Aldersgate Experience 1
December 2013
Connecting Knowing Loving Growing
Experience “Joy to the World” Everybody has their favorite Christmas song. There are many good ones and many that are awful. I guess each is held in the ear of the beholder. But from the time I was a little kid my favorite Christmas hymn has always been “Joy to the World.” I must admit it was the tune, not the words, that first grabbed my attention. The song is big. It isn’t meant to be sung softly. It is a celebration. If you read the words in the United Methodist Hymnal you’ll notice the first line ends with an exclamation point. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” Pow! Good News! Christ is here! Have you stopped to think about the lyrics to your favorite Christmas song? Of course you have. That’s probably why you like it so much. Ironically, most of the words for “Joy to the World” actually come from Psalm 98, found in the Old Testament. But there’s certainly one line that is original to the song’s author, Isaac Watts. And that line reads almost more like an Advent line. “Let every heart prepare Him room.” Yes!
Every Christmas, well, weeks before Christmas really; but every December we put up a Christmas tree in our house. There’s no place in our house for a Christmas tree. There really isn’t. We do not have a bare corner of the living room that sits empty all year waiting for the Christmas tree to go up. So, we have to make room. Inevitably, we don’t make room until AFTER we’ve bought the Christmas tree. So, the tree waits outside for a few minutes while we re-arrange the living room in order to make room for the tree. Well, what do you need to re-arrange in your life to get ready for the Savior? The Lord is come already. Joy to the world! Hurry up! Move stuff around. Quickly! Let every heart prepare Him room. Isn’t it time to re-arrange some priorities? Isn’t it time to become the person God has called you to be instead of continuing to put it off? Make this Christmas different. Instead of worrying only about the presents and food and decorations, this year prepare a place in your heart for a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Joy to the world. The Lord is come!
Pastor Doug