we do get together on thursday nights... we're "cool like that, yo'..."

whenever i think of the word joy, the first thing that pops into my head is this song from this cantata that we did in puerto rico...

"joy to the lord in heav'n on high (joy to the lord)
joy to the lord in heav'n... on high...
the everlasting father, the prince of peace,
the everlasting father, the prince <> of <> peace
arise, shine, for your light has come,
your light has come...
and the glory of the lord is risen upon you arise shine
for your light has come..."

i realize this doesn't really make much sense when you don't know the melody... however, picture a bunch of late teens and twenty somethings in full choir robes doing cheesy on the spot choreographies and just having fun - these wasn't the actual performance, we would do this after the performance was done... to this day we can all break out into our different voice parts and have a mini cantata...

as weird as this account may be, those are times of joy in my life...

joy - the pink candle in the wreath - a glimmer of hope knowing that emmanuel will soon be with us.

the traditional story told during this time is the proclamation of the angel to the shepherds.

which leads me to another story...

so, back in puerto rico again, for a couple of years we did this HUGE christmas production outdoors. i was playing the angel. traditionally, it is said that this was the archangel gabriel, even though the story really doesn't name the angel. so traditionally you associate this angel as a man. well, i'm not a man. and the only way to get those wings to stay on me where to tie them in such a way around my chest that would sort of weirdly emphasize that, well, i'm not a man... what made this more awkward is that the whole show was pre-recorded - we were "lip-synching" our performances. The voice used for the angel was a man, Carlitos. Don't let the name fool you. Carlitos had a DEEP voice... hillarity for years to come...

but more on the actual shepherds of the time...

they were not old with beards - they were jr. high age. they lived in the country side tending sheep. that's all they did. and a heavenly body shows up and tells them that their savior has been born and that they will find them in a manger. so what do they do? the basically say, "ok..." and go looking for this baby.

let's backtrack a little... this kids have probably been taught that they are waiting for a political liberator of some sort. an angel comes to them, not to a rabbi, not to the powerful members of society, but to kids taking care of sheep. and when they get there, they see a baby. it's going to be at least 30 years until this "political liberator" does something.

yet the say, "ok"... they go, find this baby, and then go around telling the story.

there's a sense of innocent trust that i admire...

that i want...

there is some sort of promise for the future... yet they are able to be in their right here, right now an rejoice in that... not because of the future promise but because of their experience.

inexplicable joy... you experience it... and as it often is with joyous ocassions, you gotta go and tell someone... share in the joy...

in the middle of this season of my life, where many times i feel exhausted, when almost every night before going to bed i ask myself, "really?", when i feel like i've been running for way too long with no real water break in sight, i can honestly say that i'm able to live in this right here right now, that there's nowhere else that i'd rather be - and that the glimpses that i get along the road are enough to spur joy and keep trusting, and running...

and it doesn't hurt that i have some amazing people by my side in the process...

joy.

it doesn't mean to be happy.

it might be a definition for being.

ps - for those of you in puerto rico who remember that beautiful pageant:
barren: cannot have any children
mute: unable to speak
shoe: what you put on your foot
MIRA!!!!