This week’s Advent theme is joy. Joy is a multi-faceted thing often associated only with happy circumstances and bubbling personalities, but the Bible urges us to ‘rejoice always’ (1 Thess 5:16, Phil 4:4) and talks of the joy of the Lord being our strength (Neh 8:10). It is also categorical that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), part of that nonahedron of fruit which forms one whole and enables our character to reflect God’s nature.

Isaiah urged God’s people to draw water from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3) and the Christmas message is one of good news of great joy. (Luke 2:1-12) Ultimately, we can know joy regardless of our circumstances because joy comes from God and is found in His presence. (1 Chron 16:27, Ps 16:11) It is His gift to us (John 15:11) and because joy is ultimately centred on who God is and what He does, there are always reasons for rejoicing. Joy is like a multi-faceted diamond which shimmers and glistens in the light of who God is (loving, faithful, patient, kind, a generous giver of gifts as James reminds us in James 1:17) and His marvellous works on our behalf (see Ps 118:15).

Dave spoke this morning on the subject of joy, taking as his text Isaiah 35:1-10. As Christmas draws nearer, our attitudes may vary: some may be excited; others apprehensive or even fearful about the prospect of the season. Many people endure Christmas rather than enjoy it, but Christians have every reason to be joyful, because this is the time when we see God’s plans fulfilled, when we celebrate His intervention in human history and understand that this means we can embrace eternal life even though we do not deserve it. Many people may ask what we have to smile about and the devil certainly challenges us when we are joyful, but God is able to give us His joy. As Isaiah says, sorrow and sighing will flee away as God’s joy fills our lives.

For many people, life is empty. Christmas is simply seen as the holiday shopping season, a period lasting from Black Friday through to Boxing Day sales, but gifts cannot fill the emptiness in our lives. Our world is fearful, just as the Israelites were fearful of invasion and exile (having feeble hands and weak knees.) Jesus came into the world to show us what God is like. He came not with pomp or majesty, but as a baby in an ordinary family, born into poverty. He cared enough to come into our world and His coming makes all the difference. Isaiah writes poetically of the beautiful cedar trees of Lebanon and the fertile mountains of Carmel and wild flowers of Sharon as symbols of the flourishing growth and joy that God can make in our everyday lives.

At Christmas, we sing that ‘the Lord is come.‘ We sing because Jesus, God with us, is here with us and that gives us something to smile about.

Here are some photos from the carol singing yesterday at the Christmas Sheep Celebration. We had to sing ‘While Shepherds Watched’ at a service about sheep! We also sang an ode about the knitted sheep (naming them all) to the tune of ‘On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘At’ and even the community police present at the service joined in the singing.

There were lots of crafts to get involved with, as well as crosswords, wordsearches and colouring sheets about Cecil the lost sheep. Our thanks to Sue for looking after these so well.

Here’s a picture of the wonderful puppets we borrowed from DIocese House in Rotherham as we practised beforehand:

It was lovely to see so many people enjoying themselves.

We were thrilled to be able to give out hamper prizes (donated by the Co-op in Bolton-on-Dearne) and a variety of other prizes (sheep cakes donated by PR Supplies) to people who took part in the Advent Sheep Trail running over the past two weeks.

Our thanks to the Salvation Army to hosting the event, to Alison and Karen for their planning and help with all activities, to all who participated and helped with the Advent Sheep Trail and to those who helped with setting up, helping and tidying away today.

As one member of Dearne Churches Together remarked today, ‘We don’t do boring!’ Today’s Christmas Sheep Celebration certainly couldn’t have been described as boring! We had a variety of Christmas crafts to do (making sheep keyrings, sheep ‘jumpers’ (like a jack-in-a-box, not a wearable sweater!), decorating sheep, could play the Lego game ‘Shave a Sheep‘, and had various word searches and colouring activities to do. We also enjoyed singing about sheep and listening to a story about a lost sheep, not to mention watching a short puppet show featuring a sheep, a donkey and a camel…

Cecil the Lost Sheep had his own story:

We were also pleased to round up all 30 of our lost sheep from the Advent Sheep Trail.

At the Parent & Toddler Christmas Party, we had a visitor in red bringing presents for the children (though some slept through this momentous event!)

The adults also won raffle prizes Finally, we gave flowers and gift vouchers to Diane, who has run this group for many years (starting when her own children were only toddlers and now happy to see her grandchildren attend) Although she will still attend the group, she will no longer be running it and we were glad to be able to acknowledge her commitment, faithfulness and excellent organisation over many years. Thank you so much!