Isaiah 51:3
For the Lord will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Now let us go with quiet mind, the swaddled babe with shepherds find, to gaze on him who gladdens them, the loveliest flower of Jesse’s stem.
Oh, join with me, in gladness sing, to keep our Christmas with our king, until our song, from loving souls, like rushing mighty water rolls.
–The Bells of Christmas by Nikolai F.S. Grundtvig, 1783-1872; tr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, 1823-1883, alt.
I don’t know where my boys pick up half of the things they say. I’m guessing YouTube, for the most part.
So, one of the words they consistently use is sadness.
You need to do your chores before you get on screens. Sadness.
No candy before supper. Sadness.
We’re not buying Fruit Loops. Sadness.
You get the drift.
It’s goofy. Yes. But I also think it’s a pretty powerful thing to be able to name and articulate feelings of sadness.
What I think could also be incredibly powerful–for all of us–is consistently naming and articulating feelings of gladness.
The sky is stunning this morning. Gladness.
You just gave me the best hug. Gladness.
Christmas is coming! Gladness.
What if we went through our days observing and expressing the gladness God gives us?
For Isaiah, gladness is the work of the Lord. God’s comfort transforms the waste places in our lives–the tangled wilderness of grief and the dry desert of desperation. God’s comfort grows joy and gladness within us–a joy and gladness intimately connected with thanksgiving and the voice of song. Joy expresses itself in gratitude. Gladness sings a hymn of praise.
The Bells of Christmas is a hymn that was introduced to me in my current call. The text invites us to go with quiet mind to gaze on Jesus, who gladdens the shepherds (and gladdens us).
Ah. A quiet mind in the midst of these busy days. Gladness.
The next invitation is to join the song: Oh, join with me, in gladness sing…until our song, from loving souls, like rushing mighty water flows.
The song of gladness, sung from a place of love, is a powerful force in our lives and in the world. Rushing mighty water–the song of gladness flowing from our hearts and minds–wears away sadness, smooths the rough days, carries us on a current of hope.
Thanks be to God, whose birth among us both recognizes our sadness and releases our gladness to be a force for change in the world.
Come, Lord Jesus, come. Make us glad by your presence among us. Amen.