“God is with us.” What on earth does that mean?

“It is in a church community being part of the Advent Conspiracy and joining to support an orphanage in Afghanistan...and knowing we will affect the children's lives immediately…” (Joan Angrignon)

“It is in a small, but spiritually powerful, group of teens who met for the first time yesterday (December 12, 2011). They started out barely knowing each other and ended up dreaming big dreams.” (Dena Bales Kitches)

“God is with us.” What on earth does that mean for you?

The poet of Psalm 98 calls all creation to celebrate God’s steadfast presence, which reigns over all with justice and fairness.

It was Psalm 98 that inspired Isaac Watts to write… “Joy to the World… let heaven and nature sing… fields and floods, rocks and hills, and planes repeat the sounding joy.”

Amid the songs and greetings of joy on Christmas, stress and pain can slip into the midst of celebration; and we are reminded that joy is not the absence of sorrow, but the presence of God. God with us…

And so we wait for the first stirrings of Christmas joy…

“We wait –
not because we do not know the story of Jesus,
and not because God is not already and always here.

We wait
Because to wait is to expect something more.

To wait is to expect that the story might enter our hearts
and our world
in new ways,
to bring the change for which we long…”

(from the Advent candle lighting ritual for Advent 2011)

The wait will soon be over…

Joy to the world!