The Eleventh Day of Christmas: Joy and Justice

...which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ ... that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

 - From Ephesians 3

The demeanor of Christians should be something that would, typically, inspire passersby to ask: "Why the happy face?"

Joy to the World!

But really . . . why "joy"? What did the shepherds, the Wise Men, and all those that followed the star have, that we don't, that made them feel such "joy"? Because, it seems to me that "joy" is a special kind of "happy." There's a childlike thrill you get, when you're feeling "joy." 

Real joy should be lasting joy. You should still be feeling it eleven days after you sang it, among the trappings of lights, carols, goodwill, and lots of other smiling faces. 

When a child opens the very gift she had been asking for, and waiting for, for most of the year, you can see "joy" on her face.

For my entire childhood, I wanted one of those Matchbox cars service stations. Something like this. From about the age of 7, I asked Santa Claus for one. I reminded my parents, year after year, that this is what I wanted. 

Now, my parents were (and are) wonderfully generous people. It seems they got me everything else I ever asked for, and more. But apparently they always had to make budgetary choices and for whatever reason, the service station never made the cut. When I became an adult, I began to playfully remind them of this every year. And then finally, when I was about 26, I received one for Christmas. It was perhaps one of my favorite gifts ever. I felt joy,

But joy is not all about getting material things. Not totally. But if you want some understanding of it, just recall one of those memories. Joy is something like that.

During the twelve days, we remove layers of God's plan. We don't don't do it as well as our medieval forbears did, but we're trying. We should be enhancing our understanding of what Christmas is all about, day after day. You really can't get Christmas fully, if you just cut it off on the 26th. 

Paul writes to the Ephesians, something that sounds like "Hey . . . here it is. This is the great mystery. All of history, everything in the universe, hinges on this next piece of information. Are you ready for it? Here it comes - - - - God's gift is now offered to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews!"

And this should bring us great joy. It's why there is joy to the world!

Look at politics, perhaps the one topic that creates even more angst, more anger, more division, more stress, than religion! What's it all about?

Justice. 

We just want fairness. We just want someone to notice us. To take care of us. To lift us up when we're down.

But we just want all of that compassion, justice, mercy, and love to be bestowed equally upon everybody. Therefore, we invented politics.

Is that not the ONE thing that drives us all, at some primordial level? 

FAIRNESS!!

The great mystery of Christmas is that God has extended His love, His plan, His offer of eternal life, to everybody!

And if we all have eternal life, well, what could be more fair?

I think we could stand a special day along the way, just to reflect on that.