The Christmas carol speaks of ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ (‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen’) and these two things are often linked in the Bible. God promised through Jeremiah, ‘I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow’ (Jer 31:13), and Isaiah called us to rejoice precisely because of God’s comfort: ‘Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.’ (Is 49:13) Later, Isaiah says, ‘The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.’ (Is 51:3)

We can rejoice no matter what because of the comfort and consolation God provides for us. Sometimes this comes through other people (see 2 Cor 1:2-11); sometimes it comes through circumstances; sometimes it comes through God’s word. It’s significant that joy is often the response to what God does in our lives. The shepherds and Magi, Simeon and Anna, all experienced joy because they met Jesus. We have the privilege of meeting Him each day and can therefore receive both comfort and joy from Him.

I was fortunate to learn music at school. Starting with the recorder and going on to the flute, I learned to play instruments and read music from a young age. Music theory is the practical application of turning twelve notes into an endless variety of melodies in such a way that anyone, anywhere, can then learn to play them. As a child, it seemed boring at times to learn all these technical words and what they meant, but as with reading words, once the basics are mastered, an endless world of imagination becomes accessible to all. I don’t regret learning the language of music any more than I regret learning to read. Music and reading are for me among the greatest pleasures of life.

All this is preamble to explaining that a major or minor scale has names for each note based on the position of that note to the key note (the tonic.) The beauty of doing things this way is that these names apply to any key you choose; once you know these names, you can work in any key at all. It’s a musical shorthand in the same way that learning phonic patterns can help you to read unfamiliar words.

If we give the 7 different notes in a scale numbers, 1 is the tonic, 2 is the supertonic, 3 the mediant, 4 the subdominant, 5 the dominant, 6 the submediant and 7 the subtonic (in the natural minor scale) or leading note (in the major scale.)

The tonic sandwiches the notes of the scale at both ends, rather like the bread in a sandwich holds the filling in place. It gives us both a beginning and an ending. It’s the same note at different pitches, holding all things together.

Jesus is the ‘tonic’ of the scale of life.Colossians 1:17 says that ‘he is before all things and in him all things hold together.’

Many of us try to live life randomly, plonking notes together like the child banging the notes at the piano. The resultant noise could not be called music. It sounds disconnected, discordant and jarring.

We need Christ to be the tonic to our tune, the One who holds all things together, who makes sense of the apparent randomness of life and whose melody can be heard in the everyday happenings of our lives.

In non-musical vocabulary, a tonic (other than a drink advertised widely by Schweppes which goes well with gin!) Is a medicinal substance taken to give a feeling of vigour or well-being: a stimulant or restorative, a ‘pick-me-up.’ Christ is this kind of tonic to us too. He restores our souls. (Ps 23:3) He reinvigorates us, pouring His life into us.

So let Jesus be your tonic today, holding you together, giving you the strength and vigour that you need.

Joy is much more than happiness. It’s defined in the dictionary as ‘a feeling of great pleasure and happiness’, but Biblical joy is not rooted in circumstances (or ‘happenings’). What happens to us often determines whether we feel happy or miserable; our moods change swiftly according to what is going on around us. But Biblical joy is based on the sure foundation of God and His promises, and therefore does not change easily. It is not simply emotion or feeling; it is something God can plant and grow in our hearts, existing alongside other less pleasurable emotions.

In John 16, Jesus spoke to His disciples about joy in the context of His death and resurrection. He acknowledged the reality of grief, but told them that that grief would be replaced by joy, using the analogy of a woman in labour: ‘A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.’ (John 16:21) As we prepare for the birth of Jesus at Christmas, it is worth remembering that pain and joy can co-exist, and that Jesus promised His disciples both comfort and joy: ‘I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.’ (John 16:22) Joy is God’s gift to us. It’s His prerogative to give and ours to simply receive.

Those of you who read this page regularly know that we believe God answers prayer. We are thrilled to hear of the progress on the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer (https://www.eternalwall.org.uk/), a sculpture being built in the North-East of England which will have a million bricks, each giving a specific answer to prayer which people have sent in. Their aim is to ‘make hope visible’. Such a project, combining faith and the arts, thrills my heart.

As we approach the end of 2022, I’m mindful to pause and reflect on the many ways God has answered prayer in my own life this year. We need to pause and ‘count our blessings’ if we are to have God’s perspective on matters.

I’d love to hear your answered prayers as well! What has God done for you this year?

I am grateful for the funding God has provided for the events we run, including CRT funding for our Parent & Toddler group, funding from the Dearne North Ward Alliance for the Jubilee Fun Day at Phoenix Park and funding from different organisations towards the Dearne Community Arts’ Festival. God is ‘Jehovah Jireh’, the Lord who provides.

I am grateful for the way God gave us good weather for the Jubilee Fun Day and other outdoor events – it’s getting to be a talking point at these events as the weather is usually horrendous immediately before and after the events, but the sun shines when we need it to! It poured with rain on Sunday 5 June, for example, but our afternoon tea that day was held indoors!

I am grateful for a baptism at our church this year and for the large numbers of families who have attended the Parent & Toddler group and fun days over the past year.

I am grateful for the numbers who attended our carol service yesterday and for all the children who were present.

I am grateful for God’s provision of a mattress for my son and daughter-in-law.

I am grateful for the opportunities we have had this year to do ‘normal’ things again, especially having 4FrontTheatre back with us this past week.

Answers to prayer are sometimes spectacular (the email I got last week saying there is funding available for the 2023 DCAF Community Art Project is an example of that), but as I have been preaching all year round, sometimes God works in the mundane as well as in the miraculous. For every ‘spectacular’ answer to prayer, there are a dozen ‘ordinary’ answers: keys that just get found, people who just happen to phone when you are feeling down, that random act of kindness which leaves you undone. God is faithful in all His ways and works in so many different ways. However He answers us, let’s be grateful for a God who loves us, listens to our cries for help and answers us in our times of need.

Perspective matters hugely when it comes to joy. Two people can view the same circumstances entirely differently; one will show resilience and positivity; another will feel despair and want to give up. Some of this depends on temperament, but much depends on perspective. How we view a situation will often determine how we respond to it.

One of my favourite childhood stories was ‘Pollyanna’, a lesson in thankfulness. Pollyanna was taught by her father to play the ‘glad game’, to find something to be glad about in every situation. Once, having prayed for a doll as a present, she received crutches instead. It would have been easy to focus on disappointment, even to blame God for not answering her prayer, but Pollyanna decided she could be glad because she did not need them! That kind of outlook made her an encouraging, positive person, a delight to be with.

Mary, when confronted by an angel telling her the most earth-shattering news possible, could have responded with shock and horror. She could have focussed on the humiliation which would inevitably come her way (people do not generally believe stories of angels appearing and virgins becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit.) Instead, she chose to say, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38) Her attitude transforms the Christmas story. She cooperates with God and becomes the mother of the Lord – and in so doing rejoices in God her Saviour. (Luke 1:47) Cooperation with God will always result in joy.