Advent 2025 - Joy: Defiant Celebration in the Face of Empire
Sunday, December 14 is the third Sunday of Advent, and this week's theme is JOY.
Every Advent, the third candle burns for joy. Yet this word, like “hope” and “peace,” has been emptied of its full power. In much of modern faith, joy has become a synonym for positivity—the demand to keep spirits high, to smile through discomfort, to make worship cheerful even when the world is not. But the joy of scripture does not rise from comfort but from conviction, not from the absence of sorrow but from trust that God’s future is still breaking into the present.
This is because joy is not the denial of sorrow, but its transformation. It takes root where despair typically grows. Those who have suffered know this paradox well. Survivors of war in Bosnia & Herzegovina speak of deep laughter and friendship born amid loss. The songs of enslaved Africans carried lament and liberation intertwined. In both, joy is the sound of survival—the insistence that love and purpose still remain when everything else has been stripped away.
For those insulated by privilege, joy often becomes a fragile comfort—relief from stress or guilt. But for the wounded and the weary, joy is a defiant act of faith, the refusal to let oppression define the limits of their imagination. This difference is not psychological alone; it is spiritual and moral. True joy is born when we risk solidarity—when we decide to stand with others rather than above them, to find life in shared struggle rather than in detached safety.
SUGGESTED PRACTICE: THE JOY CHAIN
Invite everyone in your home to cut small strips of colorful paper.
Each day this week, write one thing that brought you joy—not just something that made you happy, but something that reminded you that God’s love and goodness are still growing in the world.
Examples:
“I helped a classmate when they dropped their books.”
“We made dinner together and laughed.”
“Someone sat with me when I was sad.”
“We sang at church and felt connected.”
“I saw kindness today.”
Link the strips into a paper chain and hang it near your Advent candles.
Each new link reminds us that joy is made stronger when shared, and that together we help the world blossom with hope and love.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” —Luke 1:46-47
Want more?
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