Mike McClenahan

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. This year will forever be marked with the birth of our first grandson. We were there, holding the minutes old baby, looking for family resemblance, taking pictures, filling up with joy. That son changed our lives--no longer parents, but grand- parents. The familiar refrain of Isaiah in Handel’s Messiah reminds us that Christmas is about the birth of a son who would change the world: wonderful counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. We celebrate the birth of the son in a manger with joy to Mary and Joseph, shepherds, wise men, the world and to us. Christmas is also about another birth—our birth. John tells us in his gospel that Jesus is the word who entered the world he made; he came to his own but his own did not receive him; but to those who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God (John 1). And our birth to new life brings joy, too.  Peter writes ...

Then make my joy complete There are themes to all our lives. People say others are all about, for example, integrity, friendship, helping others, travel or family. The apostle Paul was all about joy. His letter to the Philippians mentions joy or rejoice at least 14 times out of about 2400 words in the whole letter. Why? Because those in Philippi really needed to hear the message--they had lost their joy and don’t know where to find it. Paul uses joy to refer to their friendship, financial giving, resolving conflict by being humble toward each other. And Paul had experienced joy in surprising ways in his own life. Years before he was a self-righteous pharisee authorized to kill Christians and eliminate the message of Jesus. Who would have thought Paul would find joy in knowing Jesus? We are left with a short letter that hits us hard with joy and challenges our deeply held beliefs about how and where we find joy. One way of looking at the whole letter of Philippians i...

I once saw this most succinct and surprising definition of joy on a friend’s wall plaque: Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God . -Teilhard de Chardin According to this definition, joy is not happiness, exhilaration or a good feeling based on circumstances, but a result of God’s presence. Joy is the root word of “blessed” in the new testament,   makarios (blessed). This is the word Jesus uses to describe “the distinctive joy which comes through participation in the divine kingdom.”* He ties the two concepts together with his use of the words rejoice and joy in the last verse of his teaching: Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that da...

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together." (Isaiah 40:3-5) When John the Baptist explained his role he quoted Isaiah 40. John was clear in his role as pointer, decreaser and preparer of the way. He was the “voice” calling in the wilderness, proclaiming the news that the King was coming. And he was the manager for a great highway project that prepared his way.  It’s awesome to see ancient marble roads in Ephesus, Rome, Beth Shean and Athens. But between the ancient cities, the the trade routes or “wagon roads” were sometimes impassable. There is recorded the story of a vassal king who complained to the king of Mari that he had to arrive at the Syrian capital by a roundabout ...