Author: Jana

An old Christmas carol that I was introduced to a few years back is ‘The Seven Joys that Mary Had’. In this carol there are seven joys listed that it is believed Mary experienced. These are as follows:

The first good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of one,
To see her own son Jesus
To suck at her breast-bone.

The second joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of two,
To see her own son jesus
To make the lame to go.

The third joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of three,
To see her own son Jesus
As made the blind to see.

The next good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of four;
To see her own Son Jesus Christ
Reading the Bible o’er.

The next good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of five,
To see her own son Jesus
As raised the dead to life.

The next good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of six,
To see her own son Jesus
To bear the crucifix.

The next good joy that Mary had,
It was the joy of seven,
To see her own son Jesus
To wear the crown of Heaven.

A friend this week was reminding me the difference between happiness and joy, something I often confuse. Happiness being a temporary feeling on an occasion, whereas joy is focused more on life and living in general. Happiness are those moments of spending time with a friend, enjoying a favourite past time. Joy is one’s attitude toward life when one awakes each morning. These definitions and themes I find a bit confusing in this Christmas Carol, but as I look at the lyrics more closely it starts to make a bit more sense. Mary’s first great joy is to be a mother with a baby nursing, signifying motherhood and health; in the second and third Jesus is helping and healing; the fourth Jesus is learning; the fifth healing/miracle worker; the sixth as a servant carrying a crucifix; and finally in the seventh she sees her child rewarded. While initially they seem like just an experience, it can be seen that these things indicate something more, something larger. Similarly, in our lives moments make up our existence, holidays make up our year, and religious experiences can make up our life’s direction like stepping stones along the way. In this season of preparation I invite you to pause and see what great joys make up your life. In the same way that this popular devotion to Mary considers hers.

This Sunday we lit the second Advent candle, the candle of peace. As we prepare for the coming of Christ, not only shall we be filled with hope, but peace. We often think of being at peace, as being still. Stillness perhaps does help us to find peace, but I do not think that peace is ultimately a still undertaking. It is calm within the tumult of the times that is peace. Peace in preparation for the arrival of Christ. As we continue with the season of preparation I have personally discovered how much the season becomes personal. A member of our family has been in hospital this fall, which has been difficult and as we prepare for Christmas possibly without them at home it is hard to decide whether to await their return, to continue on without them, or to discard some traditions without them. We however are reminded with the season of Advent that we are preparing, continuing on with a tradition that has been ongoing for quite some time, and that Christ has not yet joined us either. Also there is some sense of rhythm and routine with keeping with tradition and once again preparing ourselves, even if the season has not brought what we earlier anticipated. This is often the part of December when Blue Christmas services are organized. It is as impossible to halt the season of Advent as it is to halt the Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall seasons; things must inevitably go on regardless of how or whether we choose to celebrate. If we dash off either to attend to other things, or to avoid the season altogether, then we will miss the arrival of the heavenly host and the moment of peace.

This past Sunday we lit the first advent candle. Advent being the season of preparation for Christians leading up to Christmas, and the first candle often being named as the candle of hope. Both advent calendars and advent candles have come to us through the Lutheran branch of Christianity, originating in Germany. While this week many of us are contemplating the prospect of hope in our own lives, I am reminded that when life is stable and at it’s best there is rarely something to hope for, it is when there is much uncertainty that hope is of real value. It also occurs to me that it is in uncertainty where our hope lies. For example, when we take the time to reflect on the very origins of the advent calendar and candles that we realize that they come from those followers of the great reformer Martin Luther who was responsible for creating the branch that became the Lutheran Church in Germany, and has since spread around the world. Likewise the practices adopted within the Lutheran Church have now spread through mainstream Christianity (you are hard pressed this time of year to find a Christian church not preparing for the coming of Christ. The hope of Christmas then has come more alive from the margins of Christianity (Lutheranism) and the original mainstream (Catholicism), and Christianity is richer as a result. I hope that this reminds us that it is the small fractured areas of our lives, which can offer us hope in this season. Today, I invite you to light a candle, and to find your hope.

Personally, my hope stems from the prospect of new beginnings, and a fresh tomorrow. To quote Lucy M. Montgomery “Tomorrow has no mistakes in it. Well no mistakes in it yet.” As we commence the season of Advent, which also is the first season of the Christian year, I am reassured that part of preparing for the coming of Christ, or “the new heaven” that we read of in the book of Revelation, is starting anew, and with the hope of something more.

Some days feel like bad days, and we complain about the way things are. For many people, myself included, this is an easy and almost immediate response to some of life’s situations. Today, in our secular world, we call it complaining. In biblical times complaining, particularly to God was lamenting. When we protest against the decisions of our government or policies that enslave us, we are lamenting the world in which we live. We complain that “things are not the way they should be”. The purpose of complaining should be similar to the purpose of lamenting, that of bringing about a change in our world. Sometimes we can bring about change through our laments and protests, and although it is often not exactly what we want, sometimes that change happens within us instead of with the circumstances that surround us. Any change however is different from where we once started, and is part of the “growing edges” that surround us.

My personal complaint is that I do not feel that I have adequate time currently to post every day (as I would like to and envisioned that I would). So some of my ideas will have to await another day. Also, although I have barely gotten started I am not quite sure how I feel with how things have started. I would have liked things to be better grounded, and less fluff, as you will. Therefore as a result it seems that my personal lamenting has brought me to a new direction, and at a perfect time too, with the season of Advent and preparation just around the corner. I hope as we continue to explore religion in more detail to offer more to “chew on”, even if that means less frequent posts. I hope to offer reflections on the four advent themes: hope, peace, joy, and love as well as start to explore other aspects of the Christian church, and some other holidays as well.

From untruth lead us to Truth.
From darkness lead us to Light.
From death lead us to Immortality.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

–  Prayer from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad

Dewali, also referred to by other names, is a festival of celebration that comes from the Hindu tradition. The festival typically lasts five days and celebrates the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. In my university years I can remember attending celebrations at a friend’s home on the evening of the third day known as “Lakshmi Puja” of the festival. There were lots of candles, delicious homemade Indian cuisine, and music. Coming from my simple sombre religious upbringing that had in many ways maintained Puritan roots, this festival of religious significance was fun and spiritually uplifting. In retrospect, this experience was radically different from what I was accustomed to and captivated me in a way that my my own religious experiences had never done. It along with other experiences was part of what guided me along a different way in my life, encouraging me to explore religion and faith. This year for Dewali I did not attend any festivities, but as it passed on the calendar I was reminded of the need for festivals, the need for celebrations in each of our lives. The need for us to stop and see where we want to go. For now I am unsure where that “truth” is, but as I walk away from untruth, I am headed towards truth and some day perhaps I will see glimpses of what that is. Exposure to religion changes us, perhaps by helping us to define who we really are or are not, but also for encouraging us to choose between where we are and where we could be.

From untruth lead us to Truth.
From darkness lead us to Light.
From death lead us to Immortality.
Om Peace, Peace, Peace.